What goalie is the best in the NHL? Which goalie is struggling? As in all pro sports people are trying to find a way to measure performance. One of the most common ways to measure a goalie’s performance in ice hockey is with his save percentage, or the percentage of time that the goalie will stop the puck.
How do we know what a good save percentage is? The rule of thumb is that you would like to have a goalie’s save percentage to be 0.915% or higher. The NHL league average for save percentage is 0.910, but most teams and players are looking to be somewhere higher than average to set themselves apart from their fellow competitors.
Let’s talk a closer look at save percentage in the NHL and how it is used both today and in the past to evaluate goaltenders.
Best save percentage 2018-19 NHL season – Best save percentage for career
What is save percentage and how is calculated?
Save percentage is simply the percentage of shots that an NHL goal stops. It is calculated by taking the number of saves made divided by the total shots faced.
Let’s look at a couple of examples of a goalie in one game:
Carey Price got a shutout and stopped all his shots
Hendrik Lundqvist had a good game and let in two goals and has a .920%
Fleury uncharacteristically struggled and let in 6 goals and has a .778%
But, sports is random and we cannot only look at one performance to judge a goalie. We need to look at a larger sample to determine what a good save percentage is.
What is a good save percentage?
As a rule of thumb a goalie wants to have a save percentage that is better than average, and is looking at hitting the .915% mark or higher over the course of a season. The league average is 0.910%.
Let’s look closer at some of the data to get a better picture of save percentage.
As you can see Ben Bishop had the best save percentage at .934 which really is fantastic!
The league average for goalies in the 2018-19 season was 0.910.
The worst save percentage amongst regular goaltenders were: Johnathan Quick .888, Keith Kinkaid .891, Cam Talbot, .892 and Martin Jones .896
Goaltenders are looking for a save percentage at least 0.910 or better – 0.915 is preferable, but anything below .900 is really struggling. If those numbers are kept up this goalie will not be in the NHL for very long
Quick is a 2-time Stanley Cup champ so he will be given a chance to bounce back, but a save percentage under 0.900 makes it extremely difficult for your team to win over the season.
.01 difference in save percentage translates to about 10 to 20 goals per year, depending on how many games a goalie plays. But with so many games being decided by one goal that translates into 10 to 20 points in the standings. When you look at it that way this really can be the difference between making the playoffs or not.
Of the top 10 goalie percentages only 2 missed the playoffs – Jack Campbell and Darcy Kuemper. However, both goalies started to play more after their teams were both so far back in the standings. Kuemper played so well that he almost helped Arizona complete a miracle run to get into the playoffs
The margin between winning and losing in the NHL is razor thin and small differences in save percentages have big impacts.
Save Percentage vs Goals Against Average
For the longest time the most important stat for an NHL goalie was his Goals Against Average (“GAA”), which is simply the average number of goals let in per game. There is even a trophy awarded to the leagues top goalie pair with the lowest GAA – the Williams Jennings Trophy.
However, as the stats world developed GAA came to be seen as a better indicator of team performance than individual performance.
Both goalies can have a 3.00 GAA, but one stops on average 40 shots a night versus 25. So who is better? Well, most would argue that the one facing more shots every night is doing more for his team.
I do think that both stats work in tandem and what you would like to see is a goalie with both a low GAA and a high save percentage. But, on evaluating a goalie’s individual performance I do like save percentage more than GAA. I think GAA reflects more on the team as a whole.
High danger shots and high danger save percentage
The advanced stats community has started to segment the save percentage shots by looking at high danger shots and high danger shots percentage.
Basically, the theory is that all shots are not equal. Shots range from ones that a goalie should stop all of the time to ones that are extremely difficult to save. So, let’s figure out how each goalie does stopping the more difficult shots are what they call high danger shots.
High danger shots are shots that come from the slot to high slot area. To give you an idea of what a good high danger save percentage is Ben Bishop finished with a .878 HD save %, which was third behind Jaroslav Halak’s .889. Whereas, at the bottom was Roberto Luongo was at the bottom with a .787 HD save %. Source
As a rule of thumb a goalie wants to have a save percentage that is better than average, and is looking at hitting the .915% mark or higher over the course of a season. The league average is 0.910%. Let’s look closer at some of the data to get a better picture of save percentage.
QS% measures the percentage of starts in which the goalie's save percentage (SV%) surpassed the league average SV% for the season. Anything above 60 percent is considered very good, anything below 50 percent is poor, and 53 percent is league average.
Goalies must be able to move in all directions, as quickly as possible, to react/recover and make an abrupt, balanced transition from one move to another, while staying in their stance, ready to make a save.” – Mitch Korn. Skating is the single most important skill for playing goal.
An 84-save game by Jamey Ramsey of Flint Northern (Michigan) in 1987 is listed as the national record by the National Federation of State High School Associations. “There is no doubt he was busy,” Day said. “After a while as a coach you lose track of how many saves he has.
23 goalies are tied for the lowest save percentage by a goalie in a game, at .000. The first three are Karel Vejmelka on November 6, 2021, Mikko Koskinen on May 6, 2021 and Jonas Johansson on April 7, 2021.
