New York Rangers: Where does Lundqvist rank among NHL goalies?

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CALGARY, AB – MARCH 31: Mike Smith #41 of the Calgary Flames skates against the Edmonton Oilers during an NHL game on March 31, 2018 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Not a chance

Sometimes a less than ideal situation at a specific situation arises. The New York Rangers and their defense should be more than familiar with the affliction. To point out the obvious, there are simply not enough quality starting goaltenders to go around for all 31 NHL franchises. Specifically, there are a handful of teams that are dependent on below average players at the position.

The blatantly obvious point is that the worse a team is, the more likely their goaltender is to struggle. If a goaltender is facing upwards of 40 shots per night, no matter how good the net minder is, the challenge will be insurmountable. Being that these are subjective rankings, Lundqvist can avoid this group based on his skill level.

The goaltenders in this group: Cam Ward, Mike Smith, Jimmy Howard, Michael Neuvirth, Thomas Greiss, Corey Schneider, and Craig Smith are amongst the fringe players at the position. These are players that if their respective backups get hot, could snatch the starting job away from them without a second thought.

With a quality defense in front of them, goaltenders in this class could serve as a passable starter for a share to the games during the course of a season. However, over an 82 game season, with a suspect team in front of them, they will struggle.

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