Dobby's Net - Dallas Sports Nation

Though the depth chart might say otherwise, Anton Khudobin is the Dallas Stars’ top goaltender.

All things considered, it has not been a great year for the Stars’ Ben Bishop. After dealing with injuries constantly throughout last year’s regular season, he had a stellar playoff run in between the pipes, and with a little more help from his offense might have led his team to (at least) a Stanley Cup Finals appearance. Unfortunately, the carryover from season to season isn’t always easy in professional sports.

So far in the 2019-2020 regular season campaign, Dobby has outperformed his counterpart in between the pipes.

Though he has started 15 fewer games than Ben Bishop, he is only 6 wins behind. His Save Percentage (SV) leads the league at .931%, and his Goals Against Average is a fifth of a goal (2.26 vs 2.45) better than Big Ben’s.

By the eye test, both are great, but when broken down, it stats themselves are a little more revealing.

This is not a post against Ben Bishop by any means, but Anton Khudobin deserves more credit than he receives for his work in the crease. Dobby is a fan favorite in Dallas and always seems to be charismatic when a camera is around. If you don’t follow him on social media, I would strongly recommend adding him. He seems to perform when times are a little bit tougher and is undoubtedly one of, if not the best backup goalie in the league. The Stars have a goalie tandem that about every team in the league would just like one of.

Khudobin is a pure Kazakhstan workhorse. He is 33 years old and has had multiple 40-save games for the Dallas Stars this season already, with 8 total since joining the Stars a season and a half ago. He is the real deal, and it is time the rest of the league takes note. His off-ice and bench antics are great, but his play on the ice so far this season has helped as a much-needed second line of defense with a team that doesn’t always generate a lot of goals on the other end.