The Goalie’s Record: An Overrated Stat?

Braden Holtby  (Caps Outsider)

On the night of August 12, 2015 and early the next morning, Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmerman and Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw were involved in one crazy pitcher’s battle. They allowed one run between them. Just like in hockey, someone had to lose. For me, a goalie’s win total never mattered when analyzing how good he really is. If they had a GAA of 1.00 but had a record of 0-10-0 then I would say he played well in those 10 games. Those loses were not on him, but the offense.

I will now compare two goalies and their stats from this past season: Jonathan Quick, and our own Braden Holtby. Holtby played in one more game than Quick this past year. Holtby ended the year with a GAA of 2.22 and Quick ended with a 2.24. Holtby had a SV% of .923 compared to Quick’s .918. Holtby also ended the year with three more shut-outs than Quick.  However, the Caps were 6th in the league in goals per game at 2.89 while the Kings were down at 18th at 2.65.

Now, the records. Holtby ended the year with a record of 41-20-10 (W-L-OTL) compared to Quick’s 36-22-13. Mainly because of the previously stated difference in the teams’ goals per game, Holtby “earned” his team seven more points than Quick did.  Holtby finished 4th in Vezina voting while Quick finished tied for 7th. Quick’s numbers are still top notch. I would happily take him as our goalie if we did not have Holtby.

But, when comparing these two, or goalies in general…

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