Charlie Lindgren

Last Season

Twenty-one appearances, 9-8-3, a 3.52 goals-against average and a .8787 save percentage with one shutout.

His career figure across 170 games is .9019, with 82 wins.

Over his last ten appearances, .865 on 311 shots.

The Physical Game

Six foot two, 190, and an orthodox positional goaltender without a standout tool. He is square, he is calm, and he does not steal games.

Rebound control is the weakest part and at 32 the lateral recovery has slowed.

The Mental Game

Undrafted out of St. Cloud State, a career backup who has twice been very good for a half-season and never for a full one.

The Intangibles

The gap in this crease is the most consequential in the league. Thompson stopped .9118 across fifty-eight appearances; Lindgren stopped .8787 across twenty-one.

Washington conceded 147 goals at five-on-five against an expected 175.9 — its goaltending finished twenty-nine goals better than the chances it faced, the best mark in the National Hockey League — and effectively the whole of that surplus was earned by one man while the other gave some of it back.

The club was 49.5 per cent in expected goals. Take Thompson out of it and this is a lottery team.

He is 32, and twenty-one appearances at .8787 is the single largest risk on a roster built to win now.