One of the Detroit Red Wings’ offseason objectives was to improve their goaltending, and they believe they accomplished that mission by acquiring John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks.
But the writers at NHL.com clearly don’t believe the Red Wings have better goaltending or at least have not improved enough to rank in the league’s top 16 goalie tandems.
The Red Wings tandem of Gibson and Cam Talbot didn’t crack the NHL.com Top 16. In fact, of the 14 writers who cast ballots only two thought the Red Wings were in the top 16. One writer ranked them 10th and another placed them 13th.
Last season, Detroit’s .896 save percentage tied the team (with three other teams) for 20th in the NHL. Gibson boasts a career .910 save percentage. He was at .912 last season for the Anaheim Ducks.
“Expecting John Gibson to give us a boost and make us stronger,” GM Steve Yzerman said after giving up Petr Mrazek, plus second and fourth round picks to land Gibson. ” Overall I think we’re a little bit better. Does that, how many points does it translate to in the season? We’re going to find out.
Jets are No. 1
NHL.com ranked Winnipeg’s duo of Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie as No. 1, followed by No. 2. Dallas Stars (Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith), 3. New York Rangers (Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick), 4. Washington Capitals (Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren) and 5. New Jersey Devils (Jakob Markstrom and Jake Allen) in the top five.
Making matters worse for Detroit is the ranking has six Eastern Conference teams, including three in the Atlantic Division, ranked in the top nine. The Toronto Maple Leafs (Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll) are sixth, Tampa Bay Lightning (Andrei Vasilevskiy and Jonas Johansson) seventh and the Florida Panthers (Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov) ninth.
Overall, NHL.com chose nine Eastern Conference teams in its Top 16. The Carolina Hurricanes (Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov) are 12th, while the New York islanders (Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov) sit 14th and the Ottawa Senators (Linus Ullmark and Leevi Merilainen) come in at 16th.