*Rankings are built from each goalie's overall rating and underlying tools — rebound control, agility, reaction time, size, and hand speed — pulled from the league's roster page. Wins, save percentage, and GAA are projections, not results: workload is split against each team's actual goalie depth chart, and the shots-against and win-percentage inputs are scaled to that team's projected strength from the season preview. Treat the numbers as an educated guess at how the season plays out, not a promise.*
Forward talent might be what gets a fanbase excited in August, but a look across all 22 CCHL rosters says the same thing it says most years: the teams built to actually contend are the ones that can also stop the puck. Four different clubs enter the season with a goalie rated 87 or better, and every one of them cracks the top five of the overall standings projection. Here's how the CCHL's ten best pencil out heading into the year.
### 1. Scott Wedgewood, Amos Comets
Wedgewood grades out as the best all-around goalie in the league, and it isn't close on tools — elite hands (90 HS), plane-clearing agility (89 AG), and reaction time (88 RT) that lets him get to pucks a beat before most starters even see them. He's the single biggest reason a team with no assigned general manager still projects near the top of the standings. **Projection: 70 GP, 45-25, .925 SV%, 2.04 GAA.**
### 2. Logan Thompson, Victoria Ronin
Thompson's calling card is rebound control — an 88 rating there is tied for the best in the league — which matters enormously behind a Ronin blue line that's solid but not overwhelming. He won't blow you away with flash, but he doesn't give second chances, and that's exactly the profile a team leaning on offense from Zibanejad, Horvat and Panarin needs in net. **Projection: 70 GP, 43-27, .925 SV%, 2.09 GAA.**
### 3. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Chattahoochee Crawdads
Still built like a battleship (89 SZ) and still one of the best in the business at swallowing rebounds (88 RB), Vasilevskiy is the anchor that lets a stacked Crawdads forward group play fast without worrying about the other end. His agility rating has ticked down a bit from his absolute peak, which is the only thing separating him from the very top of this list. **Projection: 70 GP, 45-25, .925 SV%, 2.04 GAA.**
### 4. Igor Shesterkin, Halifax Norsemen
The best goalie on the best team in the CCHL. Shesterkin's hands (90 HS) are as good as anyone's in the league, and he's the final piece that turns a loaded Halifax lineup — Necas, Celebrini, Guentzel, Crosby — from a good team into the favorite. **Projection: 66 GP, 43-23, .924 SV%, 2.06 GAA.**
### 5. Jeremy Swayman, Fort Erie Falcons
Swayman gives the Falcons a legitimate difference-maker behind an already-elite top six, with reflexes and agility that both grade in the low-80s and hold up shot after shot. John Gibson is a perfectly good backup, but this is Swayman's net, and the workload projection reflects it. **Projection: 57 GP, 37-20, .921 SV%, 2.14 GAA.**
### 6. Dan Vladar, Las Vegas Aces
Here's the outlier on this list: Vladar's individual tools are right there with the top five — good size (87 SZ), good hands (87 HS) — but he's also the *only* goalie on the Aces' roster. That means a season-long workhorse projection with no relief in sight, and offensively the Aces don't give him much cover. Wins will come harder here than the pure talent suggests. **Projection: 76 GP, 43-33, .921 SV%, 2.32 GAA.**
### 7. Anton Forsberg, Fergus Flapping Kilts
Forsberg is the classic high-floor veteran: nothing about his profile jumps off the page, but agility (83) and reaction time (80) are both comfortably above average, and he's playing behind one of the deeper, more veteran-laden rosters in the league. Expect a lot of quietly effective nights. **Projection: 55 GP, 32-23, .918 SV%, 2.38 GAA.**
### 8. Jesper Wallstedt (R), Wisborg Donuts
The highest-graded rookie goalie in the CCHL, and not by accident — his reaction time (84) is actually the best of anyone in this top ten. The catch is that Wisborg is still splitting the net closely with veteran Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, so Wallstedt's workload comes in lighter than his talent alone would suggest. If he takes the job outright by midseason, this projection undersells him. **Projection: 47 GP, 27-20, .917 SV%, 2.43 GAA.**
### 9. Joel Hofer, Chippawa Crackerjacks
Hofer's rebound control (82) is the best asset in his game, which pairs nicely with a Crackerjacks blue line — Trouba, Skjei, Faulk — built to clear traffic in front of him. He's clearly the workhorse over Cam Talbot, and the starts reflect it. **Projection: 66 GP, 36-30, .917 SV%, 2.51 GAA.**
### 10. Philipp Grubauer, Georgetown Millers
Grubauer rounds out the top ten on the strength of solid, unspectacular tools across the board — nothing below average, nothing elite. On a Millers team still finding its identity in front of him, that steadiness has real value, even if the win total won't be gaudy. **Projection: 53 GP, 28-25, .917 SV%, 2.51 GAA.**
*Just missing the cut: Ilya Sorokin (Parry Sound Orrsmen), who splits time closely enough with Jet Greaves that neither gets the workload to crack this list outright — watch that timeshare if one of them takes the net and runs with it.*
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