Goalies to Get (2005 - Present)

[PatchSentinel]

I like to collect goalie rookies, mostly from The Cup if they're available and fairly priced, and am looking for suggestions. Not all goalies get a Cup release, though. Of course I like the superstars, but I also collect backups, or maybe I just like a goalie's style of play even if their effort doesn't back their stats. I don't really have a formula for what causes me to want a goalie's rookie, so feel free to post up some names even if they're not household ones.

There can also be something interesting to their story that makes me want to own their rookie, such as a Shawn Hunwick, who only played three minutes in an NHL game. It can also happen where I will watch some highlights of a goalie playing in the NHL, note the name, then check back a year or two later only to find out they are in the AHL, but I still will want their rookie in some cases.

Here is what I have so far:

Jake Allen
Jonathan Bernier
Jordan Binnington
Ben Bishop
Mackenzie Blackwood
Sergei Bobrovsky
Joey Daccord
Aaron Dell
Jakub Dobes
Luka Dostal
Chris Driedger
Brian Elliot
Jhonas Enroth
Samuel Ersson
Anton Forsberg
Pavel Francouz
John Gibson
Philipp Grubauer
Filip Gustavsson
Jaroslav Halak
Connor Hellebuyck
Adin Hill
Braden Holtby
Joel Hofer
Jimmy Howard
Martin Jones
Anton Khudobin
Joonas Korpisalo
Darcy Kuemper
Kevin Lankinen
Robin Lehner
Devon Levi
Charlie Lindgren
Henrik Lundqvist
Jacob Markstrom
Steve Mason
Curtis McElhinney
Elvis Merzlikins
Samuel Montembeault
Petr Mrazek
Alex Nedeljkovic
Antti Niemi
Carey Price
Antti Raanta
James Reimer
Anthony Stolarz
Tuuka Rask
Ilya Samsonov
Juuse Saros
Akira Schmid
Igor Shesterkin
Mads Søgaard
Ilya Sorokin
Malcolm Subban
Jeremy Swayman
Logan Thompson
Dustin Tokarski
Linus Ullmark
Vitek Vanecek
Simeon Varlomov
Andrei Vasilevsky
Karel Vejmelka
Cam Ward

It's okay if the players you suggest don't have a Cup card. You can make a note of that if you want to, but not required. Just a name is fine. If you want to say something about them as well, much obliged.

I rarely create threads, so I may not be a huge responder to this one, but many thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[stoopid]

I collect Hellebuyck, Swayman and Rask. I'd like to get a few Fleury and Lundqvist autos. I also consider myself a goalie and defenseman collector, but have a limited budget so I keep my lists short.

Is there anyone not on your list? I guess I'm lost as to the intent here. Logan Thompson?

[roverpak]

Pekka Rinne has cup cards but no cup rookie

[PatchSentinel]

Originally Posted by stoopid

I collect Hellebuyck, Swayman and Rask. I'd like to get a few Fleury and Lundqvist autos. I also consider myself a goalie and defenseman collector, but have a limited budget so I keep my lists short.

Some of the names I already have, but wanted to include them as examples. For example, I have a Hellebuyck and Rask, but not a Swayman yet (I do want one).

Originally Posted by stoopid

Is there anyone not on your list? I guess I'm lost as to the intent here. Logan Thompson?

I didn't want to discourage people from posting up names, but yes. Technically I've never cared for Carey Price, but added his name on the list anyway because I'd like to one day add his rookie if his prices ever come down to reality - or I just go large on a BIN. I don't care for Stuart Skinner, or Mike Smith. Wasn't much for Holtby's style of play, but he won a Cup, so I want his rookie at some point. I am not familiar with Logan Thompson.

The intent is really to gather names I might have forgotten about. I go by patch quality and price when I buy these, and it can be years before I pick one up, if one shows up at all. Every so often I type each name in and see what's available that meets what I want for both patch quality and price. So just want to add names I may not have.

[stoopid]

Originally Posted by PatchSentinel

I didn't want to discourage people from posting up names, but yes. Technically I've never cared for Carey Price, but added his name on the list anyway because I'd like to one day add his rookie if his prices ever come down to reality - or I just go large on a BIN. I don't care for Stuart Skinner, or Mike Smith. Wasn't much for Holtby's style of play, but he won a Cup, so I want his rookie at some point. I am not familiar with Logan Thompson.

The intent is really to gather names I might have forgotten about. I go by patch quality and price when I buy these, and it can be years before I pick one up, if one shows up at all. Every so often I type each name in and see what's available that meets what I want for both patch quality and price. So just want to add names I may not have.

I realized after roverpaks post that you were indeed missing some important goalies, like Renne. It's definitely a unique list!

[PatchSentinel]

Originally Posted by stoopid

I realized after roverpaks post that you were indeed missing some important goalies, like Renne. It's definitely a unique list!

Yeah, as mentioned by roverpak, no Cup card for Rinne. For guys like that who don't have a Cup card, I may try to do a Future Watch if they have one (Rinne has one), or some other limited-run card if available, or preferred.

I also see why you listed Thompson, who is currently 21-2. That's a name I should probably know, but I have been behind on my highlight-watching this year. I also lost some motivation to keep up with rookies when The Cup releases stopped coming out on time, and were subsequently years behind. The Cup releases + highlights were a good combo in recognizing names for me. Now that the past few years of The Cup are being released, things should be back to schedule going forward. Thompson is one I will keep an eye on, thanks bud .

[creasecollector]

Short goalies rule. So I will name a few!

