But shootout prowess is something that I think should be considered as well. I know it’s reflected to a degree in in the goaltenders’ W-L-OTL record.

Buffalo, for example, wouldn’t have been anywhere near a playoff spot without Miller’s ability in shootouts this year. What was the difference between the Habs and Rangers making the playoffs and Florida taking the 7 or 8 seed? Lundqvist was great in shootouts, Price/Halak average, and Vokoun/Anderson poor.

But it’s hard to put your finger on just how much they should be factored in to consideration, at least in my opinion. For the record, here’s how the 9 qualifiers in James’ metric fared in shootouts this year, sorted save %:

Miller 8-2, .775
Backstrom 5-2, .762
Lundqvist 9-4, .750
Fleury 3-4, .727
Luongo 3-4, .724
Mason 6-5, .710
Thomas 4-4, .679
Nabokov 5-4, .656
Ward 2-4, .632

Again, really hard to quantify the importance of that. But a lot of teams, the Rangers especially from what I remember seeing, seemed to be playing for a shootout even with a few minutes left in regulation. Buffalo very rarely “went for it” in overtime, and seemed to prefer the game be decided in a shootout. The mentality of teams like the Rangers and Sabres reflects an important aspect of their goaltenders’ ability, and often times makes a difference in the standings.

Thomas will win, and he deserves it.

Here’s my method. It’s not very refined, but I think it does an admirable job. I take all goalies with at least 25 starts, look at their shots against by situation (ES, PP, PK), and calculate the “extra saves” they made in each situation above average (or “extra goals” below average). Then sum those up to find the total extra saves or extra goals. Here’s the resultant spreadsheet.

Pros: conceptually, it’s a really nice way of crediting goalies for extra games played and adjusting for different ratios of ES:PP shots against. It also measures a goalie’s contribution in very easily understandable terms—goals. Cons: it ignores shot quality (including different numbers of 5-on-3 shots), and it ignores wins and shutouts, which may or may not matter to you. But it’s a very elegant way to aggregate a lot of goalie stats into a single number.

This is great news!

For Vancouver Canucks fans.

It is not like Roberto Luongo needed any more motivation through the playoffs, then this motivational package arrives gift wrapped.

Comparing goalies and especially trying to find that one best guy ever is a bit dumb tradition. Best goalie is of course on a team that wins?, perhaps it’s a guy who sucked all year but when that crucial moment came he was big, maybe a guy yelling I wanna win something personal don’t you D dare to touch that puck and mess up my chances :D

…has anyone ever whined about this? “yeah but he got more shots….” :)