What can NHL teams do about the decrease in truly elite number 1 goalies?

How many times in the NHL do you hear about the importance of having an elite number-one goalie? All. The. Time. And while we aren't disagreeing, having a top goalie definitely helps your team immensely, there just isn't 32 elite goalies in the league. We can argue all day about how many truly elite goalies there are in the NHL, but it isn't very many. So for some teams, they have to use another approach.

That approach is the tandem 1a/1b, using 2 goalies almost evenly throughout the season instead of heavily relying on one to win games. This concept is becoming more and more popular in the league as the average NHL goalie gets better. In the 2013-14 season only 2 teams used tandems, Carolina with Ward and Khudobin and the Devils with Brodeur and Schneider. Then, in 2017-18 we saw 4 occurrences, again we see Carolina and the Devils, although with different tandems (Ward and Darling for Carolina and Schneider and Kinkaid for NJ) and we also see the Avalanche, with Varlamov and Bernier, and the Panthers, with Reimer and Luongo. In 2020-21 we saw that number double to 8 teams that used the approach (Carolina, Dallas, Detroit, Edmonton, Florida, Montreal, Philly, and Toronto).

This past year in 2021-22 we saw 7 instances of it, with Boston's Ullmark and Swayman being the perfect example of having two competent NHL-caliber goalies. They both had better than average Sv %, GAA, GSAx, and WAR, while splitting time almost perfectly, 41 games played and 39 started each (Tuukka Rask played in a few games before retiring).

Image: Swayman and Ullmark's stats from the 2021-22 season

So why have we seen such an increase in popularity of 1a/1b goalies? Teams are beginning to realize that unless you have an incredible stand-out starting goalie, you might be better off having 2 reliable starters that you can rotate and feel confident playing on any given night.

The narrative changes though once the playoffs roll around. Teams usually ride one goalie through the playoffs unless there's an injury or a breakdown in play. While an extreme example, Andrei Vasilevskiy has played every minutes of Tampa Bay's last 100 playoff games since 2018-19, including 3 trips to the finals and 2 Stanley Cup wins.

However, both teams that made the Calder Cup final, the AHL's playoffs, both used goalie tandems their entire playoff run. If teams can use it in the level just below the NHL and see success, it won't be long before we see it in the NHL.

Of the 8 teams that used tandems in the 2020-21 season, 5 of them made the playoffs. Of those 5 teams, only one (the Florida Panthers) came close to splitting time, each goalie played 2 games before they were eliminated.

How many tandems we see this season will depend on a lot of things and its far too early to tell, but I know the approach isn't going away any time soon.