Goalies are all just Butterfly Robots

With Aidin Hill and Sergei Bobrovsky facing off in the Stanley Cup final, I thought i'd revist the thought that in the salary cap era for the NHL, you'd have to be crazy to overvalue the goaltending position.

Hill was 5th on the Las Vegas Golden Knights organizational depth chart, while Bobrovsky hasn't played starting goaltending caliber hockey in at least three seasons.

Thoughout the 90s, guys like Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek were sensational, stealing games and playing with a unique style that warranted a quarterback type contract. These guys would dominate games and were no question the best player on the team.

This day in age, every goaltender is 6'3 and up, athletic, and play the exact same butterfly style. Bobrovsky does make 10 million per year, but as recent as the start of the playoffs was sitting on the bench.

It's a hot or not style position, and players like Darcy Keumper who won the cup in 2022 with Colorado wasn't even valued enough to retain a contract when he signed in Washington.

The gap between the best goalie in the league and the worst is so small, that teams like Montreal who handed Carey Price a big contract, were handcuffed and never became a contender with him as their backstop.

If you don't have goaltending it is a big problem, but when guys seemingly come off the street to achieve greatness, how long until goalies are similar to NFL running backs who are interchanable low salary assets?