What is GSAA for Goalies? Understanding GSAA in hockey

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GSAA is a hockey goaltending statistic that stands for “Goals Saved Above Average”. GSAA is a relatively new statistic, but a valuable one used to measure a goalies play as compared to the rest of the goalies in their league. GSAA is hockey’s version of baseball’s “WAR” statistic.

In the past decade, statistics have taken a much deeper dive than ever before. Not just in hockey, but with sports like Baseball and the “WAR” statistic. GSAA is becoming increasingly popular when used by NHL GM’s in evaluating a goalies trade potential and contract size.

Statistically speaking, teams with a goalie who finishes in the top 12 league wide in terms of GSAA, are more likely to win the Stanley Cup. In a sample of 7 NHL seasons from 2014-2015 to 2020-2021, teams with a goalie in the top 12 GSAA statistic won the cup 6 out of 7 times.

How is GSAA calculated?

Goals Saved Above Average is calculated by the league’s average save percentage with the number of shots a goalie has had. The resulting number is the average goals a goalie in whatever league you’re evaluating would’ve surrendered if they took the same number of shots as the goalie you’re evaluating.

Then, this number can be evaluated against the number of goals given up by the goalie in question, finally resulting in a plus / minus number, GSAA.

What’s a good GSAA for goalies?

A positive GSAA (higher the number the better) is the number of goals the goalie has saved compared to a league average goalie. Negative GSAA numbers indicate that the goalie is performing worse than a league average goalie would.

Simple, right? Below, we’re going to list some fun facts, for the sake of debate, of goalies GSAA statistics and how their teams fared in the playoffs from that season.

Is GSAA really a good way to measure a goalies value?

This is the million dollar question. I have a friend who now works for the Toronto Blue Jays in Major League Baseball. Without naming him or his speciality, he built his career and made a name for himself in the MLB by tracking one simple statistic that had nothing to do with wins and losses. Personally, I think that some stats turn into slang and do go too far. Is GSAA one of them? Immediately, I would say not. GSAA is quickly becoming one of the top statistics used to scout goalies.

Making the case for GSAA is the fact that the statistic does factor in a league average save percentage. As a result, a good GSAA often follows a trendline of the leading save percentage.

That said, we cannot argue that GSAA is the most important statistic in determining a goalies value. Maybe not so much the argument against GSAA alone, but it’s correlation with my preferred statistic, the Saves Percentage. If you look at the 2018 / 2019 NHL season when the cinderella story St. Louis Blues and freshman netminder Jordan Binnington took the Stanley Cup in brilliant fashion, Binnington barely finished in the top 15 as far as GSAA is concerned. Ben Bishop led the league, at +32 GSAA and the Dallas Stars ultimately fell to the future Cup Champions in St. Louis. Bishop was in the middle of an incredible season in which many argued that he should’ve won the Vezina Trophy.

Does a low GSAA indicate under performance?

I would argue that an underwhelming GSAA does not indicate under performance. Carter Hart, the current staple and major reason why the Philadelphia Flyers entered the Cup Playoffs as a favorite, ended the season with a 4.46 GSAA. Back to Jordan Binnington, he started 50 games for the St. Louis Blues and won 30 of them, but ended with a 3.30 GSAA. Carey Price had a horrible season as far as GSAA is concerned, but if I’m current Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin, I’m not out shopping one of the perennial best goalies in the NHL.

It’s interesting to point out that of the “Big 3” as I would call them, Goals Against Average, Saves Percentage, and Goals Saved Above Average, 2020 Vezina Winner Connor Hellebuyck finished with these stats.

7th in SVS% amongst goalies who played more than 30 games (2nd behind Tuuka Rask in goalies who played more than 40 games)
13th in GAA amongst goalies who played more than 30 games (6th in goalies who played more than 40 games)
2nd in GSAA behind just Tuuka Rask

Helleybuyck finished the 2019 2020 season with 31 wins, trailing only Stanley Cup Champ Andrei Vasilevskiy, which was a key factor in the decision to award him the Vezina.

GSAA Winners and Losers During the 2020-2021 NHL Season

With a few elite goalies in the prime of their career, it’s interesting to note that we have a completely new top 5 GSAA leaders this season.

The top GSAA leaders from 2020-2021

Semyon Varlamov
Andrei Vasilevsky
Juuse Saros
Marc-Andre Fleury
Alex Nedelkjovic

The top 5 worst GSAA stats from 2020 – 2021

Carter Hart
Brian Elliot
Braden Holtby
Joonas Korpisalo
Martin Jones

Do GSAA leaders wear the same brand of goalie pads?

