When I ran this list last season, it showed that there were no final four goaltenders in the top ten. This season Jaroslav Halak and Ryan Miller spoil the party. Halak's strong season puts him squarely in second place and Ryan Miller's Vezina-winning season elevated him from 18th to 10th, a feat made more impressive by Halak and Hiller debuting inside the top ten.
The top of the list is populated by the titans of NHL goaltending and Ty Conklin. The bottom of the list is populated by backups, journeymen, and guys at the end of their careers.
The number at the left is the individual save percentage rank in the NHL since the lockout season for qualifying goalies with two seasons or more since 2005. In this case a "qualifying season" is one in which the goaltender played in 25 regular season games or more. I'm using a minimum of two qualifying seasons to try and filter out short-term effects as much as possible.
In 05-06 there were 47 qualifying goalies, in 06-07 there were 44, in 07-08 there were 44, in 08-09 there were 56 and the number of qualifiers in 09-10 was 47. SV% is the goaltender's save percentage in those qualifying seasons only. The number to the far right is the individual save percentage rank in the NHL since the lockout based on qualified goalies with more than a single season. There are 61 such goalies since 05-06.
Rank | Player | Seasons | SV% | Prev. |
1 | Tomas Vokoun | 5 | 0.922 | 2 |
2 | Jaroslav Halak | 2 | 0.92 | NR |
3 | Jonas Hiller | 2 | 0.918 | NR |
4 | Niklas Backstrom | 4 | 0.918 | 1 |
5 | Tim Thomas | 5 | 0.918 | 4 |
6 | Henrik Lundqvist | 5 | 0.918 | 7 |
7 | Ty Conklin | 3 | 0.917 | 8 |
8 | Martin Brodeur | 5 | 0.917 | 6 |
9 | Roberto Luongo | 5 | 0.917 | 5 |
10 | Ryan Miller | 5 | 0.916 | 18 |
11 | Manny Fernandez | 3 | 0.915 | 10 |
12 | Dominik Hasek | 3 | 0.914 | 11 |
13 | Cristobal Huet | 5 | 0.914 | 3 |
14 | Ilya Bryzgalov | 5 | 0.914 | 19 |
15 | Pekka Rinne | 2 | 0.914 | NR |
16 | Miikka Kiprusoff | 5 | 0.914 | 15 |
17 | Chris Mason | 4 | 0.913 | 13 |
18 | Craig Anderson | 3 | 0.913 | 24 |
19 | Jean-Sebastien Giguere | 5 | 0.913 | 12 |
20 | Carey Price | 3 | 0.912 | 17 |
21 | Dan Ellis | 3 | 0.912 | 14 |
22 | Kari Lehtonen | 4 | 0.911 | 20 |
23 | Evgeni Nabokov | 5 | 0.91 | 29 |
24 | Martin Biron | 5 | 0.91 | 26 |
25 | Jonathan Quick | 2 | 0.909 | NR |
26 | Dwayne Roloson | 5 | 0.909 | 22 |
27 | Steve Mason | 2 | 0.908 | NR |
28 | Pascal Leclaire | 3 | 0.908 | 9 |
29 | Marc-Andre Fleury | 5 | 0.907 | 23 |
30 | Manny Legace | 5 | 0.907 | 26 |
31 | Rick DiPietro | 3 | 0.907 | 28 |
32 | Ray Emery | 4 | 0.907 | 27 |
33 | Martin Gerber | 4 | 0.907 | 25 |
34 | Josh Harding | 2 | 0.907 | NR |
35 | Brian Elliott | 2 | 0.906 | NR |
36 | Mike Smith | 3 | 0.906 | 21 |
37 | Cam Ward | 5 | 0.905 | 35 |
38 | Marty Turco | 5 | 0.905 | 32 |
39 | Jason LaBarbera | 3 | 0.905 | 30 |
40 | Nikolai Khabibulin | 4 | 0.904 | 31 |
41 | Mathieu Garon | 4 | 0.903 | 33 |
42 | Alex Auld | 4 | 0.903 | 34 |
43 | Antero Niittymaki | 5 | 0.902 | 39 |
44 | Peter Budaj | 4 | 0.902 | 36 |
45 | Fredrik Norrena | 2 | 0.901 | 37 |
46 | Olie Kolzig | 3 | 0.9 | 40 |
47 | Johan Hedberg | 3 | 0.9 | 52 |
48 | Jose Theodore | 5 | 0.9 | 46 |
49 | Curtis Sanford | 2 | 0.899 | 41 |
50 | David Aebischer | 2 | 0.899 | 42 |
51 | Chris Osgood | 3 | 0.898 | 43 |
52 | Vesa Toskala | 5 | 0.898 | 38 |
53 | Curtis Joseph | 2 | 0.898 | 44 |
54 | Ed Belfour | 2 | 0.897 | 45 |
55 | Brent Johnson | 2 | 0.897 | NR |
56 | Marc Denis | 2 | 0.893 | 47 |
57 | John Grahame | 2 | 0.892 | 48 |
58 | Johan Holmqvist | 2 | 0.891 | 49 |
59 | Andrew Raycroft | 3 | 0.89 | 50 |
60 | Mikael Tellqvist | 2 | 0.89 | NR |
61 | Patrick Lalime | 2 | 0.889 | 51 |
- Tomas Vokoun remains the gold standard of goalies over the last five seasons. He's likely one goalie that will find money in unrestricted free agency, but he's already 34. How many seasons does he have left? Also, will anyone give up value for Vokoun at the deadline?
- Jonas Hiller, on the other hand is just 28. He's under contract for the next four seasons in Anaheim at only (compared to to other sizable goalie contracts) $4,500,000. If I had to bet on any of these guys to maintain their numbers in the short term, it would be him, even behind that awful defense in Anaheim.
- The Predators have four goaltenders on the list, Vokoun, Chris Mason, Pekka Rinne, and Dan Ellis. Those four make up all of Nashville's qualifying seasons since the lockout and none of them are ranked lower than 21st. Vokoun (1), Rinne (15), Mason (17), and Ellis (21) have delivered superb goaltending to the Preds over the last five seasons with zero playoff success to show for it. The stellar play by that group rivals Backstrom and Fernandez from the Wild.
- The common theme for the bottom ten? The Toronto Maple Leafs. Toskala, Joseph, Belfour, Raycroft and Tellqvist were all Leafs at one point or another since the lockout,. Half of the bottom ten were Leafs.
- Speaking of Raycroft, why in the world did Dallas sign him? There were plenty of goaltenders available with better a better chance of breaking .900, yet they signed Raycroft to play behind one of the most oft-injured goalies in the league. Are the dollars that tight for the Stars?
- The Thrashers may have landed nice value in Chris Mason for the season. He's getting older, but he's been consistent over the last four years for the Predators and Blues.
- The Flyers revolving goaltending is on display in this list. They've had 10 qualifying seasons in the last five seasons, four from Nittymaki, two from Biron and one each from Boucher, Emery, Esche and Leighton.
- And finally, Khabibulin - 40th. And aging.