If you like journeyman, snag Dustin Tokarski. He's battled back to the NHL with the Canes this year and is a nice underdog story.

Another goalie on the short side is Juuse Saros. He is a great goalie.

And if we are talking about goalies, I can't help but list Jhonas Enroth of course. Small goalie that made it. Fun fact: He was also very good in shootouts. He was the first goalie in NHL history to win his very first 3 games of his career via the shootout.

[PatchSentinel]

Originally Posted by creasecollector

Short goalies rule. So I will name a few!

If you like journeyman, snag Dustin Tokarski. He's battled back to the NHL with the Canes this year and is a nice underdog story.

Another goalie on the short side is Juuse Saros. He is a great goalie.

And if we are talking about goalies, I can't help but list Jhonas Enroth of course. Small goalie that made it. Fun fact: He was also very good in shootouts. He was the first goalie in NHL history to win his very first 3 games of his career via the shootout.

I thought I might see Enroth's name pop up at some point. Noted. I will look into Tokarski, not familiar with him. I have a Saros - overpaid for it because it had a great patch, but I have one. He is an excellent goalie for sure.

[Stifle]

Patch, I find it more intriguing on why not just utilizing this Century vs 20 years ? It’s only a 5 year difference, or the first quarter of the Century.

[PatchSentinel]

Originally Posted by Stifle

Patch, I find it more intriguing on why not just utilizing this Century vs 20 years ? It’s only a 5 year difference, or the first quarter of the Century.

The distinction is because the first The Cup release was 2005-06. Focusing just on Cup rookies is where I want to go with my collection right now. It won't always be possible for every player, because I think guys like Anton Forsberg, Schmid, Levi, Georgiev and many others won't or don't have Cup rookies. We went a few years without a Cup release. Not sure how much that interuption played a part in that. Some of these names I had on the list before the new checklists came out, but I'm leaving them on there; I will explore other sets they might be in (Young Guns, Premier RPAs, Future Watch, etc.) when or if I feel like checking them off the list.

For the pre-2005 guys, I have done a lot of Future Watches, Titanium RCs and BAP /99s, but I want to focus on this Cup project going forward. It is a slow grind, no-rush project.

[cfern023]

Ohhhh yeahhhhhhh. Taking notes.

[cfern023]

I've started grabbing young guns and rookies of guys I like, signed and encapsulated by BAS.

So far I have:
Belfour Rookie
Cujo Rookie
Hasek Rookie
Beezer Rookier
Fleury Bowman Rookie
Bobrovsky young guns rookie
spencer knight young guns and young guns canvas
Tim Thomas Young Guns (original)
Sorokin Young guns (not BAS)
Montembault Young Guns Not BAS

One set I really enjoyed was the 2023 SP Game Used autos only, in the All Star Jerseys. Went to that Asg. Ended up grabbing Hellybyuck, Saros, Vasilevsky, Sorokin, Thompson. Still looking for In Person versions of Ullmark, Shesterkin, and Skinner as well as other established goalies.

Love the look of the cards. The Markstrom looks insane w his lava skull mask on it. Jbo Airbrush kills it with his helmets.

[cfern023]

Originally Posted by creasecollector

Short goalies rule. So I will name a few!

If you like journeyman, snag Dustin Tokarski. He's battled back to the NHL with the Canes this year and is a nice underdog story.

.

Tokarski is a filthy tendy, dude looks like he grabs whatever is in the rinks "lost and found" bin for equipment. He's the modern day Athurs Irbe. I think he's still using the same foam warrior stick from 2020. Like, the same exact stick on all his cards.

[PatchSentinel]

Some new arrivals.



The Sogaard was an overpay (original offers weren't accepted). I will do that sometimes when (a) I know it will be a PC card and (b) when the patch fits my criteria for not having to need an upgrade in the future. There was no urgency on the Hunwick, but I have wanted one for a while and finally got it done. Vejmelka has a lot of one-line scribble autos, so I went for a good one. The sweet spot for top Cup rookies is when I can get them for less than $20 delivered.

Also picked up a Daniil Tarasov Future Watch. He's currently 59 games into his career and looks better than his record from the highlights I have seen. Blue Jackets diehards may have a different take? Not only does Tarasov not have a Cup rookie, as of this writing, he has no autos of any kind as far as I can tell. I guess that makes this the official Tarasov hype post!...until he gets an auto from Upper Deck.



I'm further adding the Ducks' John Gibson's protege Lukas Dostal to my list, as well as Samuel Ersson (Flyers) and Jakub Dobes (Canadiens).

[stoopid]

Are you on instagram? I looked for your username but the one result wasn't a match.

[creasecollector]

Originally Posted by cfern023

Tokarski is a filthy tendy, dude looks like he grabs whatever is in the rinks "lost and found" bin for equipment. He's the modern day Athurs Irbe. I think he's still using the same foam warrior stick from 2020. Like, the same exact stick on all his cards.

He recently got new gear with the Canes,though the specs are very similar to stuff he wore in like 2008, but yes, the prior stick (& mask) remains!

[PatchSentinel]

Originally Posted by stoopid

Are you on instagram? I looked for your username but the one result wasn't a match.

No Instagram. I'm only on Blowout.

Originally Posted by creasecollector

He recently got new gear with the Canes,though the specs are very similar to stuff he wore in like 2008, but yes, the prior stick (& mask) remains!

Looked for him in the 'canes highlights the past few weeks, but he hasn't played since Dec. 23, 2024. Will get a better look at him next time he's in net.