Jet Greaves was snubbed by the NHL Network, and will just have to keep proving everyone wrong

The NHL Network released their list of top-10 goalies right now yesterday, and it drew my attention because of one glaring omission: where is Jet Greaves?

It would honestly be easier to accept his omission if this list made any sense at all. But lets be real here: some of these names just absolutely do not belong. One of them didn't even play in half of his team's games last year.

This isn't a case of a list that is heavily weighted by veteran netminders. There are other young guys on there. In fact, both of the bottom two guys on that list were first time starters last season, just like Greaves.

The list also doesn't appear to be compiled based on who was the best last season. For example, look at Jake Oettinger's stat line and tell me that he deserves to be ranked as the 7th-best goaltender in the league. If you can do that with a straight face, maybe you can start to sway my opinion.

Of course, we can expect to see the usual stalwarts at the top. I would say that, the first six guys here are all very deservedly on the list. Rank them in whatever order you prefer.

But, how is Greaves not considered near the top of that next tier? How many of those bottom four names would you truly start ahead of him? The statistics tell quite a story here.

Jet Greaves was a top-10 goalie in the NHL last season.

If we start with the most basic categories, there is an argument to be made for Greaves ahead of several names on the NHL Network's list. He had more wins (26) than Shesterkin (25), Hellebuyck (23), Wallstedt (18).

Greaves finished 7th in the league in saves (1,397), 7th in goals against average (2.60, minimum 40gp), and tied for 6th in save percentage (.908%, min. 40gp). That save percentage ranked him ahead of all but three names on the NHL Network list (Vasilevskiy, Thompson, Shesterskin).

If we use that 40 games played as a sort feature, we actually eliminate Wallstedt from these rankings. He only played 35 games for the Wild last season. If that's enough of a sample size to put the Wild goaltender on the list-why not Greaves?

If we dig into the advanced categories, his case only gets stronger. Per MoneyPuck, he finished 9th in the league in goals saved above expected (16.5), had the 9th highest WAR (2.74), and surrendered fewer rebounds per save than any goaltender who made the top-10 list.

All of this goes without mentioning the obvious: Jet Greaves had to play behind the Blue Jackets last season. We are all well aware of how leaky this team was defensively, especially for the first three months of the season.

He had a strong case to not only make this list. In fact, I would argue that he should have been near the top half of it, maybe 6th or 7th. Anyone who watched him play last year would likely agree. Team Canada sure noticed, when they were picking their roster for the World Championships.

Of course, that's probably the issue. The guys at the NHL Network probably didn't catch any Blue Jackets games. All of the names on their list played in the playoffs, which is when their analysts actually start watching the games.

I suppose the only thing for Jet Greaves to do is continue his outstanding play this year, and continue to prove everyone wrong.

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