2025 NHL Goalie Musical Chairs: Eastern Conference
The dichotomy of goaltending: it’s perceived as the most important position in hockey, yet it’s so fickle that it’s simultaneously devalued. Every season, out-of-nowhere success stories emerge, while supposed stars struggle. In 2024-25, who picked Darcy Kuemper to have such a rebound season with the Los Angeles Kings? Who expected Juuse Saros to have the worst season of his career? Did anyone have Anthony Stolarz and Logan Thompson pegged as top-five goalies in the league a year ago?
It’s no wonder teams aren’t overly trusting when searching the market for goaltending help nowadays. Of the 19 contracts signed by UFA goalies since July 1, 13 were one-year deals. Only two stoppers signed for more than two years, and they were re-signings in Jake Allen and Thatcher Demko. No netminder on the open market landed a contract longer than two years.
And this isn’t a fad; it’s the new normal, which is why we see a lot of goalies change teams year to year. What do the new NHL crease batteries look like for 2025-26? Let’s sort through the turnover, starting with the Eastern Conference.
Note: if a team added a No. 3 netminder but didn’t rock the boat with its top two, such as the New York Islanders adding David Rittich, they land in the ‘status quo’ tier.
STATUS QUO
Boston Bruins (Jeremy Swayman, Joonas Korpisalo)
Carolina Hurricanes (Frederik Andersen, Pyotr Kochetkov)
Montreal Canadiens (Sam Montembeault, Jakub Dobes)
New Jersey Devils (Jacob Markstrom, Jake Allen)
New York Islanders (Ilya Sorokin, Semyon Varlamov)
New York Rangers (Igor Shesterkin, Jonathan Quick)
Tampa Bay Lightning (Andrei Vasilevskiy, Jonas Johansson)
Toronto Maple Leafs (Anthony Stolarz, Joseph Woll)
Washington Capitals (Logan Thompson, Charlie Lindgren)
Buffalo Sabres (stock unchanged)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Alex Lyon (2 years x $1.5M)
Devon Levi
(Out: James Reimer)
Lyon slides into the role of veteran placeholder between UPL and Levi, allowing Levi to continue soaking up starter’s playing time in AHL, where was excellent this past season. It may feel like Lyon is an upgrade over James Reimer in the No. 2 role, especially given the contract Lyon received, but it’s not true. Reimer was excellent in 2024-25. Among 61 goalies who played 20 or more games, he ranked 13th in the league in goals saved above expected per 60. Lyong graded out as “only” slightly above average, which makes him an excellent No 2, but this is a lateral move given how Reimer played.
Columbus Blue Jackets (Stock unchanged)
Elvis Merzlikins
Jet Greaves
(Out: Daniil Tarasov)
The Panthers will try to unlock the potential of yet another talented underachiever, but the Blue Jackets were fine to give up on Tarasov after he regressed badly last year. At this point, they probably didn’t want to block Greaves, who was outstanding as the team pushed for a playoff spot down the stretch. During his April heater, he went 5-0-0 with a 0.80 goals-against average, .975 save percentage and two shutouts. Not only did he earn a look on the team full time, but he deserves a chance to start over Merzlikins.
Detroit Red Wings (Stock up)
John Gibson (acquired from Ana)
Cam Talbot
(Out: Alex Lyon)
Among the clearly available netminders this offseason, Gibson was the top option, fresh off his best season in six years. He slides in as Detroit’s No. 1 and forms what looks like a pretty strong duo alongside Talbot, keeping the seat warm until Sebastian Cossa gets a larger opportunity. But after Gibson has spent so many seasons of his career bailing out bad defensive teams, it would’ve been fun to see him flourish in a stingy system. Instead, he’s set up to be shelled once again. The Red Wings iced the worst penalty kill of any NHL team in the past 42 years, and the fourth-worst of all-time, this past season. The Ducks had the most expected goals against in the league at 5-on-5, but the Wings were bottom-third, too, so Gibson will continue getting major workouts, especially when Detroit has barely done anything to improve its D-corps this offseason. Detroit already had above-average goaltending this past season, so Gibson isn’t a savior. He’ll help, but it won’t be enough if the Wings keep bleeding scoring chances.
Florida Panthers (Stock unchanged)
Sergei Bobrovsky
Daniil Tarasov (acquired from CBJ)
(Out: Vitek Vanecek)
Bobrovsky is Bobrovsky, adding to his Hall of Fame resume with a second consecutive Stanley Cup. As for the backup situation behind him, Vanecek was a stopgap, but with Spencer Knight traded, the Panthers were wise to add some upside in Tarasov, especially with ‘Bob’ slated to be a UFA next summer. General manager Bill Zito was the Blue Jackets’ assistant GM when they drafted the towering Tarasov. He now gets to apprentice under his countryman Bobrovsky to boot. If any team will find a way to bring out the best in Tarasov, who is 26 and was once a pretty intriguing prospect, it’s Florida.
Ottawa Senators (Stock unchanged)
Linus Ullmark
Leevi Merilainen
(Out: Anton Forsberg)
Forsberg is one of the better backups in the league, but after Merilainen emerged as a real force when given a look last season, it makes sense not to block him. In his 12-game sample size, he ranked eighth in goals saved above expected per 60 among 73 netminders who played at least 10 games in 2024-25. Merilainen earned his one-year, one-way extension at a $1.05 million AAV. He’s the full-time No. 2 now. General manager Steve Staios has stated as such.
Philadelphia Flyers (Stock up)
Dan Vladar (2 years x $3.35M)
Samuel Ersson
Vladar hasn’t actually even been a league-average goalie in at least a couple of his five NHL seasons. But he’s a safe-ish stopgap who isn’t going to absolutely embarrass his team – like Ivan Fedotov and Ersson did too often last year. Whether you believe Vladar got too much money or not, we can agree he’s a bona fide NHL netminder. We don’t know if that’s actually true of Fedotov, who will likely be waived and sent to AHL Lehigh Valley to start next season. Among goalies to start at least half their teams’ games in 2024-25, Ersson was the worst in the league, so there’s a real path for Vladar to take the No. 1 job. This is easily the biggest opportunity of his career.
Pittsburgh Penguins (Stock at rock bottom)
Tristan Jarry
Joel Blomqvist
(Out: Alex Nedeljkovic)
Hey, at least the Pens are widely acknowledged as the only NHL team truly tanking heading into next season. Jarry remains in one of the top two spots on their depth chart by default after the Pens traded Alex Nedeljkovic, but they may as well give Blomqvist a longer look in 2025-26. Jarry is only 30, but he’s extremely volatile coming off a nightmarish year. He was waived and demoted in January after allowing a goal on the first shot he faced six times in 22 games. He was passable after returning in March, but not enough to offset how bad his first half was.
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