Ranking the 15 Coolest Goaltender Masks in the NHL This Season

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NHL goaltenders often are identifiable by their masks, and this year there are a few goalies that have worn some cool masks.

Many goalies have ordinary masks that don't scream personality, so their masks will be not included in this list.

While goaltender mask features often come down to opinion in terms of what is cool or not, here are the top 15 masks in the NHL this season.

 

Designs courtesy of Dave Art and In Goal Magazine.

15. Jacob Markstrom

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Jacob Markstrom has not yet played a game this season, but as a backup, he has one of the nicest masks in the league. The Florida Panther is a great base image to use and David Gunnarsson really pulled it off with this design.

14. Sergei Bobrovsky

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Sergei Bobrovsky joined the Columbus Blue Jackets this summer, and he is a young goaltender who can help turn things around for the team.

If he can play like the brick wall his mask depicts, the Blue Jackets can make some noise in 2013.

13. Johan Hedberg

David Gunnarsson
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David Gunnarsson is an amazing artist and he has been the architect behind Johan Hedberg's amazing masks.

Throughout the years, Hedberg has had his famous moose masks, but this year the Devils' backup poked some fun at his age by depicting a grandfather moose with glasses and dentures.

12. Mike Smith

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Mike Smith has an amazing mask that pays homage to his team's name and the famous Wile E. Coyote from Looney Tunes' fame.

It is a simple and cool design, and one of the best in the league.

11. Ilya Bryzgalov

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Ilya Bryzgalov made headlines for his performance on last season's edition of HBO 24/7 particularly for his line about tigers.

It seemed to only make sense for the colorful goaltender to feature a mask with a tiger and its sharp claws.

These is a pretty cool design, and one that really fits Bryzgalov.

10. Dan Ellis

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Dan Ellis was a nice pickup by the Carolina Hurricanes to back up Cam Ward, and he comes in at No. 5 on the top masks of 2013 list.

Ellis has a nice combination of team colors, logos and he features a fisherman on the left hand side of his mask.

Overall, this is one of the coolest designs that has appeared thus far in 2013.

9. Henrik Lundqvist

David Gunnarsson
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Henrik Lundqvist has always had a signature mask throughout his tenure in the NHL, and he stepped up his design this year.

Lundqvist's mask incorporates many classic designs from past masks, and he also paid tribute to silver screen legends from his homeland of Sweden.

8. Viktor Fasth

David Gunnarsson
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Viktor Fasth has made a nice NHL debut in 2013, and his amazing mask helps him stand out. David Gunnarsson really did a nice job with this take on a rabid cartoon duck, and it is a crisp and well done design.

7. Cam Ward

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Cam Ward's mask is pretty cool, and it is a revised version of a mask he has been wearing for a while.

Ward tends goals for the Carolina Hurricanes, so his mask featuring the infamous pirate Blackbeard is an excellent choice for his mask.

6. Al Montoya

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Al Montoya is a backup netminder for the Winnipeg Jets, and he has really made himself at home with this mask prominently featuring references to the Jets and the Royal Air Force in Canada,

It is a pretty incredible mask that really is one of the sharpest in the NHL.

5. Richard Bachman

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The Dallas Stars backup goaltender shares the same birth name as Stephen King, the famed author who uses King as his pen name,. This mask pays tribute to a few theatrical adaptations of King's work, and this mask is just full of a ton of awesome.

4. James Reimer

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James Reimer has had one of the coolest mask designs throughout his career, and it is great he has taken advantage of his last name in his designs.

Optimus Reim is featured in many parts of this mask, the Toronto colors are well represented and it is a design that never gets old.

3. Marc-Andre Fleury

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Marc-Andre Fleury's mask for the 2012-13 season is absolutely stunning. The Pittsburgh Penguins' netminder took a similar design he has used throughout his career, and elements of it were vastly improved to give it an outstanding look.

Fleury's mask really captures the grit of the Steel City that is Pittsburgh, and it is a mask he should be proud to wear.

2. Pekka Rinne

David Gunnarsson
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Pekka Rinne's mask features "The Voodoo Predator" waiting to escape, and it is an intense design that should invoke fear in opposing shooters.

Rinne is an intense goaltender, and this mask really fits his personality.

1. Tuukka Rask

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Tuukka Rask's design simply takes the cake for all NHL goalies this year, and it is a design that is one of the fiercest in the NHL.

During his tenure in Boston, Tim Thomas was known for his amazing mask, but Rask's aggressive design completely blows it out of the water.