Today, for no particular reason, I'm going to rank each team's goaltending. Those who keep up with the Hockey Abstract books are familiar with our quick-and-dirty ranking of NHL teams that is achieved by taking a weighted average of each goalie's NHL stats over the past three seasons, and combined the starter and the backup in a 3-to-1 ratio. That does the job at a high level, but I'm going to go a little deeper here today. Not a lot deeper, just a little. Specifically, I took that same weighted average over the past three seasons (or, technically, three and a third), and also added each goalie's AHL data. I've also added a regression component for those goalies who haven't faced at least 5,000 shots. One possible program is that this regression component might actually boost goalies who have barely played above goalies who have played a lot but haven't done very well. Finally, I'm going to go beyond just the starter and the backup, and look at the team's depth, as well. Oh, and no, this does not factor in shot quality factors, like shot location or even manpower situation. It doesn't include the shootout, or any fancy metrics. It's just straight-up save percentage, with all its strengths and shortcomings. As you will probably notice, the rankings in brackets refer to where the goalie ranks within his tier (starter, backup, depth), and not where he ranks overall. Ok, here we go. 1. Chicago Blackhawks Starter: Corey Crawford .9237 (2nd) Backup: Anton Forsberg .9185 (2nd) Depth: Jean-Francois Berube .9092 (20th), Jeff Glass .9074 (33rd), Collin Delia .9069 (42nd) 2. Columbus Blue Jackets Starter: Sergei Bobrovsky .9262 (1st) Backup: Joonas Korpisalo .9123 (18th) Depth: Matiss Kivlenieks .9065 (50th) 3. Anaheim Ducks Starter: John Gibson .9216 (6th) Backup: Ryan Miller .9165 (4th) Depth: Reto Berra .9089 (22nd), Kevin Boyle .9066 (48th) 4. Tampa Bay Lightning Starter: Andrei Vasilevskiy .9228 (3rd) Backup: Peter Budaj .9142 (13th) Depth: Connor Ingram .9058 (61st), Louis Domingue .9047 (68th) 5. Los Angeles Kings Starter: Jonathan Quick .9226 (4th) Backup: Darcy Kuemper .9149 (11th) Depth: Jack Campbell .9133 (4th), Cal Petersen .9083 (27th), Jeff Zatkoff .9052 (65th) 6. Washington Capitals Starter: Braden Holtby .9223 (5th) Backup: Philipp Grubauer .9137 (14th) Depth: Pheonix Copley .9122 (5th), Vitek Vanecek .9080 (30th), Adam Carlson .9073 (35th) 7. Minnesota Wild Starter: Devan Dubnyk .9200 (8th) Backup: Alex Stalock .9158 (5th) Depth: Steve Michalek .9107 (11th), Niklas Svedberg .9078 (32nd) 8. Pittsburgh Penguins Starter: Matt Murray .9198 (9th) Backup: Tristan Jarry .9158 (6th) Depth: Casey DeSmith .9115 (9th), Sean Maguire .9071 (39th) 9. Florida Panthers Starter: Roberto Luongo .9209 (7th) Backup: James Reimer .9117 (20th) Depth: Harri Sateri .9073 (36th), Samuel Montembeault .9065 (51st) 10. Montreal Canadiens Starter: Carey Price .9191 (10th) Backup: Charlie Lindgren .9126 (17th) Depth: Michael McNiven .9063 (53rd), Al Montoya .9061 (55th), Zachary Fucale .9039 (72nd), Antti Niemi .8962 (82nd) 11. Nashville Predators Starter: Pekka Rinne .9189 (11th) Backup: Juuse Saros .9135 (15th) Depth: Harri Sateri .9073 (36th), Samuel Montembeault .9065 (51st) 12. Toronto Maple Leafs Starter: Frederik Anderson .9179 (13th) Backup: Curtis McElhinney .9116 (21st) Depth: Garret Sparks .9174 (1st), Calvin Pickard .9142 (3rd), Kasimir Kaskisuo .9081 (29th) 