This year's goaltender UFA class looks to be a pretty interesting one. Per Tyler Dellow, a replacement level goaltender for the 2008-09 season should post a .902 SV%. When you look at the stats of several goaltenders who were in the league last year, it quickly becomes obvious that several of these guys are below replacement level, and therefore ought to be replaced. Here's the list of available goaltenders starting July 1, per James Mirtle.
2008-09 | |||||||
PLAYER | TM | Age | Cap hit | GP | W | Spct | |
1 | BIRON, MARTIN | PHI | 31.9 | 3.500 | 55 | 29 | 0.915 |
2 | ROLOSON, DWAYNE | EDM | 39.7 | 3.667 | 63 | 28 | 0.915 |
3 | KHABIBULIN, NIKOLAI | CHI | 36.5 | 6.750 | 42 | 25 | 0.919 |
4 | CLEMMENSEN, SCOTT | N.J | 31.9 | 0.500 | 40 | 25 | 0.917 |
5 | CONKLIN, TY | DET | 33.2 | 0.750 | 40 | 25 | 0.909 |
6 | FERNANDEZ, MANNY | BOS | 34.8 | 4.333 | 28 | 16 | 0.910 |
7 | ANDERSON, CRAIG | FLA | 28.1 | 0.550 | 31 | 15 | 0.924 |
8 | NIITTYMAKI, ANTERO | PHI | 29.0 | 1.225 | 32 | 15 | 0.912 |
9 | MACDONALD, JOEY | NYI | 29.4 | 0.488 | 49 | 14 | 0.901 |
10 | LEGACE, MANNY | STL | 36.4 | 2.150 | 29 | 13 | 0.885 |
11 | BOUCHER, BRIAN | S.J | 32.5 | 0.650 | 22 | 12 | 0.917 |
12 | JOHNSON, BRENT | WSH | 32.3 | 0.813 | 21 | 12 | 0.908 |
13 | RAYCROFT, ANDREW | COL | 29.2 | 0.800 | 31 | 12 | 0.892 |
14 | DANIS, YANN | NYI | 28.0 | 0.550 | 31 | 10 | 0.910 |
15 | GERBER, MARTIN | TOR | 34.8 | 3.700 | 26 | 10 | 0.902 |
16 | LABARBERA, JASON | VAN | 29.4 | 0.825 | 28 | 8 | 0.901 |
17 | GARON, MATHIEU | PIT | 31.5 | 1.100 | 19 | 8 | 0.894 |
18 | WEEKES, KEVIN | N.J | 34.2 | 0.688 | 16 | 7 | 0.920 |
19 | SANFORD, CURTIS | VAN | 29.7 | 0.650 | 19 | 7 | 0.906 |
20 | SABOURIN, DANY | EDM | 28.8 | 0.513 | 19 | 6 | 0.898 |
21 | JOSEPH, CURTIS | TOR | 42.2 | 0.700 | 21 | 5 | 0.869 |
22 | KOLZIG, OLAF | TOR | 39.2 | 2.500 | 8 | 2 | 0.898 |
23 | DUBIELEWICZ, WADE | CBJ | 30.4 | 0.500 | 3 | 1 | 0.870 |
I've highlighted in red those goalies who played below a replacement level last season. Olaf Kolzig is clearly on the way out, but Wade Dubielewicz certainly falls prey to a small sample size here. For a career average (which is again a small sample size) in the regular season Dubie has a SV% of 0.916, and he's had some better numbers and some worse ones. As a guess, I would think Dubie is probably pretty close to a replacement level goalie, and in fact, could probably be that replacement level goalie for some teams who had subpar goaltending last year.
So out of a list of 23 available players, 8 (not counting Dubie) are below replacement level goaltenders. This leaves 15 goalies who should have jobs in the NHL, judging by last season's performances. That would make up 25% of available goaltending positions (starting and backup) within the NHL. Tough room, huh?
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