Following Alexandar Georgiev’s 55 save performance for the New York Rangers in a 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on his 23rd birthday, it’s a fitting moment to pause and figure out his place in the rebuild.
In the modern NHL’s salary cap structure, the goaltender position is the most varied in terms of return on investment in relation to salary. At the top of the food chain, Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens checks in at $10.5 million which is what the arguably best goaltender in the sport commanded. The New York Rangers pay Henrik Lundqvist $8.5 million per year in goal.
More than half of the leagues 31 starting goaltenders make less than $5.5 million per year. Meaning that the majority of the league finds itself in this sweet spot where that extra money that other teams use for goaltending is spent in another place.
Of the teams from last year’s postseason, just four fell into the less than $5.5 million per year category. The Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs all either had netminders on entry-level deals or veterans at slightly below the league average for the position.
While not a direct correlation to success there is some degree of causation to if a team pays for above average goaltending it typically gets it. Granted, four of the top five paid goaltenders missed the postseason last year (Lundqvist, Price, Cory Schneider, and Corey Crawford.
This creates a clear caste system of haves and have nots. It’s not realistic to expect to compete for a Stanley Cup with a below market value goaltender with the given exception of a player within the first three years of their career on an entry-level or restricted free agent contract.
In the hyper-competitive reality of the NHL, every last dollar of cap space counts when it comes to roster construction and will be the greatest forecaster for Alexandar Georgiev’s long-term future.