Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Is save percentage really indicative of how well a goalie has done?

For the most part, save percentage is a useful statistical category but to me it seems it can be misleading. For example, lets use the Calgary/SJ game from last night. Kipper faced a barrage of shots, precisely 43 of them, and made a whopping 41 saves. Thats a ridiculous 95% save percentage!!! But how many of them REALLY tested Kipper? You probably could've all of them on one hand. Most of the time, the Sharks didn't get good wood on the shot, there was no traffic in front leading to a relatively easy saves, and other times it was just a shark player taking a lazy wrister just to get the puck to the net. Don't get me wrong tho, Kipper has been outstanding thus far and has really kept the Flames in both games, but to judge a goalie's performance by simply looking at his save percentage seems a bit futile. Your thoughts?

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