from Rory Boylen of Sportsnet,

---We’re not saying Vasilevskiy is overrated, but it’s worth questioning if goalies should be valued like running backs when we’re discussing finding cap value. Just last season we saw Robin Lehner (Vezina finalist) and Petr Mrazek excel on cheap contracts. Previously, Antti Raanta was excellent when healthy in Arizona — and when he was injured Darcy Kuemper posted a .925 save percentage behind their top-notch team defence. There are certainly cautionary tales (Cam Talbot, Scott Darling) so perhaps paying up for the security of knowing you’ve locked down the position is worth it for some teams. But is full term necessary?

Goaltenders don’t have the same high injury risk as NFL running backs do, and their production window is open much longer. Still, with a good defence and enough scoring, teams can find value in net. Perhaps it’s a situational approach, but at the base of it, is it better to spend less on a goalie so you can improve the team around one?

Goaltender workloads are also trending down in the regular season as the NHL moves in the direction of tandems (in the NFL “bellcow” running backs are similarly being replaced by committees), so their general impact is lessening from October to April.

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