Ok this one we had to. Our name is literally Goalie Coaches. We’re allowed to point out which gear is worn by GSAA leaders. Over the past 3 years and 15 total leaders, Vaughn has 5 goalies finishing in the top 5 wearing their gear. Bauer has had 3, CCM has also had 5, and Brian’s just 2.

2020 – 2021 GSAA leaders and their choice of pads.

Semyon Varlamov, True
Andrei Vasilevsky, Bauer
Juuse Saros, CCM
Marc-Andre Fleury, True
Alex Nedelkjovic, Vaughn

2019 – 2020 GSAA Leaders and their choice of pads.

Tuuka Rask, Vaughn
Connor Hellebuyck, CCM
Anton Khudobin, Vaughn
Darcy Kuemper, Vaughn
Ben Bishop, Bauer

2018 – 2019 GSAA Leaders and their choice of pads.

Ben Bishop, Bauer
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Bauer
Robin Lehner, Brian’s
Darcy Kuemper, Vaughn
Thomas Greiss, Vaughn

2017 – 2018 GSAA Leaders and their choice of pads.

Pekka Rinne, CCM
John Gibson, CCM
Antti Raanta, Brian’s
Connor Hellebuyck, CCM
Marc-Andre Fleury, CCM

GSAA Leaders from 2020 – 2021

GSAA Leaders 2019 – 2020

Ok so to be fair, the 2019 2020 NHL season was cut in half due to the coronavirus pandemic. With that being said, we do have some good reference points to go off of for that season.

The top 5 worst GSAA stats from 2019 – 2020

Jimmy Howard
Braden Holtby
Devan Dubnyk
Martin Jones
Sergei Bobrovsky

Dubnyk, who won at least 30 games from 2015-16 to 2018-19, was traded to the San Jose Sharks shortly after the conclusion of the pandemic shortened season. Personally, I felt that Dubnyk is not best judged by his GSAA, as he consistently led the league in other key statistics. In fact, from 2014, Dubnyk was 2nd in wins throughout the entire NHL.

The top 5 best GSAA stats from 2019 – 2020

Tuuka Rask (22.51 GSAA)
Connor Hellebuyck (22.40 GSAA)
Anton Khudobin (17.75 GSAA)
Darcy Kuemper (16.65 GSAA)
Ben Bishop (13.28 GSAA)

One thing that’s interesting to note from this, both Khudobin and Kuemper spent time with the Minnesota Wild. The Wild have had “issues” between the pipes, which led to a change in shipping Dubnyk to San Jose at the conclusion of the 2019 – 2020 season.

GSAA Leaders from the 2018 / 2019 Season

NHL GSAA Leaders from the 2017 / 2018 Season

Does GSAA have a meaningful impact on a teams finish in the playoffs? Of course, there are a number of different and impactful statistics that influence a teams finish (and no, it’s not just whether or not the teams starting goalie has great looking goalie pads.. despite what we might think), but we’ll take a deeper dive into how Goals Saved Above Average correlates to a teams post season finish.

2017 / 18 Playoff teams

The conference final teams in no order were the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, Washington Capitals and the Winnipeg Jets. Western Conference goalies ranked in the top 5, and were the majority starters for their respective teams. On the Eastern Conference side, Holtby ranked near the bottom of the NHL in GSAA, yet they made it to the Conference finals.

Also, interestingly enough, Holtby had the only SV% ranked under a .920 of these 4. Holtby’s SV% was in the bottom 4 of any goalie in the playoffs, tied with Corey Schneider.

Nashville Predators – Pekka Rinne | SV% .927 | GSAA 27.49 (1st in the NHL)

Anaheim Ducks – John Gibson | SV% .926 | 25.3 GSAA (2nd in the NHL)

Winnipeg Jets – Connor Hellebuyck | SV% .924 | GSAA 23.75 (4th in the NHL)

Vegas Golden Knights – Marc-Andre Fleury .927 SV% | GSAA 20.77 (5th in the NHL)

Columbus Blue Jackets – Sergei Bobrovsky | SV% .921 | GSAA 16.92 (7th in the NHL)

Los Angeles Kings – Jonathan Quick | SV% .921 | GSAA 16.86 (8th in the NHL)

