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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteNHL teams manage goalie workload through individual plans, not a league-wide start limit or mandatory rotation. Coaches weigh who gives the team the best chance to win against recovery, health, schedule, practice demands and the need to keep another goalie ready. That means a team might split a back-to-back, use a third goalie to create a full night off, or adjust practice work without changing who starts.
What shapes a goalie’s workload plan?
Starts are only one part of the picture. A goalie who has played fewer games may still have faced heavy shot volume, logged long minutes or accumulated demanding practice repetitions. Teams also consider the goalie’s health, recent form, travel and time-zone changes, the next opponent, the backup’s readiness, roster depth and the club’s position in the standings.
Those factors can point in different directions. Rest can help a starter recover, but a coach may prefer that goalie for a crucial game. A backup needs opportunities to preserve timing and confidence, while too much practice work can add to the very load a team is trying to manage.
How teams use tandems and split back-to-backs
Splitting starts on consecutive nights is a common NHL approach, not a rule. A rested partner gives a coach an alternative to asking the same goalie to play both games. Seattle Kraken coach Dave Hakstol put the trend this way in a 2022 team analysis: “Typically you’re going to have a split on the back-to-backs.” The choice of which goalie starts first can depend on their relative ability and current form, the opponents, and how long each has been resting. Seattle Kraken, “Examining Goalie Workload”
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The Kraken article also recounts an earlier analysis by Carolina executive Eric Tulsky that reported a “just over 11 percent” save-percentage decline for a goalie playing both nights. The same article says later analyses found the effect less significant, so that historical figure should not be treated as a settled modern estimate. A tandem is most useful when the second goalie is a credible option and the coach can balance rest with the need to put the stronger or better-matched goalie in a particular game.
Why a team might carry or use a third goalie
In reporting on the 2024–25 season, NHL.com described teams using a third goalie to give the starter a full night away from the rink rather than having the starter dress as the backup. It also described a road-trip arrangement in which one goalie stayed in the first city while another travelled ahead to start the second game of a back-to-back, avoiding a late arrival. These are examples from that season, not evidence that every team uses the same approach. NHL.com, “Unmasked: Rest key for goalies with condensed schedule”
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A third goalie can also give a club more options for practice: the starter can work on position-specific drills with the goalie coach and leave before team rush drills that involve extra saves and butterfly drops. That flexibility comes with a trade-off: a roster spot and playing opportunities are being used to create recovery and coverage options.
How practice and tracking fit into workload management
Teams can adjust practice exposure as well as game assignments. NHL.com reported that wearable tracking is used to count butterfly drops, estimate workload over periods of a minute or longer, and identify differences in movement between a goalie’s sides. Staff can use the information to discuss cutting repetitions after a demanding game. In its report, NHL.com said more than 80 percent of NHL teams monitored butterfly drops using Catapult technology; that figure is tied to the article’s reporting and may change as team practices evolve. NHL.com, “Butterfly posture getting closer look from teams due to injury impact on hips”
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As Seattle goalie Joey Daccord said in that report, “We track it all.” Tracking can inform conversations; it does not by itself determine who starts or establish a universal safe workload. Carolina goaltending coach Paul Schonfelder described the practice opportunity this way: “Practice is where you need to take advantage of that.”
A 2024 study by Khan and colleagues likewise cautions against treating starts as a complete measure of workload. The authors used starts, minutes and shots faced, noting that starts do not capture differences in game length or shot volume. Their analysis did not include practice or dryland training. Khan et al., “Load Management Among Professional Hockey Goalies: A Retrospective Cohort Study,” Sports Health (2024)
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How coaches keep a backup ready
Resting the starter only works as a plan if the other goalie can step in. Backups may face long gaps between starts, making confidence, timing and game rhythm difficult to maintain. NHL.com quoted Winnipeg goalie Eric Comrie describing the challenge: “The hardest part is definitely finding that game rhythm.” Coaches can use game-like practice drills, goalie-coach sessions, video and communication with the starter, while setting clear expectations. More repetitions are not automatically better if they are excessive or unlike the demands of a game. NHL.com, “Unmasked: Maintaining game rhythm, confidence key to surviving as backup NHL goalie”
Former NHL goaltending coach David Marcoux recommended in a 2018 NHL.com article that a reliable backup ideally play at least every 10 days. That is his coaching recommendation, not an NHL rule or a proven threshold. NHL.com, “Time management for goalies imperative down stretch”
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Why late-season choices can change
As the season progresses, coaches reassess the balance between recovery and results. A team chasing a playoff place may lean more heavily on its best goalie; a team with more standings security may see greater value in rest. Travel, back-to-backs, recent and expected workload, injuries, and the goalie’s physical and mental condition all matter. Marcoux’s 2018 coaching account also describes reducing high-volume practice work for the starter while giving the backup more repetitions. Those are factors to weigh, not a fixed formula. Marcoux summarized the aim as: “The goal is to ensure quality starts from your top goalie throughout what is, hopefully, a long run in the postseason.”
Does the evidence support a 60-start ceiling?
No universal 60-start ceiling is established by the available study evidence. Khan and colleagues analyzed 111 goalie-seasons from 51 NHL goalies, with 29 of 31 teams represented in the sample. Their primary analysis found no significant relationship between regular-season workload and postseason performance after accounting for age and injury status. The sample averaged 50.1 regular-season starts, and the workload model for postseason goals saved above average per 60 minutes reported R² = 0.068 and p = 0.26, which the authors interpreted as no significant prediction. Study details in Sports Health (2024)
The result does not show that rest is useless or that workload never matters. The study was retrospective, slightly underpowered to detect small effects, relied on public data, and could not distinguish deliberate rest from games missed unintentionally. It also did not account for practice or dryland work, and its injury measure may miss injuries that did not cause a missed game. The often-repeated observation that no goalie starting more than 60 games has won the Stanley Cup since 2009 may be anecdotal or reflect teams already limiting starts; it is not proof that 60 is a causal threshold. The study’s conclusion supports individualized plans rather than one workload standard for every goalie.
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