Average NHL goalie save percentage over the past nine seasons and thus far this season. There is a clear downward trend.

43 comments

  1. Skaters are getting faster and better, I’m not 100% sure this is exclusively a goalie problem

  2. Players are getting faster and better and equipment is helping there too. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that save% is getting lower because it makes the game more fun to watch.

  9. Don Cherry a decade or two ago commented that 2 things get people up off their asses during a hockey game. A fight. Or a goal. I see no problem with higher scoring personally 🤷‍♂️

  16. I’m sure there is way more than 1 reason for this, but what I’d be curious to know is: how many would-be great goalies are not playing in goal because of the prohibitive cost of becoming a goaltender?

    Really, I think that is a very real reason for this downward trend. Goal tending equipment is eye wateringly expensive. There must be a ton of kids who want to play goalie, but their parents simply cannot afford it, so, they end up as a skater.

    I’m sure the talent pool is shrinking with each new draft class, it must be.

  17. I’m not sure what the numbers in the 2 columns on the right represent but it seems very strange so many years have the exact same values

  19. Curious about the correlation with 1) a noticeable decrease in slap shots and 2) decrease in recorded shots on goal

  23. All the years of shrinking pads and changes to increase scoring have come to fruition. As a goalie I hate it and yearn for the days of low scoring games but I also like action packed scoring and think it’s better for the overall product. It also switches to low scoring usually in the playoffs

  24. Players are getting more skilled and faster rapidly. The way they release these pucks on their shots are almost borderline impossible to read and track. I will say as a whole teams aren’t as defensive minded and there’s more emphasis on scoring d-men who focus on the rush. Look at the Norris winners lol. I’d say goalies right now are even better technically and reaction-wise than in 2015. This year especially players are waiting to shoot at the perfect most high percentage areas on the ice which has caused more time that players are passing and cycling the puck around and create chaos. I’m sure we’ll see a boom save percentage in a year or two.

  28. Shots on goal are reviewed and they’re tight now about calling shots the goalie saved that might have been a bit high or wide are being taken off the board. Maybe because gamblers bet on shots / shot differential, attention is paid to being more accurate

    And teams are less likely to blast away from the point, as players are better at getting in lanes than ever before, also less shooting from a sharp angle is also less often. They pass it around more to try to set up a better chance nowadays.

  32. Rule changes, increased penalties being called, better PP, better technology, smaller goalie gear, there are tons of factors to this.

    A quick Google will show a plethora of articles with different people’s theories as to why.

  33. Expansion is part of the problem. There aren’t 33 good starting goalies. No one would trade a Bobrovsky or Helleybuck level goalie for a superstar forward and a first round pick. Good goalies are impossibly rare, but they keep expanding the league like that doesn’t matter

  35. Pretty interesting. Would like to see this correlated with: sogs, pp time, pp goals, and by decile — are the bad goalies just worse or is it all goalies

  37. Skaters have obviously gotten better, but they did have those goalie changes (knee/thigh height) in 2010 and shorter pads in 2013.

  40. There is a growing philosophy that a shot attempt is the same as a turnover, like we see in overtime, just amplified. You’re giving up control of the puck so it had better be on a scoring chance otherwise keep moving the puck around.

    So teams may be shooting less, but the dangerous shots feel like they’re on the rise.

  41. It’s good for the game. Nobody wants to watch dead puck era hockey, we want offense, that’s what drives stories and sales.

  42. Much of this has to do with how shots on goal are counted. There are fewer valid shots now… Thank sports betting for creating the need for more scrutiny than in the past.

  43. I understand that it’s not what this is about, but is there a link with the fact that we are moving away with the #1 goalie playing 65+ games? I’m wondering if there is any correlation with the save percentage being down.

    Most teams now have a 1A/1B sharing games around 60/40

Leave a Reply