NHL goaltenders take longer to blossom and reach peak levels than other positions.
With most teams running with two goalies, there’s simply not as much room to break out into the NHL right away, compared to forwards and defensemen like Connor Bedard, Macklin Celebrini and Matthew Schaefer, who made ‘The Show’ at 18.
Of course, that’s a trend, not a rule.
There are a handful of netminders who are 25 years old or younger, either taking the NHL by storm or coming into their own as they mature.
So, who are the NHL’s five best young goaltenders? Let’s take a look:
NHL’s 5 best young goalies
5. Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves
While it’s one thing to have a cool name, backing it up with sound play is a different matter altogether.
Despite his middling 18-17-7 record, the 24-year-old has enjoyed a terrific start to his NHL career. Greaves’ breakout came last year when he assembled an impressive 7-2-2 record with two shutouts and an otherworldly .938 save percentage and 1.91 goals against average.
In 2025-26, Greaves is among the top 15 in goals saved above expected, meaning he’s stopping more chances than an average goalie would in his situations, according to moneypuck.com. Enjoy watching Jet as he ascends the goaltending ranks.
4. Chicago Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight
Drafted with the 13th pick in the first round of the 2019 draft by the Florida Panthers, Spencer Knight played four seasons before earning his first crack as a team’s No. 1 netminder.
With the fourth-most goals saved above expected thus far in the 2025-26 season, he’s making the most of his opportunity with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Knight’s story is also one of redemption as he missed the 2023-24 season after entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program and completing the required steps to re-enter the league.
3. Anaheim Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal
Lukas Dostal made his NHL debut in 2021-22, starting four games for the Anaheim Ducks.
Drafted 85th overall by the Ducks in 2018, Dostal became the team’s No. 1 goaltender in 2024-25, finishing with 14.3 goals saved above expected. That was the second-best total among goaltenders who are 25 or younger, with Greaves’ 14.5 marginally better.
Just outside the top 10 for goals saved above expected in 2025-26, the 25-year-old is off to another exquisite start.
2. Minnesota Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt
Jesper Wallstedt, the youngest on this list at 23, secured five shutouts in his first 15 NHL starts. Only Frank ‘Mr. Zero’ Brimsek got to five shutouts faster. In 1938, Brimsek accomplished the feat in just nine starts.
Wallstedt shut out the opponent four times in a six-game stretch earlier this season, with the high-octane Edmonton Oilers among the victims. That stretch encapsulates how impressive Wallstedt has been in the embryonic stages of his NHL career.
1. Calgary Flames goalie Dustin Wolf
In Dustin Wolf, the Calgary Flames are confident they have found their franchise goaltender.
Selected in the seventh round with the 214th pick in 2019, the 24-year-old from California came close to not even being drafted. In 2024-25, he paid back the faith the Flames showed in him by propelling them to within a point of an improbable playoff appearance.
Wolf’s superb de facto rookie season earned him a place among the Calder Trophy finalists. He finished with the second-most votes in front of Macklin Celebrini and behind the winner, Lane Hutson.
