1. Andrei Vasilevskiy and Brian Elliott - Tampa Bay Lightning

Andrei Vasilevskiy is the best goaltender in the NHL and he’s playing for the NHL’s best team in the Tampa Bay lightning. The Russian is head and shoulders above goalies in the league and it’s still being suggested that he’s underrated as he’s surrounded by so many top-tier players in Tampa Bay.

The 27-year-old has won two straight Stanley Cups, is fresh off a Conn Smith win, and has been a Vezina Trophy finalist in four consecutive years. He has led the league in wins across the span of those four years too.

The Lightning aren’t the outright favorites for the Cup at 9/1, with the best sportsbooks tipping the Colorado Avalanche to lift it at the end of the term, but one would do well not to count them out. Vasilevskiy is still relatively young so he’s likely to remain at the top of his game for at least another 6-8 years.

Brain Elliot hasn’t been nearly as effective yet the Jets won’t be depending on him too heavily unless Andrei isn’t able to play for health reasons or otherwise. He hasn’t registered a positive GSAA since the 2015/16 campaign and went minus-14 with the Philadelphia Flyers last season. Given that he’s paired with Vasilevskiy, he earns an automatic top spot on such a list

2. Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie - Winnipeg Jets

Connor Hellebuyck has led the NHL in games started three out of his last four seasons and could be considered to be the most dependable in his position as no other goalie has kept their team in games as much as he has. He also boasts a whopping plus-62.9 GSAA over the course of the aforementioned period.

Photo via: Wikimedia Commons

The Jets have also made it their duty to put a top crop of defenders in front of the 28-year-old American, so they’re obviously going to be a force to reckon with.

As for Eric Comrie, he’s unlikely to see many starts in goal that aren’t due to the team playing back-to-backs but take nothing away from him as a shot-stopper. He has kept the Jets grounded while Connor remains out with an illness, and rather admirably.

3. Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Sorokin - New York Islanders

The Islanders' goalies have the added benefit of playing under a coach who is intent on making them comfortable by sharing the workload, though some players will want to play as much as possible. In Semyon Varlamov and Ilya Sorokin, the coach has two goaltenders he can depend on to help carry the team in their pursuit of Stanley Cup glory.

The two keepers are the only ones who really function as a unit as they share a sort of symbiotic relationship. No one really functions as a No.1 in goal and the formula has worked well enough to leave them as one of the most solid keeper pairings in pro ice hockey.

4. Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger - Seattle Kraken

The Seattle Kraken are unlikely to be all that good this season but contention for a playoff place could be in their view. If postseason play becomes a reality in their very first season, it will probably be because of their defense and goaltending.

They’ve got a pretty solid tandem in Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger and, while the pair are unlikely to feature as the be-all-end-all at the back, they’re going to be very important.

The former made his name with the Avalanche and finished third in the Vezina Trophy voting last season. Driedger is also looking like he is back to his best and is the final piece in the setup general manager Ron Francis envisioned in the summer.

5. Darcy Kuemper and Pavel Francouz - Colorado Avalanche

Darcy Kuemper wasn’t expected to be the man in goal for Colorado this season but he was brought in after Grubauer beat a bath to the Kraken via the expansion draft. General manager Joe Sakic pulled off a trade with the Arizona Coyotes to get Kuemper in July.

The goalie had built a reputation as a game-winner for Arizona. He posted a GSAA of plus-418 having played 82 games in both the 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons.

While he wasn’t as much of an impact last term, there were legitimate reasons for that. He’s now on a team harboring hopes of a Stanley Cup parade at the end of the season and, should he live up to his reputation, it could be a very successful term for the Avalanche.

Meanwhile, Pavel Francouz did not play last season but his rookie numbers from the prior campaign were impressive, relatively. If he can keep up his form from 2019/20, Colorado could experience even more success.