Mid-season grades: San Jose Sharks goaltenders

We’ve almost reached the halfway point of the San Jose Sharks season, and it’s time to benchmark where the players are at this point. Today marks game 41 for the Sharks on the calendar, the official halfway mark.

The goaltenders might be the easiest of the bunch to evaluate since there are only a couple of players to analyze. Yes, Mackenzie Blackwood and Kaapo Kahkonen have had their ups and downs this season, but for the most part, they’ve done their best to steal games for San Jose, even when the players in front of them aren’t at their best.

With that in mind, we’re going to give all of them A’s. If only because they bailed the Sharks out on nights when San Jose, as a team, was not so good. And on the nights that Blackwood or Kahkonen were not good, the Sharks did not do the same. It would not be fair to Blackwood, Kahkonen or poor Magnus Chrona to give them anything less than a passing grade.

Magnus Chrona never got a fair shot

Let’s start with Magnus Chrona, who would rather forget his first NHL start. After all, it didn’t go well. On Dec. 28, 2023, Chrona was thrown to the wolves, who, in this case, came in the form of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman and many others. Chrona played just 20 minutes against the Edmonton Oilers before he was, mercifully, pulled from the game. He allowed 4 goals on 12 shots.

The only other time Chrona stepped onto the ice in an NHL game was on Nov. 4, 2023, when he allowed 4 goals on 17 shots and had 30:30 of ice time. For fans with a short memory, that was San Jose’s 10-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. No one was good in that game. Chrona came into the game in relief of Kahkonen, who had already let in six goals.

The point is that Chrona hasn’t been given the best opportunities to succeed this season and so he should not be judged on his brutal .724 save percentage or his 9.50 goals against average. They are not accurate reflections of the situations he was placed in as a young goaltender breaking into the league and so they cannot be accurate reflections of who he is as a player.

Instead, give Chrona an A+ for continuing to keep his head up and working hard to improve his game. His experiences in the NHL, however brief, will hopefully make him a better netminder each time he returns to the Barracuda.

Mackenzie Blackwood understands the ebbs and flows of an NHL season

One of the most interesting things I’ve seen from Blackwood in his season with the Sharks is that he understands that not every night is a good night. It’s a good head space to be in if you truly believe those words, and it seems like Blackwood does. On an off night, Blackwood still sticks to his process and does not overreact. He doesn’t immediately decide to make major changes in his game and seems to get that sometimes the puck doesn’t bounce your way. I think he’s right because when he’s on his game, Blackwood is very, very good, as we saw at the start of the season against the Colorado Avalanche. He was also very good for the first period and a half against the Toronto Maple Leafs the other night.

As a result, it’s hard to say if Blackwood’s 3.95 goals against average and .891 save percentage is a result of his game or a result of the play in front of him. While the goals ultimately fall on the goaltender on the stat sheet, they often don’t reflect when a defenseman misplays a two-on-one or a teammate doesn’t box out a scoring threat to prevent that shot altogether. The Sharks’ goaltenders are very much at the mercy of the players in front of them, and on some nights, they simply cannot withstand the barrage.

Blackwood has faced 190 high-danger shots against in 5-on-5 play, more than any other goaltender in the league. He’s faced ten more than the New York Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin, who has played two more games than Blackwood. Blackwood has faced 17 more than the Colorado Avalanche’s Alexander Georgiev, who has played 8 more games than him. That’s a better sign of what’s happening in front of Blackwood than what he’s doing on the ice.

Now, admittedly, you would like to see Blackwood’s save percentage on those high-danger shots be better. His .821 high-danger save percentage at even strength is 20th in the league among goaltenders who have played 750 minutes or more, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Worse yet, his goals saved above average (GSAA) at all-strengths is a minus-9.90. By comparison, a top goaltender in the league, like Connor Hellebuyck, has a 14.57 GSAA. John Gibson, who plays for the Anaheim Ducks, has a GSAA of 1.04. In other words, the blame cannot be entirely placed on the players in front of Blackwood.

Evolving-Hockey measures things a different way, though it tells a similar story. Its goals above replacement (GAR) stat looks at what would happen if the netminder were replaced with a league-average goalie. In Blackwood’s case, he has stopped 3.9 more goals than the league-average replacement. Meanwhile, a goaltender like Hellebuyck has saved 22.5 more goals.

Has Blackwood been the best this season? No. However, the goaltender has been better than his 4-16-2 record, so he gets a passing grade.

Kaapo Kahkonen’s game is drawing interest around the league

Kahkonen has been playing excellent hockey to date, just in time to draw interest at the trade deadline. If you’ve listened to Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast, then you’ve heard that teams are interested in Kahkonen. The Sharks believe Blackwood is the goaltender of the next few years, but Kahkonen’s play may be giving them second thoughts. Like Blackwood, Kahkonen has suffered from some poor play in front of him this season, but he’s performed better in those situations than Blackwood has.

Let’s start out with the basics: Kahkonen’s 5-11-1 record isn’t much better than Blackwood’s. However, his 3.54 goals against average and .900 save percentage is slightly better. Kahkonen’s underlying numbers are also slightly better than Blackwood’s.

Like Blackwood, Kahkonen has faced a lot of high-danger shots. However, he has a .857 high-danger shot save percentage in 5-on-5 play. What’s more, his GSAA is a minus-1.76. You would like that number to be on the plus side of things, but it’s better than Blackwood’s. It’s also better than players on better teams, such as the Nashville Predators’ Juuse Saros (minus-1.93), the Minnesota Wild’s Marc-Andre Fleury (minus-3.65) and the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy (minus-3.84).

If you look at his GAR stat in Evolving-Hockey, you find that Kahkonen is credited with a plus-6, just slightly better than Blackwood’s plus-3.9.

With Kahkonen’s game on the upswing, he has the potential to be a very intriguing trade chip as we near the trade deadline. He’s a goaltender on an expiring contract worth $2.75 million. According to CapFriendly, as of Jan. 9, that cap hit is $1.432 million. (We’re just taking the full value of the contract and subtracting the number of NHL days he’s already played with the Sharks.) That’s a contract most teams can squeeze into their budget, especially if the Sharks take a contract back.

With so many teams having goaltending trouble or in need of a little insurance as they prepare for the postseason, Kahkonen could be in high demand at the deadline, especially if he keeps playing like this.