I like Vokoun as well, I’m not knocking him. I think those two lists prove my point that goaltending is a bit of a crapshot. Both years had at least one guy that fell off the subsequent year. Vokoun almost lost the No. 1 job last year; Giguere did lose his job. Lehtonen, DP, and Mason all fell off after 06-07. It’s hard to judge goalies, and that’s just inescapable.

Just to be clear, I’m not bashing stats. I’m not a stathead by any means but I always look at the stats and try to glean what I can from them. I’ll never just see a stat and think of it as determinative in and of itself, because stats are shorthand for a larger meaning, and unless the connection between the stat and larger picture is meaningful and robust, why put your faith in it? Yes, wins are a stat, but I didn’t support my choice of any of these goalies based on wins.

I think Nabokov is elite because I’ve seen him carry mediocre teams, and I’ve seen him make huge saves that SJS needed in particular games. Last year he had a down year, and that is reflected in his position on my list. Another year like that and he’s probably off my list. Yes, SJS is a great team now, but sometimes just facing 18-20 shots a game is misleading. Brodeur routinely made 2-3 huge saves a game when he was only facing 18-20 a game, but those saves were absolutely necessary and the kind of save I’m talking about when I say “make the save when your team needs it.” I’ve seen Nabokov make those saves for SJS (no, not last season in the playoffs, but fwiw Brodeur did the same thing last year) and generally when he’s in the net I have less concern that he’s going to hurt his team than most other goalies in the league.

I’m not trying to be antagonistic, but it’s pretty easy for you to sit back and poke holes in my list, there aren’t many flawless goalies in the league so there’s something to critique them all on. What’s your list?