Top 5 Goalie Sets of the 2018-19 NHL Season

Following the NHL season, we wanted to show off some of our favorite sets that we saw from the 2018-19 season. Before getting in to the top 5, a small disclaimer is that these are all opinion based and there were many amazing sets this year, but we believe these were the top 5 through this season.

Coming in at number five on the list is Matt Murrays Vaughn SLR2 Stadium Series pads. Although we only had the pleasure of seeing this set for a short time on February 23rd, it was a treat while it lasted. The only critique of this pad is the fact that the binding on the pads is sport gold and does not 100% match with the gloves, which have black binding.

Some positives for why Murray made the list are how well this set worked with everything else he was wearing in that game. The jersey, stick, skates, and helmet all had a perfect mix of black and sport gold to make Murray match head to toe. Specifically, the black base pads with the black based jersey. The sport gold Vaughn logos as small accents to help match the sport gold numbers on the jersey. The simple single stripe sport gold graphics to match the single stripes on the jersey’s arms and the single stripe down his helmet. A very well thought out set to make it number five on our list.

At fourth on our list is Henrik Lundqvist. This full custom set of Bauer 2S pads is a work of art that has plenty of small details that bring it on to the list. Starting off with the overall design of the pads themselves, the split graphic of the Statue of Liberty and the New York skyline across the face of the pads and the gloves pays perfect tribute to the team and city Hank has been playing for his entire career.

Some of the small details that bring this set together are the matching between Henrik’s mask and the rest of his set. The overall star like design that stretches across his pads matches perfectly with his helmet design. Next is the stripes that appear toward the bottom of the pads that perfectly match the lines on the jersey to perfectly bring the entire set together with the rest of his equipment. Hanks set is a perfect example of what Bauer can do to a goalie pad to perfectly match a team and show the goalies imagination and creativity on a set of gear.

Sliding in to third on our list is Marc-Andre Fleury’s Pure Gold Premier II’s. There is a lot that goes in to this set that makes it a top three on our list, starting off with the color itself. I am sure we all remember Flowers old Sport Gold sets from his days in Pittsburgh and this Pure Gold set makes a perfect mix of a throwback set with the new era feel in Vegas. Pure Gold perfectly matches the Vegas Golden Knights jerseys and is the perfect color for Fleury to get flashy with.

On to the fine details of this set, Fleury had a mask painted to perfectly match the black to gold ratio on the full set. Looking even further into his matching paintjob, Fleury even had his cage painted to even further match the full set up. The only thing that kept this from being higher on this list is that it’s a one color, which can and does look great but is nothing crazy and places this set third on the list.

Coming in at second on our top 5 is Garret Sparks’ St.Pats Throwback set. If it wasn’t for this set, Sparks would have made this list with any of the other sets he used this season. We chose this to go with the overall theme of this top 5 of special sets that really blew us away. Garret and Brian’s did such an amazing job by taking advantage of this throwback night by taking their Heritage pad design and mixing it with the throwback jerseys. The utilization of the retro tan works perfectly with the kelly green across the entire set and perfectly matches across all zones,

Down to the small details of this set, Garret had a mask painted just for the nights they used the jerseys along with a green 2S stick with a frosted tip to really go the extra mile with this set. Through out the pad you will see small designs which Brian’s described as a houndstooth that Garret wanted to utilize in this set and work very well with the theme. Some people don’t like how much there is going on with this set but we think it deserves the second place on our list.

All the way from the desert comes first place on our list, Antti Raanta’s Kachina set of Brian’s Gnetik4s. When this set first hit the internet, it had incredibly high praise for how much of an amazing job Brian’s had done for this throwback set. The amazing split graphic of the Kachina across the face of the pads with the patterns at the bottom portion reflecting the jerseys design perfectly brings this set together.

Some of the negative things about this set is the small kachina on the blocker instead of a split between the glove and blocker and also the odd amount of maroon used on the T instead of keeping it as black. However, his helmet also has the same pattern as used on the Kachina jerseys and brings this set together completely. We hoped to this set more than we did but we were happy while it lasted.

That just about wraps up our Top 5 and we hope you enjoyed it! Every list that is based on opinion is always debatable and we wanted to give our own opinion as to what we thought were the best sets this year! Some of our honorable mentions that nearly made our list were from Aaron Dell, Mike Smith, Curtis McElhinney, Malcolm Subban, and Phoenix Copley. Check out our Instagram page to share your thoughts!

This article was originally published on August 30, 2019, and has been updated with new information.