We all know that the last line of defense in a hockey game is the goaltender. They face shots everyday while on the ice weather it be from teammates in practice, morning skates or in a game. Needless to say, they see a lot of rubber pucks fired at them through their careers. Some seem to see more pucks than others, and in this post I look at what goaltenders have seen the most shots through the last 5 (regular) seasons.
All information gathered for this post is from www.hockey-reference.com and are not of my own calculations.
I have gone back all the way to the 2010/11 season (including the partial lockout season) and ranked the goalies based on total shots against over that time frame.
Looking at the names on this list just gives credit to how good these goalies actually are when it comes to this game. They are all starting goalies for their respective teams and they all have great stats to prove it as well. So without further ado, on to the list.
Coming in at #5 on the list is Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators. He has seen his share of pucks fired at him over the years, and would have seen more than others, but he had an injury last season which sidelined him for some time. He seems to be making up for it this season by stopping almost everything. His total for shots against over the last five years is 6534. Which is a lot of shots. And that is just the recorded shots he's faced and doesn't include the non-game pucks he sees.
At #4 is Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers. King Henrik as he's known has seen a total of 7249 pucks fired in his direction over the last 5 years which is still quite a bit when you think about the system he played under with "Torts" as the head coach. The defense first, block shots at all costs style of play that coach Torts liked may have held Lundqvist back a bit on the list but didn't stop him from being #4 on my list.
At #3 the Dallas Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen has faced 7457 rubber bullets fired at him. Lehtonen has been the starter in the big D over the last few seasons which has boosted his totals of pucks seen over that time, but he has also had a very talented boost on the offensive side of things when Tyler Seguin was brought in via trade with the Bruins a couple seasons ago. But the way the Stars are struggling a bit this season he could see his numbers boost a bit..
Sitting at #2 on the list is Ryan Miller of the Vancouver Canucks. Miller has landed on a couple teams over the last year of his career but has always managed to see a lot of rubber blasted in his direction no matter where he is. Playing most of his career for the Buffalo Sabres and then the St. Louis Blues part of last season and now the Vancouver Canucks this season Miller has seen 7488 shots aimed at him and done a reasonable job of stopping them. With a mix of mostly offensive talent on the Canucks roster,
Miller can expect to see his share of shots again this season.
Now on to the #1 spot on my list of busiest goalies. For a team that boasts one of the leagues best D-men this guy sees a boat load of shots fired in his direction and has become a house hold name around the NHL.
The top spot goes to Montreal Canadians goaltender Carey Price who has seen a grand total of 7663 black rubber disks fired at him over the last 5 seasons and has done everything he can to keep them out of the net. More than once through a season you will see replays of Price making an amazing save on some poor shooter who thinks he has this guy beat. He has been injured a couple times over the last few seasons which may have held his shots against down a bit, but that hasn't stopped him from being the top dog in the NHL when it comes to facing down opponents trying to score on him.
Well with that, my list has been revealed and those are the top 5 goaltenders who have seen the most shots and been the busiest in the NHL over the last 5 seasons.
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Until next time.
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