Not long ago, current Washington Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson thought he had found a home with the Vegas Golden Knights.
After getting off to a great start in the 2022-23 season, Thompson, 27, suffered several injuries and, in the process, lost the starting goaltending job to Adin Hill. Hill would go on to help the team win the Stanley Cup, and he played extremely well doing so.
Thompson played well in 46 games last season as he went 25-14-0-5 with a 2.70 goals-against average, a .908 save percentage, and one shutout. Despite having a solid regular season, the Golden Knights turned to Hill again in the postseason and ended up trading Thompson to the Capitals at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft for third-round picks in the 2024 and 2025 drafts.
Fast forward to this season, and Thompson is in the middle of the best season of his career. As of this writing (Thursday night, January 9), Thompson is 17-2-0-2 with a 2.32 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.
As I wrote about earlier, the Capitals are one of the best teams in the league this season and Thompson is one of the main reasons why that is the case. There are a few reasons why Thompson has been terrific for his hockey club this season.
For starters, he knows how to use his size. At 6’4, Thompson is a big goalie who takes up a lot of the net.
Because of that, opposing shooters do not have a lot of the net to shoot at and, more often than not, end up shooting the puck right into him, and Thompson can control his rebounds. Thompson also has very quick feet for someone so big as he is great at going post-to-post and taking away an open part of the net, which frustrates the heck out of opposing shooters.
Another reason why Thompson has been so good this season is because he has been one of the most consistent goaltenders in the league. Night after night, when Thompson is between the pipes, the Capitals know that they are going to get terrific goaltending and win more hockey games than not.
Just take a look at what Thompson has done over his last five starts:
- December 22 vs. the Los Angeles Kings: Stopped 25 of 26 shots and got the win. (.962 save percentage)
- December 28 vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs: Stopped 35 of 37 shots and got the win. (.946 save percentage)
- December 31 vs. the Boston Bruins: Stopped 26 of 27 shots and got the win. (.963 save percentage)
- January 4 vs. the New York Rangers: Stopped 29 of 33 shots and got the win. (.879 save percentage)
- January 8 vs. the Vancouver Canucks: Stopped 30 of 31 shots and got the win. (.968 save percentage)
In looking at the above, Thompson only had one game where his save percentage was below .946. This is quite a feat considering he started against quality teams in the Kings, Maple Leafs, Bruins, and Canucks.
Thompson has also been great this season because he has been coming up with big saves when his team needs them the most. A good example of this is his 30-save performance in a 2-1 overtime win over the Canucks on Wednesday night, January 8.
In the second period of that game, the Canucks outshot the Capitals 21-4. The Canucks only managed to score one goal in that period because Thompson was fantastic between the pipes as he gave his team every chance to go into the third period, thinking that they could find a way to win the hockey game, which they did in overtime.
Lastly, Thompson is motivated to show that he can be a full-time starting goaltender in this league. Thompson is slated to become an unrestricted free agent (UFA) after this season, so Thompson is doing his part to show both the Capitals and the rest of the NHL that he can be the kind of goaltender who wins a lot of hockey games and delivers the goods when it matters most.
With the way Thompson is playing right now, it would be wise for the Capitals to sit down with Thompson and try and hammer something out. Thompson is still a young goaltender who is coming into his prime and has put up good career numbers (73-34-0-13 with a 2.61 goals-against average, a .913 save percentage, and four shutouts) up to this point.
No matter what happens in the future, Thompson has shown his team and the rest of the hockey world that he is a great goaltender who has the talent to have a lot of success moving forward in the best hockey league in the world.
ITR 31: Let Them Fight – Inside The Rink
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