Toronto Maple Leafs – Frederik Andersen | SV% .918 | GSAA 12.06 (12th in the NHL)

Minnesota Wild – Devan Dubnyk .918 SV% | GSAA 10.26 (17th in the NHL)

Boston Bruins – Tuukka Rask | SV% .917 | GSAA 7.79 (19th in the NHL)

Tampa Bay Lightning – Andrei Vasilevskiy | SV% .920 | GSAA 15.12 (9th in the NHL)

San Jose Sharks – Martin Jones | .915 SV% | 4.12 GSAA (24th in the NHL)

Colorado Avalanche – Jonathan Bernier | .913 SV% | .84 GSAA (30th in the NHL)

New Jersey Devils – Keith Kincaid .913 SV% | .55 GSAA (31st in the NHL) / Corey Schneider | SV% .907 | GSAA -6.22 (47th in the NHL). One thing worth noting, Kincaid and Schneider split time last season, both playing roughly 40 games.

Washington Capitals – Braden Holtby | SV% .907 | GSAA -.836 (54th in the NHL)

Goalie Statistics Table
				Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal
Rk	Player	Age	Tm	GP	GS	W	L	GA	SA	SV	SV%	GAA	SO	MIN	QS	GSAA ▼
1	Pekka Rinne	35	NSH	59	59	42	13	134	1840	1706	.927	2.31	8	3475	40	27.49
2	John Gibson	24	ANA	60	60	31	18	139	1872	1733	.926	2.43	4	3428	39	25.30
3	Antti Raanta	28	ARI	47	46	21	17	97	1388	1291	.930	2.24	3	2599	32	24.82
4	Connor Hellebuyck	24	WPG	67	64	44	11	156	2048	1892	.924	2.36	6	3966	39	23.75
5	Marc-Andre Fleury	33	VEG	46	46	29	13	100	1376	1276	.927	2.24	4	2673	31	20.77
6	Roberto Luongo	38	FLA	35	33	18	11	81	1143	1062	.929	2.47	3	1966	22	19.32
7	Sergei Bobrovsky	29	CBJ	65	65	37	22	158	1993	1835	.921	2.42	5	3912	38	16.92
8	Jonathan Quick	32	LAK	64	63	33	28	147	1867	1720	.921	2.40	5	3677	37	16.86
9	Andrei Vasilevskiy	23	TBL	65	64	44	17	167	2075	1908	.920	2.62	8	3825	36	15.12
10	Carter Hutton	32	STL	32	26	17	7	56	810	754	.931	2.09	3	1610	19	15.09
11	Corey Crawford	33	CHI	28	27	16	9	60	842	782	.929	2.27	2	1584	17	13.90
12	Frederik Andersen	28	TOR	66	66	38	21	182	2211	2029	.918	2.81	5	3889	37	12.06
13	Semyon Varlamov	29	COL	51	47	24	16	128	1595	1467	.920	2.68	2	2861	28	11.99
14	Ryan Miller	37	ANA	28	21	12	6	53	739	686	.928	2.35	4	1353	13	11.86
15	Curtis McElhinney	34	TOR	18	15	11	5	35	528	493	.934	2.14	3	979	8	11.34
16	Philipp Grubauer	26	WSH	35	28	15	10	73	953	880	.923	2.35	3	1865	19	10.64
17	Devan Dubnyk	31	MIN	60	59	35	16	145	1769	1624	.918	2.52	5	3450	36	10.26
18	Juuse Saros	22	NSH	26	23	11	5	61	810	749	.925	2.45	3	1497	14	10.09
19	Tuukka Rask	30	BOS	54	53	34	14	125	1513	1388	.917	2.36	3	3173	30	7.79
20	Mike Smith	35	CGY	55	55	25	22	141	1686	1545	.916	2.65	3	3191	32	6.98
21	Ben Bishop	31	DAL	53	51	26	17	120	1437	1317	.916	2.49	5	2887	27	6.12
