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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteCompare NHL goalies over the same season and game type, and 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 save percentage 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 comparison.
GAA is goals allowed multiplied by 60 and divided by minutes played. It is a per-60-minute rate, not simply goals allowed per game. A lower GAA is favorable when considered on its own.
The rates use different denominators: SV% is based on shots faced, while GAA is based on playing time. They describe related outcomes, but are not interchangeable, and neither by itself establishes which goalie is better.
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Make the comparison fair
- Choose one season and game type. Compare regular-season figures with regular-season figures, or playoff figures with playoff figures. NHL.com’s goalie statistics interface supports season and game-type filtering.
- Use a comparable date range. A full-season rate and a rate from a handful of appearances do not rest on equivalent samples. State the period being compared.
- Check each goalie’s role. Distinguish starts from relief appearances, and avoid treating a small number of games as equivalent to a regular starter’s workload.
Read the rates beside workload
The NHL goalie table includes games played (GP), games started (GS), shots against (SA), saves, goals against, SV%, GAA, and time on ice (TOI). Looking at these fields together shows both the results and the volume behind them.
| Comparison axis | What to check | What it shows | What it cannot show alone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shot-stopping rate | SV% | Share of faced shots stopped | How difficult those shots were |
| Goals allowed per playing time | GAA | Goals against normalized to 60 minutes | The effects of team defense and shot quality |
| Use and volume | GS, GP, SA, and TOI | Whether the goalie started or relieved, and how much work was recorded | Fatigue, rebound difficulty, traffic, or defensive quality |
Starts and games played are distinct measures: a goalie can appear in relief without starting. Minutes and shots against add other dimensions of use. Together they describe workload more clearly than any single count, but they do not directly measure fatigue or difficulty.
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Account for shot quality and team context
Goalies do not necessarily face the same mix of chances or play behind the same defensive environment. Shot type, distance, angle, rush context, and pre-shot movement can help explain why two goalies’ headline rates differ.
In an October 28, 2021 Seattle Kraken/NHL.com explainer, Alison Lukan describes expected-goal models that assign value to shots using details such as location and game state. Models differ, and such estimates add context rather than accounting for every read, decision, or defensive action. NHL coverage also discusses shot type, distance, angle, and rush context as factors used in some analysis: Elite goalies trust process, not stats.
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Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is there a good SV% or GAA benchmark?
There is no season-independent threshold in the cited figures that defines a “good” SV% or GAA. Compare goalies within the same season and game type, and be explicit about the size of the sample. League conditions and the comparison group matter.
An NHL.com article published December 16, 2019 reported that league-average SV% had declined from .915 in 2015–16 to .910 through 483 games of the then-current season. Those are historical figures from that article, not current benchmarks. Its statistics redesign feature also describes season, historical, and game-by-game views, as well as statistics split by starts and relief appearances.
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