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Compare NHL goalies in the same season and game type, then read save percentage (SV%) and goals-against average (GAA) alongside games started, minutes played, and shots faced. SV% shows the share of shots stopped; GAA shows goals allowed per 60 minutes. Neither rate alone accounts for shot difficulty or defensive support.
What SV% and GAA measure
The NHL defines save percentage as saves divided by shots faced. A higher SV% means a goalie stopped a larger share of the shots counted in that statistic.
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GAA is goals allowed multiplied by 60, divided by minutes played. It is a per-60-minute rate—not simply goals allowed per game. Lower GAA is favorable when comparing that measure on its own.
The measures use different denominators: SV% is based on shots faced, while GAA is based on playing time. They offer related but distinct views of results, so one cannot be substituted for the other.
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Make the comparison fair
- Match the season and game type. Compare regular-season figures with regular-season figures, or playoff figures with playoff figures, and use the same date range. The NHL goalie statistics interface provides season and game-type filters.
- Check the amount of play behind each rate. A full-season rate and a rate from a handful of appearances do not have the same evidentiary weight. Note the games and minutes covered before drawing a conclusion.
- Use multiple workload fields. Look at games played (GP), games started (GS), shots against (SA), saves, and time on ice (TOI) alongside SV% and GAA. The NHL statistics feature describes historical, season, and game-by-game views, as well as statistics separated by starts and relief appearances: NHL.com’s statistics redesign article.
Read workload as more than one number
GP and GS are not interchangeable: a goalie can appear in relief without starting. Starts help show role, minutes show time played, and shots against show volume faced. Together they provide a more useful picture than any one count, but they do not directly quantify fatigue, traffic, rebound difficulty, or the quality of the defense.
The official goalie table presents fields including GP, GS, SA, saves, goals against, SV%, GAA, and TOI. Viewing them side by side helps distinguish a frequent starter from a goalie with fewer appearances and reveals how much volume sits behind a rate.
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Use shot context before judging skill
Goalies do not necessarily face the same kinds of chances. Shot location and game state can affect how difficult a chance is; other analyses also consider shot type, angle, rush context, and pre-shot movement. The Seattle Kraken’s goalie analytics explainer by Alison Lukan describes expected-goal models that assign values to shots using details such as location and game state, while noting that models differ. Such context can help explain why two goalies’ raw rates diverge, but it cannot fully represent every defensive action, read, or decision.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchTop-line statistics are useful summaries, not complete skill assessments. A higher SV% or lower GAA is better on that particular measure, but neither proves a goalie is better regardless of sample size, shot mix, or team environment. The NHL feature “Elite goalies trust process, not stats” discusses why shot circumstances matter when interpreting results.
A practical comparison checklist
| Comparison axis | What to examine | What it tells you | What it cannot settle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shot-stopping rate | SV% | Share of faced shots stopped | Does not weight shots by difficulty |
| Goals allowed per playing time | GAA | Goals against normalized to 60 minutes | Still reflects team context and shot quality |
| Opportunity and workload | GS, GP, SA, TOI | Role and volume of use | Counts alone do not measure fatigue or difficulty |
| Shot context | Expected-goal or shot-location information, when available | Whether the mix of chances differs | Models vary and cannot capture every read or defensive action |
Do not use an old league average as a current benchmark
An NHL.com article published December 16, 2019 reported that league-average SV% had moved from .915 in 2015–16 to .910 through 483 games of the then-current season. Those are historical figures reported in that article, not current benchmarks. A “good” SV% or GAA depends on the season and comparison group; no current league-average figure is established here, so use same-season comparisons rather than treating an old value as a universal cutoff.
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