10 NHL Goalies Who Will Be Under the Microscope This Season

It has been said that the goalie in hockey is the most important position in all of sports.  If a team doesn't have quality goaltenders who can make key saves at the most critical times during a game, then no matter how much a team scores, it will not win many games.  Many great goalies may come to mind who were able to lead their teams to the Stanley Cup: Terry Sawchuk, Grant Fuhr, Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur, to name a few.  Although there are several goalies currently in the NHL who play well year-in and year-out, some (if not all) have ups and downs during certain seasons and their careers.  The following goalies whom I believe will be starting for their respective teams come October and the beginning of the regular season will need to have a good year in order to keep their teams in the playoff hunt and also will have to bounce back from last season's disappointments.

Jeff Deslauriers

Oil Country was severely disappointed last season as they finished last in the National Hockey League and now with the number one overall pick in the 2010 Entry Draft Taylor Hall on the team, they will be looking for their Oilers to bounce back and give the fans something to cheer about again.  Jeff Deslauriers will be looked to more often than Nikolai Khabibulin, as Khabibulin is now 37 and nearing the end of his career, and the 26-year-old Deslauriers will certainly have to improve his numbers and overall play if he is to take over as a clear number one goalie in Edmonton during the coming season.  A goals-against-average of over 3.00 and a save percentage of just .901 is not going to cut it for a team that finished tied for 26th in the NHL in goals-for last season, even if Taylor Hall has a remarkable first season along the lines of Alexander Ovechkin's rookie campaign in 2005-06.

Kari Lehtonen

Kari Lehtonen has become the most disappointing goalie drafted in the top five of his draft class over the last decade who currently has a starting job in the NHL, as the second-overall pick in 2002 put up a save percentage of .912 and a goals-against-average of 2.79 during his best season with the Atlanta Thrashers in 2006-07.  He won 34 games that season, but was one of the main reasons the Thrashers were swept by the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs that year.  If the 26-year-old Finnish-born goalie is to become an effective backstopper and lead the Dallas Stars back to the postseason, then Lehtonen will have to control his rebounds much better and start smothering the puck instead of kicking it out to forwards of the opposing team around the crease.

Marty Turco

The current Chicago Blackhawks' netminder has seen better days in the National Hockey League, his best seasons statistically speaking coming before the lockout in 2004-05.  The 34-year-old Turco may play better under the Blackhawks system next season, but in order for him to lead the relatively young Blackhawks roster back to the promised land in back-to-back seasons Turco will have to make the big saves at the important times during games and keep the puck out of his net.

Michael Leighton

Chicago's former pick of 165th overall in 1999 saw his numbers improve drastically after being picked up off waivers by the Philadelphia Flyers and helped the team from the City of Brotherly Love come within two wins (and an overtime) of winning their first Stanley Cup since 1975.  He still did not move quick enough most of the time to keep up with the play on the ice as the Philadelphia defense was there to bail him out for the most part.  Still, if the Flyers are going to go back to the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row, he will need to be quicker on his skates and his overall movement will need to be more fluid in order to give the Philly fans their first Stanley Cup in 36 years.

Steve Mason

The Blue Jackets's third round pick in 2006 got into the all too common sophomore slump in his second year in the National Hockey League, as the former Calder Trophy winner saw his numbers plummet during their first round sweep at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings in 2009 and he was never able to recover after the disappointing showing from the team's first playoff birth in their short history.  The 22-year-old won only 20 games last season and even with five shutouts to his credit, it wasn't good enough to get the Blue Jackets close to the postseason.  They finished with a disappointing 79 points in the standings and ended the season 16 points out of a playoff spot.  For a team that struggled to score goals last season, Mason will have to be stellar once again in order for the city of Columbus to be able to cheer their team on in a filled arena during the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Antero Niittymaki

Philadelphia's sixth-round pick in 1999 has never had a stellar showing during an NHL season and even though Sharks' GM Doug Wilson thinks that the Finnish born goalie can thrive under their system, Niittymaki will just have to prove that he can be a number one goalie in professional hockey in North America.  His worst showing was with Philadelphia in 2006-07, when Antero played 52 games for the Flyers but only posted 9 wins and a .894 save percentage along with a 3.38 goals against average.  Something's gotta give in San Jose, and even though Evgeni Nabokov was never able to reproduce his regular season numbers during the Sharks' postseason play, the Bay Area hockey fans may have little patience for a goalie who can't even get their team to the postseason.

Cam Ward

The 26-year-old former Conn Smythe winner has had more downs than ups since winning the Stanley Cup in 2006 and has a career goals against average of 2.79 and a save percentage of .905 during his five seasons in the National Hockey League.  An injury plagued 2009-10 season for the netminder along with a team which at one point was the oldest in the NHL didn't help matters for fans hoping to cheer their team on to consecutive playoff births for the first time since the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons, but this can't go on much longer without changes to the on-ice coaching staff.

Jonas Gustavsson

The 25-year old Swedish netminder for the underachieving Maple Leafs went 16-15-9 with a .902 save percentage and a 2.87 goals against average in 42 games with the Leafs last season.  With Vesa Toskala finally gone after his worst NHL season took him down, Gustavsson will need to take the reins of the Maple Leafs team and help them to clinch their first playoff birth since the 2003-04 season.  The future could be brighter in Toronto, but until they get their goalie situation and overall team play under control, they could be watching the tube during the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.

Marc-Andre Fleury

The Penguins goalie has been decent in his first six seasons in the NHL, but his numbers are nowhere near what they should be.  He posted 37 wins in 67 games last season, but a .905 save percentage and a 2.65 goals against average just won't cut it much longer.  In order for Fleury to become the outstanding goalie people thought he would be, he'll need to control his rebounds better and step up his conditioning in order to play in more games.  Other than the 2007-08 regular season and playoffs, Fleury's stats have never been close to stellar.  The Penguins' fans may think that he is their saviour, but the numbers speak for themselves at the end of the day.

Carey Price

With Jaroslav Halak now gone from the city that saw their beloved Canadiens raise the Stanley Cup 24 times in 101 seasons, Price is now the goalie in Montreal.  With only 13 wins in 41 games last season, Price saw his numbers stay close to the 2008-09 season rather than improve to his rookie year form.  His play down the stretch in 2009 and into the Playoffs lost him the starting job to Halak; but now that Price will most certainly play in more games (unless there is someone whom I have missed in free agency or in the Canadiens' farm system) and without a return to form on his part, the season could be painful for "Les Habitants."