Which also makes Thompson a perfect fit for the eighth annual Unmasked Award, which was established to recognize not only individual excellence at the position, but also themes that dominate the conversation about goaltending during the previous 12 months. It won't always be the best goalie who wins; it could be one who starts a statistical revolution, develops an equipment innovation, pioneers a new save technique, or leads the way in a trend adopted around the NHL.
Thompson may not be big on statistics, but he checks a lot of the trend boxes.
That starts with his unique path to the NHL as an undrafted goalie, going to Brock University for one season after being unable to land a professional contract after four seasons playing in the Canadian Hockey League. Thompson then played eight games for Adirondak in the ECHL in 2018-19 and 32 more in that league in 2019-20. He eventually worked his way up to a full-time role with the Vegas Golden Knights during the 2021-22 season.
Now, Thompson is not alone among undrafted goalies having a significant impact in the NHL during the past year. Jet Greaves of the Columbus Blue Jackets is third in save percentage (.921) among goalies to play at least 25 games in 2025. Casey DeSmith of the Dallas Stars is sixth (.916).
This season alone, Thompson is tied for fifth in save percentage (.917) among all goalies to play at least 10 games, and the top 20 includes DeSmith (seventh, .915), Devin Cooley of the Calgary Flames (tied for ninth, .914), Brandon Bussi of the Carolina Hurricanes and David Rittich of the New York Islanders (tied for 11th, .913), none of whom were selected in the NHL Draft.
Fellow undrafted goalie Alex Lyon of the Buffalo Sabres is 23rd at .907 and carried a six-game winning streak into the holiday break.
With reduced workloads for starters, and injuries impacting depth charts, late-blooming goalies like Cooley and Bussi are being trusted to perform despite being in their first full NHL seasons at ages 28 and 27, respectively. Oftentimes those types of success stories are filed under “goalies take longer to develop,” and while that can be true in many cases, it’s also true that for many of those goalies, it’s a new message, or a new voice delivering it, that leads to the late turnaround.
That was the case for Cooley and Thompson, and that message was similar. It’s also part of another increasingly common theme among goalies currently excelling in the NHL: More conservative positioning in the crease, which makes it easier to keep up with the rise in both pace and east-west passing plays.
“I was really aggressive,” Thompson said of his early days in Vegas. “I was trying too hard and always wanted to be at the top of my crease and wanted to move around a lot. … At the end of my last season [in Vegas] and credit to (Golden Knights goalie coach) Sean Burke, but I finally started to grasp playing more in your blue paint and less is more and just letting the play come to you.”
It's a sentiment echoed by Cooley and fellow Flames goalie Dustin Wolf, whose adoption of deeper positioning, both relative to the top of the crease and east-west relative to his posts, bucked the stereotypes surrounding small goalies and was a big part of being a Calder Trophy finalist as NHL Rookie of the Year.
Thompson’s battle and athleticism isn’t lost behind that initial depth, and his patient, active hands are a big part of his success with it. But being part of that trend is one more reason he’s a perfect 2025 Unmasked Goalie of the Year.
PAST WINNERS
Connor Hellebuyck, 2024
Marc-Andre Fleury, 2023
Linus Ullmark, 2022
Marc-Andre Fleury, 2021
Andrei Vasilevskiy, 2020
Robin Lehner, 2019
Pekka Rinne, 2018
