Nikita Tolopilo

This Season So Far

The 2026-27 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

21 appearances, 6-11-2, a 3.61 goals-against average and a .8814 save percentage, no shutouts. His career figure across 23 games is .8816.

Over his last 10 appearances, .855 on 241 shots.

The Physical Game

6-6 and 229 pounds, and among the largest goaltenders in the league. He fills the net standing and the shot from distance has nowhere obvious to go.

The problems are the ones every goaltender this size has and he has them badly: he is slow getting down and slower getting back, and he is beaten on the second chance far more often than the first.

The Mental Game

Undrafted out of Belarus, signed out of the Swedish league, and given 21 NHL games at 26 because the club had nobody else healthy.

The Intangibles

A .855 across the last 10 appearances is among the 4 worst finishing runs of any goaltender in this book.

Vancouver used 3 goaltenders for 20 or more games and none of them reached .895. The club conceded 210 goals at 5-on-5, the most in the league, against an expected 193.9 — 16 worse than the chances faced.

He is 26 and this is a third goaltender’s page. There is no version of the coming season in which 21 more appearances at .8814 is an acceptable outcome for this club.