It's said that goaltending is unpredictable. It's the great equalizer, and the thing that can undermine a championship effort. One year's rising star in the crease is the next season's sieve.

The top 10 goaltenders on our 2024 ESPN NHL Positional Rankings are, for the most part, the names you'd expect. It's just that some have clearly played their way up the rankings, while others are hanging on to spots based more on their reputation than their recent accomplishments.

"It's a great list," one NHL goaltending analyst said. "I mean, I'd shuffle a few of the rankings, but it's everybody that you'd want on there. With one exception."

Don't worry, we'll get there.

Welcome to the next set of results from the 2024 NHL Positional Rankings, a unique way to determine the best of the best. Some surveys ask players for their rankings. Others poll executives. The NHL Positional Rankings combine both opinions into one definitive ranking that blends on-ice savvy with boardroom thinking.

Here's how it worked: Surveys were conducted over the past month. Respondents were asked to rank their current top 10 players at center, winger, defenseman and goaltender based on a predetermined list of the top 30-40 players at each position. Players ranked on each ballot were given a numerical score -- No. 1 earned 10 points, No. 2 got 9 points and so on.

Ten NHL players were surveyed -- four from the Eastern Conference, six from the Western Conference. They range from NHL award nominees to veteran role players. To balance that perspective, we surveyed 10 people from the hockey operations departments of NHL teams -- six from the East, four from the West -- including two coaches and three general managers.

Combined, their insights led to rankings that go behind fan conjecture and media narratives to reveal the best of the best according to those inside the NHL.

Stats are collected from sites such as Natural Stat Trick, Hockey Reference and Evolving Hockey.