22	Darcy Kuemper	27	TOT	29	25	12	7	67	833	766	.920	2.52	4	1596	12	6.11
23	Henrik Lundqvist	35	NYR	63	61	26	26	174	2036	1862	.915	2.98	2	3503	32	4.70
24	Martin Jones	28	SJS	60	60	30	22	145	1699	1554	.915	2.55	4	3416	36	4.12
25	Casey DeSmith	26	PIT	14	11	6	4	28	356	328	.921	2.40	1	700	7	3.25
26	Alexandar Georgiev	21	NYR	10	9	4	4	27	331	304	.918	3.15	0	515	5	2.05
27	Michal Neuvirth	29	PHI	22	18	9	7	45	530	485	.915	2.60	1	1039	10	1.52
28	Aaron Dell	28	SJS	29	22	15	5	67	775	708	.914	2.64	2	1522	11	1.02
29	Anton Khudobin	31	BOS	31	29	16	6	76	876	800	.913	2.56	1	1781	16	0.89
30	Jonathan Bernier	29	COL	37	34	19	13	95	1092	997	.913	2.85	2	2001	18	0.84
31	Keith Kinkaid	28	NJD	41	38	26	10	106	1214	1108	.913	2.77	1	2298	19	0.55
32	James Reimer	29	FLA	44	42	22	14	120	1373	1253	.913	2.99	4	2411	22	0.51
33	Kari Lehtonen	34	DAL	37	30	15	14	83	946	863	.912	2.56	1	1944	19	0.03
34	Antti Niemi	34	TOT	24	20	7	9	63	710	647	.911	3.12	1	1213	12	-0.68
35	Jacob Markstrom	28	VAN	60	57	23	26	154	1745	1591	.912	2.71	2	3414	29	-0.84
36	Malcolm Subban	24	VEG	22	19	13	4	55	614	559	.910	2.68	0	1230	8	-1.11
37	Ondrej Pavelec	30	NYR	19	12	4	9	46	510	464	.910	3.05	1	904	5	-1.24
38	Charlie Lindgren	24	MTL	14	14	4	8	42	457	415	.908	3.03	2	833	9	-1.89
39	Alex Stalock	30	MIN	28	23	10	10	71	787	716	.910	2.85	1	1495	13	-1.93
40	Steve Mason	29	WPG	13	12	5	6	37	392	355	.906	3.24	1	685	5	-2.59
41	Tristan Jarry	22	PIT	26	23	14	6	63	687	624	.908	2.77	2	1364	14	-2.70
42	David Rittich	25	CGY	21	16	8	6	49	512	463	.904	2.92	0	1008	10	-4.06
43	Anton Forsberg	25	CHI	35	30	10	16	85	921	836	.908	2.97	0	1715	14	-4.17
44	Brian Elliott	32	PHI	43	42	23	11	112	1228	1116	.909	2.66	1	2522	20	-4.22
45	Jimmy Howard	33	DET	60	57	22	27	160	1770	1610	.910	2.85	1	3368	28	-4.65
46	Robin Lehner	26	BUF	53	50	14	26	143	1560	1417	.908	3.01	3	2852	24	-6.08
47	Cory Schneider	31	NJD	40	40	17	16	114	1228	1114	.907	2.93	1	2332	19	-6.22
48	Jeff Glass	32	CHI	15	13	3	7	46	452	406	.898	3.36	0	821	5	-6.33
49	Al Montoya	32	TOT	13	8	4	3	37	346	309	.893	3.21	0	692	1	-6.63
50	Jean-Francois Berube	26	CHI	13	10	3	6	42	398	356	.894	3.78	0	667	3	-7.07
51	Cam Ward	33	CAR	43	42	23	14	112	1187	1075	.906	2.73	2	2459	21	-7.82
52	Jaroslav Halak	32	NYI	54	49	20	26	161	1744	1583	.908	3.19	1	3024	22	-7.93
53	Matt Murray	23	PIT	49	45	27	16	133	1423	1290	.907	2.92	1	2733	19	-8.11
54	Braden Holtby	28	WSH	54	54	34	16	153	1648	1495	.907	2.99	0	3068	30	-8.36
55	Joonas Korpisalo	23	CBJ	18	17	8	8	58	564	506	.897	3.32	0	1049	7	-8.50
56	Mike Condon	27	OTT	31	26	5	17	88	898	810	.902	3.25	0	1626	13	-9.18