Hockey hits are, on average, 17% harder than football hits even though hockey players are 20% smaller than football players? Interesting. Josh Meinhardt and 1,420 others like this. Anyone on the receiving end of both hits even st the highschool level knows this.
Goalies who play long enough and excel at the pro level often reach their prime around age 35. Some of the recent greats like Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Ed Belfour, Dominik Hasek and Curtis Joseph are prime examples. Medically, they say an athlete's body peaks at age 28.
Is goalie the hardest position to play in hockey? Goalie is a difficult position, it requires learning to skate and make movements with more gear than skaters, however for many, it comes easier. Often young players will try goalie and become hooked, growing into the position with a background in skating out.
While goaltender is arguably hockey's most difficult position to play and excel, particularly as the level of play accelerates, the center's role is the most important to the action on the ice. Centers are involved with most faceoffs (a puck drop between two opposing players to restart play).
Since goalies know the hardest save for them to make is offside stick a lot them leave more room on the stick side to shoot, so they don't have to make offside stick saves. If the goalie is blocking the offside stick with their body and you can't shoot there then you have to shoot to the stick side.
1. Samir Handanovic - 38. Samir Handanovic plays for Inter Milan as their goalkeeper in the 2022/23 season alongside Cameroonian goalie André Onana. Out of 711 appearances, Samir has over 250 clean sheets with 777 goals conceded.
Wayne Gretzky's No.99 is retired throughout the NHL not only because he is considered the greatest player in League history, but because the number and his name are synonymous. Though there is no debate over who the best player to wear that number is, there are 98 other numbers with more than one worthy candidate.
Here are the series-by-series schedules for the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Stanley Cup First Round will consist of eight best-of-7 series.
What is the record for saves in an NHL regular season game? Ron Tugnutt has far and away the most saves of any goaltender in an NHL regular season game. The former Quebec Nordiques netminder claimed the title by stopping an eye-popping 70 shots against the Boston Bruins on March 21, 1991.
Premier League goalkeeper 1v1 performance (2021/2022)
Alisson is way out in front with a figure of +6.96 even after facing more 1v1's than any other goalkeeper in the league - that certainly says a lot about Liverpool's backline, but the stats prove they have the stopper to play in that manner and get success.
The fewest NHL games required to reach the mark was 424, set by Wayne Gretzky. Second quickest was Mario Lemieux, achieving the mark in his 513th game.
Not surprisingly, this also happened in '81-82 -- and it was capped by perhaps the greatest night of Gretzky's career. He had scored 45 goals in Edmonton's first 38 games when Philadelphia came to the Northlands Coliseum (now Rexall Place) on Dec. 30, 1981.
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Hockey is often considered one of the hardest sports in the world due to a number of factors. One of the most significant is the speed and physicality of the game. Players skate at high speeds and are constantly in motion, making it difficult to maintain control of the puck and navigate the ice.
Kids that start hockey before they are physically and mentally ready are more likely to have a negative experience. It is never too late to start playing hockey. Players have joined hockey programs at 12-13 years old and still made varsity hockey teams.
Numbers in the thirties were seen as "safe" for goaltenders, since most numbers below thirty were already spoken for by forwards and defensem*n (remember that "high numbers" were essentially-unheard of at this time).
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Being a great soccer goalie is harder than being a great goalie in any other sport. Being the person that prevents the other team from scoring points in a game like soccer makes this the hardest position in my book.
“The goalie position is really unique in the sense that we deal with a lot of adversity and a lot of pressure as the last line of defense,” he said. “We do deal with a lot of anxiety and mental issues.”
If a player wants an extension once his contract is set to expire, it's something to pay attention to. This player will sign an extension for 85% of his asking price, which definitely is helpful when it comes to the salary cap in this game.
23 goalies are tied for the lowest save percentage by a goalie in a game, at .000. The first three are Karel Vejmelka on November 6, 2021, Mikko Koskinen on May 6, 2021 and Jonas Johansson on April 7, 2021.
In ice hockey, a goaltender is credited with a save when they prevent a shot by the opponent from entering the net. A goaltender's efficiency in stopping shots, the save percentage, is calculated as a percentage of shots stopped divided by the total number of shots on goal.
Substitutions made prior to the fight shall be permitted, provided the players so substituting do not enter the fight. (b) For a violation of Rule 70 (a), a double Minor penalty shall be imposed on the player of the team who was the first to leave the players' or penalty bench during a fight.
OYHA employs the “Gretzky rule” which means that a player can only play up if the player makes the “A” team at the play up division level. The player attempting to “play up” must place in the top 30% of the high level “A” team in order to qualify.
ANSWER: Rule 402. f in the USA Hockey Playing Rules states, “When an equal number of minor penalties (coincidental) are assessed to players from both teams, the penalized players shall take their place on the penalty bench and immediate substitution will take place for an equal number of minor penalties.
Numbers in the thirties were seen as "safe" for goaltenders, since most numbers below thirty were already spoken for by forwards and defensem*n (remember that "high numbers" were essentially-unheard of at this time).
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Introduction: My name is Maia Crooks Jr, I am a homely, joyous, shiny, successful, hilarious, thoughtful, joyous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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