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Top 6 goales in the Atlantic Division

By Hooks Orpik


Over at Japers they made this list a top 10, but I'm not going to include the Brent Johnson's and Yann Danis' of the world in a list, so let's go with the Top 6 division goalies after the jump!

 #6 – Dwayne Roloson – New York Islanders 

 

GP MIN W L T EGA GA GAA SA SV SV% SO
2008 - Dwayne Roloson 63 3597 28 24 9 4 166 2.77 1953 1787 .915 1


"Roly the Goalie" is on the wrong side of 40, but still had a very solid season last year up in Edmonton, keeping the Oilers in playoff contention for a long time.  He’s obviously not a long-term piece in NYI’s rebuilding plan but could be a useful patch this season, especially if the #5 guy on our list falters.

#5 – Martin Biron – New York Islanders

 

GP MIN W L T EGA GA GAA SA SV SV% SO
2008 - Martin Biron 55 3177 29 19 5 2 146 2.76 1718 1572 .915 2


Biron jumps teams in the Atlantic, joining NYI at a very discounted rate from his salary last season.  Biron’s proven to be a solid regular season goaltender but once the playoffs hit he morphs into French Toast.  Biron could be a trade deadline target, but for now he figures to jump into a net in Long Island that's been pretty demanding of it's goalies the past several years.

 

#4 – Ray Emery – Philadelphia Flyers

 

Ray Emery

#29 / Goalie / Philadelphia Flyers

6-2

196

Sep 28, 1982


Emery is back in NHL after a season sojourn to the KHL.  So what, if anything, has the 27 year old learned?  Long lauded for his pure skill, but questions still remain about Emery’s focus and consistency.  The Flyers expect to be major players in the East this season, but how they fare depends largely on Emery.  "Razor" was great in 2006-07, splitting time with Martin Gerber but leading the Senators in the playoffs all the way to the Stanley Cup final.  He was just as horrid in 2007-08 when the wheels fell off in Ottawa he was almost literally driving the bus.

 

 #3 --  Henrik Lundqvist – New York Rangers

 

 

GP MIN W L T EGA GA GAA SA SV SV% SO
2008 - Henrik Lundqvist 70 4153 38 25 7 3 168 2.43 2007 1839 .916 3

"The King" comes in third on this list, but it’s no fault of his own.  Lundqvist won the gold medal for Sweden in the 2006 Olympics and is the bedrock player for the New York Rangers.  Technically solid, Lundqvist will rarely, rarely give up a goal low, he forces shooters to go high if they have any hopes of scoring.  Lundqvist has won 30+ games in all four of his NHL seasons and has a career GAA and save percentage of 2.31 and .917, respectively.  With numbers like that, one can see why he is The King.  Now if he could just get a little more offensive support perhaps his playoff record would be a little better.

 

#2 -- Marc-Andre Fleury -- Pittsburgh Penguins 

 

GP MIN W L T EGA GA GAA SA SV SV% SO
2008 - Marc-Andre Fleury 62 3641 35 18 7 5 162 2.67 1850 1688 .912 4


Winning a Stanley Cup in dramatic fashion is only good enough to make Marc-Andre Fleury the second best goalie in his own division this year.  MAF has made incredible strides from being young and raw as an 18 year old netminder.  He was too over-active and his angles were not always perfect.  NHL shooters will rip goalies up if they're not perfect and Fleury found he couldn't always rely on his incredible athleticism to bail him out.  But boy did he learn, Fleury's game has matured to become more settled and more refined.  He still has the exceptional speed and quickness to fall back on but has become a much more technical goalie.  Don’t look now but the 24 year old goalie is already tied for 34th all-time in career playoff wins (4 more wins boosts him to 25th, so there’s a lot of guys in reach).

When you're so good at handling the puck the NHL makes a rule (the trapezoid) to limit your effectiveness like our #1 goalie is, it'd almost be criminal to rank Marc-Andre Fleury and all of his gaffes above him, right?

#1 -- Martin Brodeur -- New Jersey Devils

 

GP MIN W L T EGA GA GAA SA SV SV% SO
2008 - Martin Brodeur 31 1814 19 9 3 2 73 2.41 870 797 .916 5

Brodeur may be 37 years old and he may not have won more than one series in playoff year since 2003, but he's still Marty freakin Brodeur.  The NHL's all-time goalie win leader, will be the shutout leader too probably.  Brodeur's benefited from a great system and great players of the years in New Jersey, but they've benefited just as much from having him as the last line of defense.  Brodeur will invariably be one of the all-time greats, and even if he is getting to the end of his career he's still got some fire in him like when he was breaking sticks and complaining this year and his epic battles with Sean Avery show the old keeper still has some fire. 

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Pretty cut and dry, right?  Would you rank the young Fleury above Brodeur now that MAF has won the Cup and Brodeur is 37?  Roloson over Biron?

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