Predicting Which NHL Goaltenders Will Improve the Most in 2015-16 Season

In 2014-15, the biggest story in the NHL's goaltending fraternity was the ascension of the Montreal Canadiens' Carey Price from "great" to "one of the greatest."

Price took his Olympic gold medal and his solid NHL stats to the next level, winning the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award as the league's most valuable player as well as the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goaltender.

Price shouldn't falter much in the new season, but he hasn't left himself much room for improvement. A similar performance will keep him comfortably at the top of the goaltending pantheon.

But make no mistake—other netminders will make forward strides next season.

This slideshow looks at six goaltenders who should show significant improvement—whether they're minor-leaguers intent on making their mark at hockey's highest level, journeymen striving to become elite or established stars looking to bounce back from subpar performances.

One item to note: Goaltenders' ages are listed based on their age at the beginning of the 2015-16 regular season.

Which goalies do you think will show the most improvement next year?

6. Mike Smith: Arizona Coyotes

Derek Leung/Getty Images

Age: 33

2014-15 Stats: 62 GP, 14-42-5, .904 save percentage, 3.16 goals-against average (from NHL.com)

Why He'll Be Better: During a 2014-15 season in which the Arizona Coyotes were actively rebuilding their roster, Mike Smith was unable to provide the type of heroic goaltending that would have been necessary to keep his team out of the Western Conference dungeon.

Smith fought the puck all season long behind a patchwork group of skaters who found themselves overmatched on the ice more often than not.

But Smith found his form in Prague at the 2015 World Championships, allowing just one goal in the three-game medal round on the way to earning a gold medal for Team Canada.

The Coyotes will still be a team in transition next season, but they've brought back steady veterans Zbynek Michalek and Antoine Vermette via free agency and have a slew of impressive young talent coming up through their ranks.

Expect to see an overall improvement in Glendale in 2015-16, with Smith once again finding a way to stop pucks and win games.

5. Cory Schneider: New Jersey Devils

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Age: 29

2014-15 Stats: 69 GP, 26-31-9, .925 save percentage, 2.26 goals-against average (from NHL.com)

Why He'll Be Better: In his two seasons with the New Jersey Devils, Cory Schneider has put up terrific individual numbers without a whole lot of support around him. In 2013-14, he was battling for ice time with legendary incumbent Martin Brodeur. Last season, behind the league's 28th-ranked offense per NHL.com, Schneider often ended up taking a loss when he performed up to or even above expectations.

The Devils have a new brain trust this season, led by general manager Ray Shero and coach John Hynes. As the team gets younger and finds its new identity, Schneider's personal numbers should improve a bit. Even more importantly, the wins should start to come—ultimately pushing New Jersey back into the playoff picture before too much more time passes.

4. Jacob Markstrom: Vancouver Canucks

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

Age: 25

2014-15 Stats: 3 GP, 1-1-0, .879 save percentage, 3.08 goals-against average (from NHL.com)

Why He'll Be Better: After spending only parts of the last five seasons in the National Hockey League, Jacob Markstrom is being counted on to make the jump to full-time backup after the Vancouver Canucks traded incumbent Eddie Lack at the 2015 draft.

Markstrom fits with the trend toward big-bodied netminders at 6'6" and 196 pounds. He also had an outstanding first season with the Utica Comets of the AHL—22-7-2 in the regular season with a .934 save percentage and 1.88 goals-against average. In the playoffs, Markstrom posted a 12-11 record with a 2.11 goals-against average and .925 save percentage, according to TheAHL.com. The Comets reached the Calder Cup final.

Slotted in for regular backup duty in 2015-16, Markstrom will have a chance to work all season with Canucks goaltending coach Rollie Melanson, one of the best in the league.

It wouldn't be Vancouver without a goaltending controversy. Expect Markstrom's strong play to put pressure on starter Ryan Miller before too long.

3. Andrei Vasilevskiy: Tampa Bay Lightning

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Age: 21

2014-15 Stats: 16 GP, 7-5-1, .918 save percentage, 2.36 goals-against average (from NHL.com)

Why He'll Be Better: Andrei Vasilevskiy first made himself known to North Americans when he backstopped Team Russia to a silver medal at the 2012 World Junior Championship—as a 17-year-old in a tournament in which most players are 19.

Goalies traditionally take longer than skaters to develop, which is what makes it even more remarkable that at just 21 years of age, Vasilevskiy has three World Junior medals to his name—Russia won bronze in Ufa, Russia, in 2013 and in Malmo, Sweden, in 2014—and brought home World Championship gold from Minsk, Belarus, as the backup to Sergei Bobrovsky in the spring of 2014.

Vasilevskiy made the trip across the pond last season, playing 25 games in the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch before being called upon to join the Tampa Bay Lightning full-time in February.

Vasilevskiy proved his big-league mettle when he filled in for an injured Ben Bishop during a tumultuous Stanley Cup Final. As Bishop's backup in 2015-16, he'll have a chance to build off a promising start to his NHL career—and has shown that he'll be more than capable of handling the duties next time Bishop goes down with an injury.

"His work habits are impeccable, his focus is all-world, and he’s basically unflappable," NBC analyst Pierre McGuire told Jeremy Fuchs of SI.com. "That’s what we saw in the playoffs. And that’s usually the tell tale sign that a guy is going to be a superstar."

2. Sergei Bobrovsky: Columbus Blue Jackets

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Age: 27

2014-15 Stats: 51 GP, 30-17-3, .918 save percentage, 2.69 goals-against average (from NHL.com)

Why He'll Be Better: After winning the Vezina Trophy during his first season with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2012-13, both Sergei Bobrovsky and his team slumped due to injury last season.

The Jackets ended 2014-15 with a league-leading 393 man games lost to injury, according to Man Games Lost. Bobrovsky was responsible for 23 of those games over three separate stints, per The Hockey News—seven games missed with a fractured finger in November, one game missed due to illness in late December and 15 games missed due to a groin pull through late January and most of February.

Once Bobrovsky returned from the groin issue on March 3, most of his teammates were also healthy. The Blue Jackets went on a tear to end the season, recording a 16-3-1 record, with Bobrovsky recording a personal record of 14-2-1.

If Columbus stays healthy, there's every reason to think the team should pick up where it left off when the new season begins in October. Expect to see Bobrovsky back among the NHL's goaltending leaders as the Blue Jackets return to playoff contention in 2015-16.

1. Braden Holtby: Washington Capitals

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Age: 26

2014-15 Stats: 73 GP, 41-20-10, .923 save percentage, 2.22 goals-against average (from NHL.com)

Why He'll Be Better: When Barry Trotz took over the coaching duties for the Washington Capitals before the 2014-15 season, he put his complete faith in up-and-coming goaltender Braden Holtby to carry the load—with impressive results.

Holtby led all netminders with 73 appearances and tied for second with 41 wins, behind only Carey Price.

Even more exciting for Capitals fans, Holtby stepped up his game in the playoffs with a dazzling 1.71 goals-against average and .944 save percentage—a promising sign that the prairie kid can shift to another gear when the pressure mounts.

As Holtby and his teammates settle into their second season under Trotz's leadership, expect to see even more heroics from Holtby. I pegged him earlier this month as a potential dark-horse Vezina Trophy candidate.