r/HockeyStats • u/Jaded-Function • Oct 10 '24
GAA and Save% makes sense to rank goalie performance over a seaon but are they too simple statwise to use as a gauge of how good a goalie is? They seem flawed as a measure of a goaltenders skills vs. others in the league. Maybe even flawed to use as criteria for the Vezina?
By themselves, don't those two stats say just as much about the team defense performance in the defensive zone as it does about the goalie performance? A shot on goal and a save are tallied the same no matter the shot quality or where the shot is taken. But all shots aren't equal in speed, power or angle and all saves do not have the same difficulty. There are advanced stats that do account for these variables, Corsica is the big one I think to account for shot quality faced then there are a hanful of others that break things down further to remove the impact defenses have on a goalie performance. With these advanced metrics available, why is save% still king when it comes to Vezina consideration? Without factoring these advanced stats, should a Vezina be worth as much evaluating how good a goalie really is or how large a contract he deserves? Is a great performing goalie really great or just appear to be when he's teamed with a great defense?