Logan Thompson

Last Season

Fifty-eight appearances, 31-21-6, a 2.44 goals-against average and a .9118 save percentage with four shutouts.

His career figure across 204 games is .9116, with 118 wins.

Over his last ten appearances, .897 on 271 shots.

The Physical Game

Six foot four, 207, and he plays a big, controlled game — deep in his crease, square to the puck, and quiet. Nothing about the style is spectacular and everything about it is repeatable.

The rebound control is the most improved part and it is what turned a good backup into this.

The Mental Game

Undrafted out of Brock University, an American League journeyman until 25, and now a starting goaltender who has stopped .9116 across two hundred games. That is one of the least likely career paths in this book.

The Intangibles

Here is the number. Washington conceded 147 goals at five-on-five against an expected 175.9 — its goaltending came in twenty-nine goals better than the chances it faced, the best mark in the National Hockey League.

And it was not the club: Washington finished 49.4 per cent in shot attempts and 49.5 in expected goals, dead average in both. Lindgren, in the same net, stopped .8787.

So very nearly all of a twenty-nine-goal edge belongs to one man. There is no player in this edition whose team depends on him more completely.

He is 29, undrafted, and the difference between Washington being a playoff club and a lottery one.