13. Arizona Coyotes Starter: Antti Raanta .9189 (12th) Backup: Scott Wedgewood .9168 (3rd) Depth: Marek Langhamer .9084 (25th), Adin Hill .9069 (41st), Hunter Miska .9062 (54th), Michael Leighton .9038 (73rd) 14. New Jersey Devils Starter: Cory Schneider .9176 (14th) Backup: Keith Kinkaid .9113 (22nd) Depth: Ken Appleby .9051 (66th), Mackenzie Blackwood .9042 (71st) 15. San Jose Sharks Starter: Martin Jones .9165 (16th) Backup: Aaron Dell .9187 (1st) Depth: Troy Grosenick .9090 (21st), Antoine Bibeau .9083 (26th), Mantas Armalis .9049 (67th) 16. Vancouver Canucks Starter: Jacob Markstrom .9171 (15th) Backup: Anders Nilsson .9153 (10th) Depth: Thatcher Demko .9094 (19th), Richard Bachman .9034 (76th) 17. Vegas Golden Knights Starter: Marc-Andre Fleury .9163 (17th) Backup: Malcolm Subban .9155 (9th) Depth: Dylan Ferguson .9072 (38th), Oscar Dansk .9067 (46th), Maxime Lagace .8971 (81st) 18. Winnipeg Jets Starter: Connor Hellebuyck .9158 (18th) Backup: Steve Mason .9121 (19th) Depth: Michael Hutchinson .9161 (2nd), Eric Comrie .9106 (12th), Jamie Phillips .9073 (37th) 19. Carolina Hurricanes Starter: Scott Darling .9155 (20th) Backup: Cam Ward .9084 (28th) Depth: Jeremy Smith .9094 (18th), Alex Nedeljkovic .9052 (64th) 20. New York Rangers Starter: Henrik Lundqvist .9154 (21st) Backup: Ondrej Pavelec .9097 (26th) Depth: Alexandar Georgiev .9064 (52nd), Chris Nell .9059 (60th), Brandon Halverson .9044 (69th) 21. New York Islanders Starter: Jaroslav Halak .9153 (22nd) Backup: Thomas Greiss .9099 (25th) Depth: Christopher Gibson .9094 (16th), Eamon McAdam .9060 (56th), Kristers Gudlevskis .9021 (79th) 22. Edmonton Oilers Starter: Cam Talbot .9146 (24th) Backup: Nick Ellis .9142 (12th) Depth: Eddie Pasquale .9094 (17th), Laurent Brossoit .9069 (43rd) 23. Buffalo Sabres Starter: Robin Lehner .9157 (19th) Backup: Chad Johnson .9083 (29th) Depth: Linus Ullmark .9104 (13th), Jonas Johansson .9069 (44th), Jason Kasdorf .9055 (62nd), Adam Wilcox .9029 (77th) 24. Boston Bruins Starter: Tuukka Rask .9140 (26th) Backup: Anton Khudobin .9127 (16th) Depth: Dan Vladar .9087 (24th), Zane McIntyre .9082 (28th) 25. Detroit Red Wings Starter: Jimmy Howard .9150 (23rd) Backup: Petr Mrazek .9070 (30th) Depth: Tom McCollum .9120 (6th), Jared Coreau .9108 (10th) 26. Dallas Stars Starter: Ben Bishop .9143 (25th) Backup: Kari Lehtonen .9035 (31st) Depth: Philippe Desrosier .9074 (34th), Landon Bow .9059 (59th), Mike McKenna .9044 (70th) 27. Calgary Flames Starter: Mike Smith .9139 (27th) Backup: David Rittich .9157 (7th) Depth: Jon Gillies .9095 (15th), Mason McDonald .9068 (45th), Eddie Lack .9037 (74th) 28. St. Louis Blues Starter: Jake Allen .9133 (30th) Backup: Carter Hutton .9155 (8th) Depth: Jordan Binnington .9120 (7th), Ville Husso .9080 (31st) 29. Philadelphia Flyers Starter: Brian Elliott .9138 (29th) Backup: Michal Neuvirth .9111 (23rd) Depth: Anthony Stolarz .9117 (8th), Alex Lyon .9065 (49th), Dustin Tokarski .9035 (75th) 30. Ottawa Senators Starter: Craig Anderson .9139 (28th) Backup: Mike Condon .9109 (24th) Depth: Adam Vay .9070 (40th), Marcus Hogberg .9066 (47th), Chris Driedger .9060 (57th), Danny Taylor .9059 (58th) 31. Colorado Avalanche Starter: Semyon Varlamov .9087 (31st) Backup: Jonathan Bernier .9089 (27th) Depth: Andrew Hammond .9088 (23rd), Spencer Martin .9054 (63rd), Joe Cannata .9008 (80th) |
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