57	Cam Talbot	30	EDM	67	67	31	31	188	2036	1848	.908	3.02	1	3730	32	-9.30
58	Anders Nilsson	27	VAN	27	24	7	14	84	850	766	.901	3.44	2	1464	8	-9.40
59	Laurent Brossoit	24	EDM	14	10	3	7	40	343	303	.883	3.24	0	740	5	-9.90
60	Louis Domingue	25	TOT	19	16	7	9	61	578	517	.894	3.41	0	1074	6	-10.27
61	Jake Allen	27	STL	59	56	27	25	152	1614	1462	.906	2.75	1	3317	27	-10.34
62	Petr Mrazek	25	TOT	39	33	14	13	106	1080	974	.902	3.03	4	2097	11	-11.21
63	Scott Wedgewood	25	ARI	20	17	5	9	63	587	524	.893	3.45	1	1097	7	-11.48
64	Carey Price	30	MTL	49	48	16	26	148	1487	1339	.900	3.11	1	2855	21	-17.49
65	Thomas Greiss	32	NYI	27	25	13	8	95	879	784	.892	3.82	1	1492	9	-17.85
66	Maxime Lagace	25	VEG	16	14	6	7	57	430	373	.867	3.92	0	874	5	-19.26
67	Chad Johnson	31	BUF	36	29	10	16	105	962	857	.891	3.55	0	1774	12	-20.57
68	Craig Anderson	36	OTT	58	55	23	25	180	1768	1588	.898	3.32	2	3251	25	-24.83
69	Scott Darling	29	CAR	43	40	13	21	131	1171	1040	.888	3.18	0	2475	14	-28.22
70	Ken Appleby	22	NJD	3	1	0	1	3	55	52	.945	1.45	0	124	0
71	Reto Berra	31	ANA	5	1	1	1	7	95	88	.926	2.31	0	182	1
72	Peter Budaj	35	TBL	8	7	3	3	27	217	190	.876	3.76	0	430	2
73	Jack Campbell	26	LAK	5	4	2	0	11	145	134	.924	2.48	0	267	2
74	Eric Comrie	22	WPG	3	3	1	2	12	94	82	.872	3.99	0	180	1
75	Jared Coreau	26	DET	7	7	0	5	27	203	176	.867	4.26	0	380	1
76	Oscar Dansk	23	VEG	4	3	3	0	5	93	88	.946	1.78	1	169	3
77	Collin Delia	23	CHI	2	2	1	1	7	63	56	.889	3.96	0	106	1
78	Thatcher Demko	22	VAN	1	1	1	0	4	30	26	.867	3.91	0	61	0
79	Dylan Ferguson	19	VEG	1	0	0	0	1	2	1	.500	6.50	0	9	0
80	Scott Foster	36	CHI	1	0	0	0	0	7	7	1.000	0.00	0	14	0
81	Christopher Gibson	25	NYI	8	8	2	3	26	284	258	.908	3.65	0	427	5
82	Jon Gillies	24	CGY	11	9	3	5	29	280	251	.896	2.88	0	605	5
83	Brandon Halverson	21	NYR	1	0	0	0	1	6	5	.833	4.78	0	13	0
84	Andrew Hammond	29	COL	1	1	0	1	2	33	31	.939	2.06	0	58	1
85	Adin Hill	21	ARI	4	4	1	3	14	129	115	.891	3.49	0	241	2
86	Michael Hutchinson	27	WPG	3	3	2	1	7	75	68	.907	3.26	0	129	2
87	Eddie Lack	30	TOT	8	5	2	4	23	177	154	.870	4.02	0	343	1
88	Marek Langhamer	23	ARI	1	0	0	0	0	10	10	1.000	0.00	0	29	0
89	Alex Lyon	25	PHI	11	7	4	2	22	232	210	.905	2.75	0	480	3
90	Mike McKenna	34	DAL	2	1	1	1	5	50	45	.900	2.96	0	101	0
91	Calvin Pickard	25	TOR	1	1	0	0	4	28	24	.857	3.83	0	63	0
92	Harri Sateri	28	FLA	9	7	4	4	24	271	247	.911	2.92	0	493	5
93	Daniel Taylor	31	OTT	1	1	0	1	4	34	30	.882	4.10	0	58	0
94	Linus Ullmark	24	BUF	5	3	1	2	8	123	115	.935	2.00	0	240	2
95	Adam Wilcox	25	BUF	1	0	0	1	0	14	14	1.000	0.00	0	39	0

Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/11/2018.

NHL GSAA Leaders from the 2016 / 2017 Season

Interestingly enough, Holtby ranked second on the league during this season.

Goalie Statistics Table
				Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal	Goal
Rk	Player	Age	Tm	GP	GS	W	L	GA	SA	SV	SV%	GAA	GA%-	GSAA ▼
1	Sergei Bobrovsky	28	CBJ	63	63	41	17	127	1854	1727	.931	2.06	79	33.45
2	Braden Holtby	27	WSH	63	63	42	13	127	1690	1563	.925	2.07	87	19.25
3	Devan Dubnyk	30	MIN	65	63	40	19	141	1842	1701	.923	2.25	88	18.41
4	Carey Price	29	MTL	62	62	37	20	138	1794	1656	.923	2.23	89	17.25
5	Craig Anderson	35	OTT	40	40	25	11	92	1247	1155	.926	2.28	85	15.92
6	John Gibson	23	ANA	52	49	25	16	109	1437	1328	.924	2.22	88	15.36
7	Matt Murray	22	PIT	49	47	32	10	111	1450	1339	.923	2.41	88	14.48
8	Robin Lehner	25	BUF	59	58	23	26	152	1910	1758	.920	2.68	92	13.29
9	Cam Talbot	29	EDM	73	73	42	22	171	2117	1946	.919	2.39	93	12.21
10	Jimmy Howard	32	DET	26	24	10	11	49	675	626	.927	2.10	84	9.42
11	Aaron Dell	27	SJS	20	17	11	6	37	533	496	.931	2.00	80	9.13
12	Scott Darling	28	CHI	32	27	18	5	67	877	810	.924	2.38	88	8.90
13	Frederik Andersen	27	TOR	66	66	33	16	169	2052	1883	.918	2.67	95	8.58
14	Corey Crawford	32	CHI	55	55	32	18	138	1691	1553	.918	2.55	94	8.34
15	Anders Nilsson	26	BUF	26	23	10	10	66	857	791	.923	2.67	89	8.17
16	Pekka Rinne	34	NSH	61	61	31	19	144	1757	1613	.918	2.42	95	8.05
17	James Reimer	28	FLA	43	39	18	16	98	1222	1124	.920	2.53	93	7.75
18	Philipp Grubauer	25	WSH	24	19	13	6	43	585	542	.926	2.04	85	7.63
19	Antti Raanta	27	NYR	30	26	16	8	61	782	721	.922	2.26	90	6.67
20	Juuse Saros	21	NSH	21	19	10	8	47	614	567	.923	2.35	88	6.14
21	Andrei Vasilevskiy	22	TBL	50	47	23	17	123	1480	1357	.917	2.61	96	5.08
22	Peter Budaj	34	TOT	60	55	30	21	120	1414	1294	.915	2.18	98	2.37
23	Keith Kinkaid	27	NJD	26	23	8	13	65	778	713	.916	2.64	97	2.33
24	Tuukka Rask	29	BOS	65	63	37	20	137	1610	1473	.915	2.23	98	2.33
25	Curtis McElhinney	33	TOT	21	15	8	8	51	616	565	.917	2.70	96	2.31
26	Jake Allen	26	STL	61	60	33	20	138	1620	1482	.915	2.42	98	2.20
27	Jonathan Bernier	28	ANA	39	33	21	7	83	982	899	.915	2.50	98	1.98
28	Jaroslav Halak	31	NYI	28	26	12	9	75	885	810	.915	2.80	98	1.59
29	Jonathan Quick	31	LAK	17	17	8	5	35	421	386	.917	2.26	96	1.43
30	Mike Smith	34	ARI	55	55	19	26	156	1819	1663	.914	2.92	99	1.42
31	Roberto Luongo	37	FLA	40	39	17	15	104	1217	1113	.915	2.68	99	1.32
32	Mike Condon	26	TOT	41	38	19	14	96	1122	1026	.914	2.48	99	1.10
33	Ryan Miller	36	VAN	54	54	18	29	150	1737	1587	.914	2.80	100	0.32
34	Thomas Greiss	31	NYI	51	49	26	18	126	1453	1327	.913	2.69	100	-0.26
35	Carter Hutton	31	STL	30	21	13	8	58	663	605	.913	2.39	101	-0.62
36	Al Montoya	31	MTL	19	18	8	6	50	569	519	.912	2.67	102	-0.76
37	Jacob Markstrom	27	VAN	26	23	10	11	62	692	630	.910	2.63	104	-2.11
