We have Niklas Backstrom has the starter.
Josh Harding as a young backup and next starter.
Matt Hackett is 3rd in line, playing in the AHL, starter for the Houston Aeros in the AHL.
Darcy Kuemper is CHL goalie of the year, and is starting to beat Hackett, but now is a backup for the Aeros in the AHL.
Johan Gustafsson is doing very well in Europe.
Not sure where Stephen Michalek stands.
So in other words, the Wild have a top 20 NHL goalie (Backstrom), a potential 1B goalie (Harding), one AHL starter (Hackett), one battling to be an AHL starter and CHL goalie of the year (Kuemper), and a top Swedish young goaltender (Gustafsson).
Would have to say Vancouver.
Young top quality starter - check
Blue chip prospect in the AHL - check
Those two are the most important ones, but they have some additional depth aswell.
Schneider posts nearly identical stats as Rask and better numbers than him in the playoffs. Before the argument of sample size comes up, Rask has played less than half of the games Quick has where as Schneider has over half the game Rask has. He is in the same tier as Cory and Bernier, not price and quick.
Bernier doesn't belong with Schneider and Rask. They've put up elite numbers in the league, it's just a matter of proving it over a larger sample size. Bernier has been decent, but he's more potential than results at this point.
Also, I think it's funny how games played are being associated with level of play. Goaltenders aren't skaters, who can still prove themselves even if they're behind a star player. From what we've seen, it's entirely possible Rask and Schneider are as good as Price, they just haven't had the same opportunity.
3 years is not very far away. The top goalies of today will likely be the same in 3 years from now, with a couple up and comers knocking at the door.
e.g. Rinne and Lundqvist will be 32 and 33. That is still very much a goalie's "prime" IMO.
So I think the answer is New York, LA, or Nashville, in any order
3-5 years is actually a pretty long time, especially in terms of projecting the careers of younger players. For example, if you had asked who would be the best goalie between Jonathan Bernier, Jonathan Quick and Corey Schneider 3-5 years ago, I'll bet almost everyone would have answered "Bernier will be better than Quick, and who the **** is Schneider?" Note that they're all roughly the same age too (Schneider and Quick are 26, Bernier is 24). Likewise, 3ish years ago Ryan Miller would have been seen as being WAY better than Pekka Rinne, and again they're roughly the same age (Miller is 32, Rinne 30).
BAM. Exactly what he said. 3-5 years ago, who would we have said? Miller? Brodeur? Thomas? You just can't guess on this one.
Indeed. 3-5 years ago (so roughly 07/08, 08/09 or 09/10) the favourites in a "best goalie in 3-5 years" type poll would include guys like Miller, Fleury, Rask, Ward, etc., and guys like Quick and Rinne would be seen as pretty crazy selections.
