Red Wings goaltending earns poor marks vs. division opponents

Well, this will likely be unwelcome news to fans of the Detroit Red Wings. 

Their goaltending tandem of Ville Husso and newcomers James Reimer and Alex Lyon isn't exactly earning the best of marks as opposed to the rest of the net minders in the Atlantic Division. In fact, they come in 5th out of the eight teams. 

According to Detroit Hockey Now, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins all have superior goaltending to the Red Wings. Take a look at their reasoning: 

1. Tampa Bay Lightning

"Andre Vasilevskiy’s goals-against average was up and his save percentage was down slightly. But Vasilevskiy remains one of the top goalies in the game today. Since he became a regular in 2016-17, he has never had a season save percentage below .915.

This Yzerman draft pick is a primary reason why the Lightning are still a contender, even though their depth has been eroded by salary cap issues."

2. Boston Bruins

Linus Ullmark and young Jeremy Swayman are the division’s best tandem. The Bruins need another season of excellence from this dynamic duo because Patrice Bergeron retired and David Krejci is expected to retire. Salary cap woes forced them to trade Taylor Hall. They couldn’t re-sign Tyler Bertuzzi or Dmitry Orlov.

3. Florida Panthers 

"Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight could be as effective as Ullmark and Swayman. But it’s difficult to know where Knight’s game is at because he missed most of last season because he was in the NHL/NHLPA Player’s Assistance Program."

4. Toronto Maple Leafs 

"Ilya Samsonov, 26, quietly put up strong numbers last season. He had a .919 save percentage in 42 games. He will likely play 54-plus games in the upcoming season.

The Maple Leafs have considerable confidence in Samsonov. They believe their goaltending stacks up well in the Atlantic Division."

5. And finally, the Red Wings: 

"The Red Wings believe Husso’s second half dip reflects the high number of injuries the team was experiencing. The Red Wings were simply giving up too many high danger scoring chances.

On the season, Husso had 24 games in which he gave up two or fewer goals. He posted four shutouts."

Is this a fair ranking to the Red Wings? 

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