NHL #2 Goaltender

[Puck082]

Not arguing anybody's preference, but given the criteria he should at least be listed.

I feel like i'm being such a Leaf homer but it's really just taking all the information at hand and concluding that, while all have had a small window of success, Bernier's numbers are up there with the rest while playing on the worst team of the three.

I'm starting to think Bernier and Reimer are the same person.

 

[forty_three]

Ask any goalkeeper if they'd rather face three shots from the boards or one from the slot

Yes and no. Goaltender style plays a pretty big role in what kind of shot they prefer to face. I, for some reason that I don't really understand, was really good at stopping breakaways. My D was always trying to push the puck carrier wide, as they'd been taught their whole life, and I always told them to crowd the trailer, leave the puck carrier to me. Make sure that pass did not get through.

But yeah, 95% of goalies would rather face a bad angle shot than a straight on one. And that's what I teach them.

I would also keep in mind that over the years (and as we get our hands on more and more data) plenty of arguments (both hockey and otherwise) that have made excellent intuitive sense have turned out not to be true.

For the record, I don't think that shot quality has absolutely zero effect on SV%. But from the data we have it doesn't appear to be a very large effect, and it definitely doesn't seem to me to be a large enough effect to raise a goalie who's been 26th in SV% over the last two years up to #2 in the world.

You have to find that perfect mesh of goalie style and team system. I think Hank and Quick both have terrible technique (in the sense that I would never encourage a young goalie to do anything they do), but the team D in front of them is suited to their style. And they are both athletic enough to make up for small mistakes by themselves or their D. And they've resisted being saddled with the "book" on them so far, although it would seem that Quick is starting to get figured out. There was a time when Felix Potvin looked unbeatable. And then coaches figured out the stutter step was a death sentence for him. There are a ton of really talented goalies who faded away while steady if unspectacular guys like Marty, Patty Roy, Olie Kolzig and Richter played a long time.

Realistically, if Brodeur was on the Oilers teams of the 80's, maybe he's not quite as successful.

And it goes both ways. I wish that the Jackets would get a goalie who is a little more mobile and aggressive than McIlhenny because when Bob is out, the entire team has to play different.

Being a successful goalie is an incredible combination of things. Except in Hasek's case. He was just a freak of nature. No earthly explanation for him.

Therein lies the problem it is the goalies job to STOP the puck it is the defensemens to clear it from danger the B's D get it the Leafs D does not

Leafs can stack inside the zone and keep shots from the perimeter, but as soon as the shot is released and they turn - they are beaten.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

Yes and no. Goaltender style plays a pretty big role in what kind of shot they prefer to face. I, for some reason that I don't really understand, was really good at stopping breakaways. My D was always trying to push the puck carrier wide, as they'd been taught their whole life, and I always told them to crowd the trailer, leave the puck carrier to me. Make sure that pass did not get through.

But yeah, 95% of goalies would rather face a bad angle shot than a straight on one. And that's what I teach them.

I was definitely in the 5% then. I was an undersized goalie when I played, so I preferred the straight on shots to the bad angles because they allowed me to rely more on my reflexes. Because of my size, I had a hard time not leaving a decent size opening high up when hugging the post, so if a guy could manage to put it there, he had a decent chance of it getting in.

I also liked to play pretty far out of the net, which doesn't work as well on the angle shots because you're too likely to get burned with a quick pass back into the slot.

 

[Harry Crack]

Absolutely. If the Leafs had put a defence in front of him capable of limiting shots to under 30 a damn game, maybe the morons in charge wouldn't have figured he was the problem and acquired Bernier.

But they did, and Bernier was pretty awesome, so...

Bernier CLEARLY established him as a good fulltime starter last year. The Leafs can safely build out from there

 

[Swamp Dragon]

Not arguing anybody's preference, but given the criteria he should at least be listed.

I feel like i'm being such a Leaf homer but it's really just taking all the information at hand and concluding that, while all have had a small window of success, Bernier's numbers are up there with the rest while playing on the worst team of the three.

See your point Danny

 

[Swamp Dragon]

I'd say Quick is better than HL. Especially Quick with his name on the cup twice. So I guess he's #2 if the assumption is HL is #1.

That kinda thinking would make Corey Crawford #3 and I don't believe anyone thinks that

 

[Harry Crack]

That kinda thinking would make Corey Crawford #3 and I don't believe anyone thinks that

Quick > Crawford is why the Kings got past the Hawks. That is the weak link in Chicago. The money they committed to him still shocks me ??

 

[slapshot]

Quick without question IMO.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

See your point Danny

Nice avatar...

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

That kinda thinking would make Corey Crawford #3 and I don't believe anyone thinks that

Exactly. I mean, we could always re-open the Osgood debate...

 

[Abe Vigoda]

I'd say Quick is better than HL. Especially Quick with his name on the cup twice. So I guess he's #2 if the assumption is HL is #1.

IDK that is a pretty stacked Kings team; not to mention a person named Gaborik shows up in 2014 and decides to stand infront of the net and bury a few rebounds.

 

[DragonfromTO]

If you're wondering where I got those average distances

Super Shot Search

Enjoy

Top 5 average shot distance teams (even strength, road games) and their ranking in SV% (even strength, road games)

1. Minnesota (40.4 feet) 8th
2. Bruins (39.3) 1st
3. Leafs (39.1) 20th
4. Flyers (39.0) 10th
5. Detroit (37.9) 23rd

As you can see, the Bruins don't appear to be 1st in SV% merely because of where they allow shots from but because their goalies were just really good. I'll probably mess around with some more of the data tomorrow.

So I took the data and calculated the correlation between team SV% and team shot (allowed) distance (both even strength in road games) for 2013-14. I got -0.246. So not strongly correlated, and not even positively correlated. It's not the shot distance that drives SV%, it's the goalies.