At some point, overlooking Scott Wedgewood stops being an oversight and starts becoming a pattern.
The NHL Network’s latest ranking of the league’s top 10 goaltenders somehow managed to leave the Colorado Avalanche netminder off the list entirely, despite Wedgewood putting together one of the best seasons of his career and finishing fifth in Vezina Trophy voting.
Advertisement
And honestly, what more does the man have to do?
There is a legitimate argument for leaving Mackenzie Blackwood off the list.
Blackwood was still good for Colorado during what was an up-and-down season by his standards, finishing 23-10-2 with a .904 save percentage. He remained an important part of one of the NHL’s best goaltending tandems, but if someone wants to argue that Blackwood isn’t among the league’s 10 best goaltenders, that’s defensible — for now.
Wedgewood is different.
There is an argument about whether he should be No. 4, No. 5 or No. 8.
There is no legitimate argument that he shouldn’t be in the top 10.
Advertisement
And there is a very strong argument that he should be in the top five.
Wedgewood wasn’t merely a reliable veteran who benefited from playing behind an excellent Avalanche roster.
He was one of the best goaltenders in hockey.
Wedgewood finished the regular season tops in nearly every category with a 31-6-6 record, a .921 save percentage, a 2.02 goals-against average and four shutouts.
Those are elite numbers.
More importantly, the people who actually voted on the Vezina Trophy recognized it.
Wedgewood finished fifth in the voting and received two first-place votes, three second-place votes, and two third-place votes finishing ahead of several established goaltenders who routinely receive far more recognition than he does.
Advertisement
So when NHL Network releases a top-10 list and Wedgewood isn’t even on it, the obvious question becomes:
What exactly are we missing here?
There was a legitimate debate surrounding Wedgewood and the Vezina Trophy finalists.
He wasn’t one of the three finalists, and there was a reasonable argument that his overall workload worked against him. He didn’t play as many games as some of the other elite goaltenders in the league.
That’s fine.
But NHL Network isn’t announcing the Vezina finalists.
It’s ranking the top 10 goaltenders in the NHL.
Those are two very different things.
Advertisement
If Wedgewood finishing fifth in Vezina voting doesn’t guarantee him a spot in the top five, fine.
But how does it result in him being outside the top 10?
That’s the part that doesn’t make sense.
Wedgewood was also left off Canada’s Olympic roster.
Again, there were reasons to understand the decision. International hockey is different, experience matters and roster construction isn’t simply about picking the three goaltenders who had the best NHL seasons.
But his Olympic omission was another reminder that Wedgewood’s performance wasn’t receiving the recognition it probably deserved.
Advertisement
Now NHL Network has done it again.
This time, there isn’t a tournament roster to construct. There isn’t a three-goaltender limit.
It’s simply a list of the 10 best goaltenders in the NHL.
And Wedgewood isn’t there.
What’s the excuse this time?
Scott Wedgewood was one of the best goaltenders in the NHL last season. And you could legitimately argue that he has been outstanding for much of his two seasons with the Colorado Avalanche.
After arriving in Colorado via trade with the Nashville Predators in exchange for Justus Annunen on Dec. 1, 2024, Wedgewood went 13-4-1 with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage in 19 games.
Advertisement
If you’re looking at that season alone, sure, you can make the sample-size argument. Maybe we needed to see more before declaring Wedgewood an elite goaltender.
But if you’re still clinging to the sample-size argument at this point, you’re running out of excuses.
Maybe Wedgewood isn’t better than Andrei Vasilevskiy. Maybe Connor Hellebuyck, Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin and Jeremy Swayman deserve to be ranked ahead of him.
That’s a legitimate debate.
But ranking Dan Vladar and Jesper Wallstedt ahead of Wedgewood is a different story.
Wallstedt allowed 16 goals against the Avalanche in Colorado’s second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series, which ended in a five-game defeat for the Minnesota Wild.
Advertisement
If we’re talking about the best goaltenders in the NHL, leaving Wedgewood out of the top 10 is difficult enough to defend.
Putting him behind those names?
That’s a joke. Scott Wedgewood deserves better.
Read the full article here