7 of the 10 highest-paid NHL goalies have been downright awful this season; should the Leafs avoid a large extension for Samsonov?
Everyone knows that when an NHL team signs a goaltender, even a very good one, general managers are playing a bit of a guessing game. Some are just flat-out gambling the future of their respective organizations with the amount their shelling out for a player who may only play 45-55 games in many cases, which begs the question; are NHL goalies paid too much?
Here are a list of the 10 highest-paid goaltenders this season and what their respective cap hits are:
1. Sergei Bobrovsky - $10M2. Andrei Vasilevskiy - $9.5M3. John Gibson - $6.4M4. Connor Hellebuyck - $6.17M5. Jordan Binnington - $6M6. Jacob Markstrom - $6M7. Philipp Grubauer - $5.9M8. Jonathan Quick - $5.8M9. Igor Shesterkin - $5.67M10. Elvis Merzlikins - $5.4M
Without looking it up on the internet, are there any guesses on how many of them have posted a save percentage above .900? Examine this list of names. Several past and current Vezina Trophy candidates - some Vezina Trophy WINNERS. Would it surprise you to learn that only 3 of them have a save percentage higher than .900? It surprised me as well.
Of the names on the aforementioned list, only one goaltender holds a SV% of .911 or higher - Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck. Hellebuyck is currently rocking a crisp .931 SV%, good for 3rd overall in the NHL among goalies who have played at least 300 minutes. Igor Shesterkin (.910 SV%) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (.909 SV%) are the only other names from that list who are currently above a .900 SV% on the season.
Of the remaining names, only Gibson, Markstrom, Binnington and Quick rank inside of the top 50 goaltenders in the NHL. Bobrovsky, Grubauer and Merzlikins rank 55th, 57th and 59th, respectively.
With how well Ilya Samsonov has been playing for the Leafs this season, it's likely that they're going to want to either extend him at some point this season or re-sign him in the summer. As a pending RFA, Samsonov will have limited negotiating leverage, but he could simply take his qualifying offer and walk as a UFA in the summer of 2024 - the same year that Auston Matthews and William Nylander are set to become UFAs.
While getting Samsonov locked up long-term would give the Leafs some certainty in net over the next several years, it only makes sense to do it if the price is right. As we can see above, big money, long-term deals for goaltenders don't often work out the way teams hope they will.
| POLL | ||
6 DECEMBRE | 363 ANSWERS 7 of the 10 highest-paid NHL goalies have been downright awful this season; should the Leafs avoid a large extension for Samsonov? If you were Kyle Dubas and Ilya Samsonov would agree to a 5-year deal worth $5M right now, (the Jack Campbell deal) would you do that deal? | ||
| Yes, in a heartbeat | 63 | 17.4 % |
| No, I'd push for a lower deal | 128 | 35.3 % |
| It's too early in the season to say for sure | 172 | 47.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
