Logan Thompson was arguably the best goaltender in the NHL last season. However, he didn’t finish within the top three for Vezina Trophy voting, and it appears he’s still having some trouble earning respect from one of the league’s top media outlets ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.
NHL Network released a top-10 list of goaltenders for next season, put together by their producers and analysts. Thompson is on the list, but somehow not within the top five goalies despite his tremendous play since joining the Washington Capitals ahead of the 2024-25 season.
NHL Network’s top 10 goaltenders
| Rank | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Andrei Vasilevskiy | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| 2. | Connor Hellebuyck | Winnipeg Jets |
| 3. | Igor Shesterkin | New York Rangers |
| 4. | Ilya Sorokin | New York Islanders |
| 5. | Jeremy Swayman | Boston Bruins |
| 6. | Logan Thompson | Washington Capitals |
| 7. | Jake Oettinger | Dallas Stars |
| 8. | Dan Vladar | Philadelphia Flyers |
| 9. | Jesper Wallstedt | Minnesota Wild |
| 10. | Jakub Dobes | Montreal Canadiens |
Thompson, who finished fourth in Vezina voting despite being left off of more than half of NHL GMs’ ballots, played his second season with the Capitals this past year, taking on a much heavier workload than in his first.
In 58 appearances, the 29-year-old backstop went 31-21-6 with a 2.44 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage, and four shutouts. The 58 games were the most he has played in a single season in his career and were 15 more than he played in the 2024-25 season.
According to MoneyPuck, Thompson was also the top goalie in the NHL in goals saved above expected, recording 29.3, which was the most by a goalie not named Connor Hellebuyck since Juuse Saros posted 46.7 during the 2022-23 campaign. Given that, it was also more than every goalie NHL Network placed ahead of him.
2025-26 end-of-season goaltending statistics
| Goaltender | W-L-OT | GAA | Sv% | GSAE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logan Thompson | 31-21-6 | 2.44 | .912 | 29.3 |
| Jeremy Swayman | 31-18-4 | 2.71 | .908 | 28.8 |
| Ilya Sorokin | 29-24-2 | 2.68 | .906 | 25.3 |
| Andrei Vasilevskiy | 39-15-4 | 2.31 | .912 | 24.7 |
| Igor Shesterkin | 25-19-6 | 2.50 | .912 | 21.3 |
| Connor Hellebuyck | 23-23-11 | 2.86 | .895 | 5.5 |
Thompson will be back with a Capitals team that has real Stanley Cup aspirations after an offseason full of spending on premier talent like Alex Tuch, Jordan Kyrou, Boone Jenner, and Vincent Desharnais. He is expected to be backed up again by Charlie Lindgren, whom the Caps reportedly deemed too important to Thompson’s success to trade this summer.
The Capitals have Thompson under contract at a relatively cheap $5.85 million cap hit through the 2030-31 season.
