The finances of the goaltending position have become an interesting early-season storyline in the NHL. Some of the best teams in recent NHL history have won the Stanley Cup without dedicating a lot of salary cap space to goaltenders, including the Avalanche in 2022. But the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers have also won a title recently and are spending quite a bit of money on their Vezina Trophy-winning netminders. There has been a philosophy in some NHL circles that goalies are a bit like running backs: unpredictable year-to-year performance, often with shorter peaks than players at other positions, but the very best are still worth big bucks.