Cayden Primeau was awarded the annual Mike Richter Trophy as “the most outstanding goaltender” for the 2018-19 collegiate season and after forgoing his final two years of eligibility, the throne is open for a new winner in 2020.

Of the six winners since the inception of the trophy, individual statistics have played a large role with any expectation that comes with earning the trophy.

Last season, Primeau finished near the top of every major goaltending category and any NCAA netminder hoping to be in the discussion for the trophy in 2020 will need to be just as statistically consistent.

Some goalies may already be among the favorites and the 2018-19 season will serve as a large basis for selecting early contenders. All class standings are considered for the upcoming season.

29 Wins

Only five goaltenders who hit the 20-win mark last season will return for the 2019-20 campaign. While a netminder can certainly steal a few games, wins are largely based on team success and having a potent offense or crippling defense is key for hitting the 20-win plateau.

29 Hunter Shepard (Sr., Minnesota Duluth)

24 Dryden McKay (So., Minnesota State)

23 Dávid Hrenák (Jr., St. Cloud State)

20 Matt Murray (Jr., UMass Amherst)

20 Zackarias Skog (Sr., American Int.)

Shepard led the league in wins en route to Minnesota Duluth’s back-to-back NCAA championships. He rises to the occasion, and there is already talk of a three-peat for Shepard and the Bulldogs.

1.60 Goals-Against Average

Of the 11 total netminders to post a sub-2.00 GAA in 2018-19, six return to their programs to build on their success from last season. 

1.60 Filip Lindberg (So., UMass Amherst)

1.76 McKay

1.76 Shepard 

1.85 Devin Cooley (Jr., Denver)

1.85 Matthew Galajda (Jr., Cornell)

1.86 Tommy Nappier (Jr., Ohio State)

UMass’ dominant 2018-19 season ended with a heartbreaking loss in the NCAA final. With the team’s tandem splitting time on two consecutive lists, there are a lot of expectations for the Minutemen. Lindberg led the league with a 1.60 GAA as a freshman and will receive no less than split time with Murray again in 2019-20.

.934 Save Percentage

Three players tied for the league-lead in save percentage last season and it’s no coincidence all three carry over from the GAA list above.

.934 Lindberg

.934 Cooley

.934 Nappier

.930 Stefanos Lekkas (Sr., Vermont)

.930 Morris (Sr., Notre Dame)

.927 McKay

.926 Owen Savory (So., Rensselaer)

.923 Shepard

.922 Tomáš Vomáčka (So., UConn)

.921 Tyler Wall (Sr., UMass Lowell)

.921 Galajda

Lindberg, Cooley, and Nappier co-led the NCAA, turning away more than 93 percent of the shots they faced. Cooley and Nappier did so in significant more playing time as team starters.

7 Shutouts

To some, the category of shutouts is a team-dependent statistic, but given the puck luck and inevitable bounces that occur during a hockey game, how many times a goalie successfully stops every shot is a notable evaluation.

The relatively low-percentage of such occurrences will be saved for repeated names from the lists above. Shepard led the NCAA with seven scoreless outings, followed by Galajda and Skog with five each, while Lindberg, Cooley, Nappier, Wall, Hrenák, McKay, and Morris had four apiece.

4 Early Favorites

Only McKay appears on all four of the above lists. Meanwhile, Shepard, Galajda, Cooley, Lindberg, and Nappier made it onto three.

McKay and Shepard seem to be bringing the race for the Richter to the state of Minnesota, but with the likelihood of Cooley and Nappier earning larger roles for their teams, the fight is wide open.

Lindberg and Galajda will need to separate themselves from their teammates in order to pull their names up to par with the early favorites.

2 Honorable Mentions

The perennially contending St. Cloud State Huskies have missed out on an NCAA Tournament berth just once since 2013, and Hrenák will have the team support to take the next step after slightly declined sophomore stats following a promising freshman season.

Morris won the Mike Richter Trophy in 2018 and another annually strong team in Notre Dame will go a long way in helping him return to his previous level and possibly become the first two-time trophy winner in the award’s short history.

Have a question or a comment for Jacob Messing? You can find him on Twitter @Jacob_Messing.