TAMPA, FLORIDA - JUNE 21: Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers reacts after being awarded the Vezina Trophy for outstanding goaltender during the 2022 NHL Awards at Armature Works on June 21, 2022 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NHL 23 ratings prediction: Who are the five best goalies?
When it comes to the NHL, goaltending is undoubtedly the most important position. If you don’t have a very good goaltender, it is going to be extremely difficult to win hockey games. We saw this last year with a variety of different teams. The Chicago Blackhawks were a below-average team, but with the help of future Hall of Fame goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in the net, they were able to pick up some pretty great wins. The same story goes with NHL 23. Anytime you have a goalie with a high overall, your chance of winning becomes greater.
If you glance back and take a look at the top five rated goalies in NHL 22, there are some pretty fantastic goalies. Among this list of goaltenders are some that would be inducted into the Hall of Fame if they decided to retire today. Every goalie on this list gives their team a great chance to win on any given night and during any given NHL 23 game.
Top five goalies in NHL 22
- Andrei Vasilevskiy (92 Overall)
- Connor Hellebuyck (91 Overall)
- Carey Price (90 Overall)
- Marc-Andre Fleury (90 Overall)
- Tuukka Rask (90 Overall)
Going into NHL 23 the top five goalies from NHL 22 is surely going to change. However, there are going to be some familiar faces that we should see crack the top five in NHL 23.
(Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images)
5. Jacob Markstrom
I got to be honest here, I did not give Jacob Markstrom much credit after his 88 overall rating in NHL 22. I was shocked that he got an 88 overall rating as I thought that it could have been a tad lower. But I was proven oh so wrong. Maybe he was listening to the conversations that I was having about him because he played better than an 88 overall goaltender would play like this past season.
At the start of the 2021-2022 NHL season, Jacob Markstrom was my favorite to capture the Vezina. Of course, that was early on and before Igor Shesterkin decided that he was going to run away with the trophy.
Markstrom had a more than stellar season compiling together a 37-15-9 record in the 63 games that he played. Markstrom finished off the 2021-2022 NHL season with 2.22 GAA, .922 SV%, and a league-leading 9 shutouts. Those stats to go along with his win/loss record is something that head coach Darryl Sutter was ecstatic about and any head coach in the NHL would be happy to see on their team.
It is clear and obvious that the season that Jacob Markstrom put together is more than worthy of an 88 overall. I am not going to be making the same mistake twice. Jacob Markstrom is deserving to enter the top five rated goalies in NHL 23 and should slot in perfectly at the fifth position.
Rating Prediction: 89 Overall
