This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Casey DeSmith
Dallas Stars Goaltender
A .9146 across 27 games at 34, and the best backup season on any contender in the league.
| Season | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | GA | GAA | SO | SA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | PIT | 14 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 28 | 2.40 | 1 | 356 | .921 |
| 2018-19 | PIT | 36 | 15 | 11 | 5 | 89 | 2.75 | 3 | 1060 | .916 |
| 2020-21 | PIT | 20 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 48 | 2.54 | 2 | 543 | .912 |
| 2021-22 | PIT | 26 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 66 | 2.79 | 3 | 769 | .914 |
| 2022-23 | PIT | 38 | 15 | 16 | 4 | 109 | 3.17 | 0 | 1142 | .905 |
| 2023-24 | VAN | 29 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 80 | 2.89 | 1 | 759 | .895 |
| 2024-25 | DAL | 27 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 65 | 2.59 | 2 | 761 | .915 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 190 | 84 | 61 | 23 | 485 | 2.79 | 12 | 5390 | .910 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
14-8-2 in 27 games, .9146 with a 2.59 average and 2 shutouts on 761 shots.
A better save percentage than the starter, on the same porous defensive club, in a third of the games. For a backup on a team that reached a conference final, that is as good as the job gets.
The Physical Game
6 feet and 188, which is small for a modern goaltender, and the game is built to compensate. He plays a compact, technical style — square, controlled, and reliant on reading the play early rather than on reach.
The puck-handling is a genuine asset and is used: he cuts off forechecks behind the net and makes the outlet, which for a club that concedes as many zone entries as this one is worth real minutes. What he cannot do is cover a net by simply standing in it, which is why a scramble is more dangerous against him than against Oettinger.
The Mental Game
Undrafted, ten years of being told he was too small, and a career of arriving in an organisation as the second man and outplaying the expectation.
He does not appear to be affected by a long layoff between starts, which is the actual skill in the job and the one most goaltenders never acquire. There is no record of a bad night becoming a bad month.
The Intangibles
At 34, on a cheap deal, and doing the most undervalued job on a contender: 25 starts nobody has to worry about.
The caution is age and size in combination. A .9146 at 34 from a 6-foot goaltender is an excellent season and a fragile one, and the club has no third option worth naming.