We're now 2 1/2 months into the NHL season, and every team has played at least 30 games. But going into Sunday night's action, no NHL starting netminder has made 30 starts for his team.

Now that more than 40 percent of the season is in the books, it's worth looking at which teams are the most reliant on their respective starting netminders. Here's a table which does just that: it lists teams based on the percentage of starts their most frequently used starting goaltender has made this season:

Team Most Common Starter Goaltender Start % TOI San Jose Sharks Antti Niemi 29 of 33 (87.9%) 1,722:42 Phoenix Coyotes Mike Smith 27 of 32 (84.4%) 1,571:56 Pittsburgh Penguins Marc-Andre Fleury 28 of 34 (82.4%) 1,640:52 Vancouver Canucks Roberto Luongo 29 of 35 (82.9%) 1,696:23 Winnipeg Jets Ondrej Pavelec 27 of 34 (79.4%) 1,598:57 Montreal Canadiens Carey Price 27 of 34 (79.4%) 1,588:39 Boston Bruins Tuukka Rask 26 of 33 (78.8%) 1,549:24 Dallas Stars Kari Lehtonen 24 of 31 (77.4%) 1,399:29 Washington Capitals Braden Holtby 25 of 33 (75.8%) 1,360:26 Tampa Bay Lightning Ben Bishop 24 of 32 (75%) 1,404:11 St. Louis Blues Jaroslav Halak 23 of 31 (74.2%) 1,319:13 Philadelphia Flyers Steve Mason 24 of 33 (72.7%) 1,429:03 New York Rangers Henrik Lundqvist 24 of 33 (72.7%) 1,350:52 Chicago Blackhawks Corey Crawford 25 of 35 (71.4%) 1,504:27 Colorado Avalanche Semyon Varlamov 22 of 31 (71%) 1,348:53 Edmonton Oilers Devan Dubnyk 24 of 34 (70.6%) 1,380:44 Buffalo Sabres Ryan Miller 23 of 33 (69.7%) 1,361:48 Columbus Blue Jackets Sergei Bobrovsky 23 of 33 (69.7%) 1,303:15 Minnesota Wild Josh Harding 23 of 35 (65.7%) 1,484:40 Ottawa Senators Craig Anderson 22 of 34 (64.7%) 1,194:34 Florida Panthers Tim Thomas 21 of 33 (63.6%) 1,176:33 Anaheim Ducks Jonas Hiller 21 of 34 (61.8%) 1,251:06 Detroit Red Wings Jimmy Howard 21 of 34 (61.8%) 1,242:50 Toronto Maple Leafs Jonathan Benier 19 of 34 (55.9%) 1,291:57 New Jersey Devils Martin Brodeur 19 of 34 (55.9%) 1,141:07 Los Angeles Kings Jonathan Quick 16 of 33 (48.5%) 945: 24 Carolina Hurricanes Justin Peters 16 of 34 (47.1%) 1,027:39 New York Islanders Kevin Poulin 15 of 34 (44.1%) 924: 00 Calgary Flames Reto Berra 13 of 32 (40.6%) 753: 54 Nashville Predators Marek Mazanec 13 of 33 (39.4%) 788: 07

Here are some takeaways:

Three of the five most heavily leaned on starting goaltenders (Smith, Luongo and Niemi) play in the Pacific Division, which is generally considered to be the deepest and toughest division in the NHL. Head coaches Dave Tippett, John Tortorella, and Todd McLellan seem to be very well aware of what sort of dogfight awaits them down the stretch this season.

Los Angeles Kings starter Jonathan Quick hasn't played since Nov. 12th and is still the most commonly used Kings goaltender this season. Quick has played (or been on pace for) more than 60 starts in each of the past four seasons. If Quick had stayed healthy it seems very likely that four of the busiest netminders would be plying their trade in the Pacific Division.

Despite his recent track record and Stanley Cup pedigree, Sharks starter Antti Niemi has virtually no history with the Finnish national hockey team. Niemi has three appearances for Finland, while Dallas' Kari Lehtonen has 60, Boston's Tuukka Rask has 32 and Nashville's Pekka Rinne has 14. That may factor into San Jose's decision to ride Niemi at an unprecedented rate in the early going this season.

Of the ten goaltenders who start the highest proportion of their teams' games, Montreal's Carey Price has the highest save percentage (935). Winnipeg's Ondrej Pavelec has the lowest (.909).

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the New Jersey Devils both have an identical split of starts, with Toronto's Jonathan Bernier and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur starting 55.9% of their teams' games. Brodeur and Bernier have something else in common as well: their frequently-used backups are starting a higher percentage of shots faced.