38	Martin Jones	27	SJS	65	65	35	23	152	1725	1573	.912	2.40	102	-2.72
39	Chad Johnson	30	CGY	36	36	18	15	87	969	882	.910	2.59	104	-3.14
40	Joonas Korpisalo	22	CBJ	14	13	7	5	38	401	363	.905	2.88	110	-3.30
41	Anton Khudobin	30	BOS	16	14	7	6	39	405	366	.904	2.64	111	-3.95
42	Ben Bishop	30	TOT	39	37	18	15	94	1040	946	.910	2.54	104	-4.00
43	Marc-Andre Fleury	32	PIT	38	34	18	10	107	1181	1074	.909	3.02	105	-4.80
44	Louis Domingue	24	ARI	31	26	11	15	82	888	806	.908	3.08	107	-5.15
45	Brian Elliott	31	CGY	49	45	26	18	121	1338	1217	.910	2.55	104	-5.21
46	Henrik Lundqvist	34	NYR	57	55	31	20	148	1650	1502	.910	2.74	104	-5.21
47	Eddie Lack	29	CAR	20	18	8	7	48	492	444	.902	2.64	113	-5.42
48	Darcy Kuemper	26	MIN	18	17	8	5	55	562	507	.902	3.13	113	-6.36
49	Michael Hutchinson	26	WPG	28	20	9	12	67	690	623	.903	2.92	112	-7.29
50	Steve Mason	28	PHI	58	54	26	21	143	1556	1413	.908	2.66	106	-8.34
51	Cory Schneider	30	NJD	60	59	20	27	163	1781	1618	.908	2.82	106	-8.87
52	Jared Coreau	25	DET	14	14	5	4	41	362	321	.887	3.46	131	-9.67
53	Connor Hellebuyck	23	WPG	56	53	26	19	146	1572	1426	.907	2.89	107	-9.96
54	Semyon Varlamov	28	COL	24	23	6	17	76	745	669	.898	3.38	118	-11.53
55	Michal Neuvirth	28	PHI	28	24	11	11	64	586	522	.891	2.82	126	-13.29
56	Calvin Pickard	24	COL	50	48	15	31	140	1461	1321	.904	2.98	111	-13.56
57	Cam Ward	32	CAR	61	61	26	22	162	1711	1549	.905	2.69	109	-13.93
58	Kari Lehtonen	33	DAL	59	52	22	25	151	1546	1395	.902	2.85	113	-17.21
59	Petr Mrazek	24	DET	50	44	18	21	145	1462	1317	.901	3.04	115	-18.48
60	Antti Niemi	33	DAL	37	30	12	12	95	880	785	.892	3.30	125	-18.84
61	Jorge Alves	38	CAR	1	0	0	0	0	0	0		0.00
62	Richard Bachman	29	VAN	5	5	2	3	13	162	149	.920	2.64
63	Reto Berra	30	FLA	7	4	0	5	18	145	127	.876	3.45
64	Jean-Francois Berube	25	NYI	14	7	3	2	30	271	241	.889	3.42
65	Antoine Bibeau	22	TOR	2	2	1	1	4	55	51	.927	1.99
66	Laurent Brossoit	23	EDM	8	4	4	1	11	153	142	.928	1.99
67	Jack Campbell	25	LAK	1	0	0	0	0	5	5	1.000	0.00
68	Eric Comrie	21	WPG	1	1	1	0	4	39	35	.897	4.05
69	Pheonix Copley	25	STL	1	1	0	1	5	29	24	.828	5.09
70	Chris Driedger	22	OTT	1	0	0	1	4	15	11	.733	6.00
71	Jhonas Enroth	28	TOR	6	4	0	3	18	141	123	.872	3.94
72	Anton Forsberg	24	CBJ	1	1	0	1	4	27	23	.852	4.10
73	Jon Gillies	23	CGY	1	1	1	0	1	28	27	.964	1.00
74	Kristers Gudlevskis	24	TBL	1	0	0	0	0	3	3	1.000	0.00
75	Jonas Gustavsson	32	EDM	7	5	1	3	17	139	122	.878	3.10
76	Andrew Hammond	28	OTT	6	4	0	2	14	86	72	.837	4.08
77	Magnus Hellberg	25	NYR	2	1	1	0	2	28	26	.929	1.53
78	Tristan Jarry	21	PIT	1	1	0	1	3	25	22	.880	3.06
79	Marek Langhamer	22	ARI	1	0	0	0	1	8	7	.875	3.87
80	Michael Leighton	35	CAR	4	3	2	2	12	92	80	.870	3.42
81	Charlie Lindgren	23	MTL	2	2	2	0	3	59	56	.949	1.48
82	Spencer Martin	21	COL	3	3	0	2	13	96	83	.865	4.35
83	Marek Mazanec	25	NSH	4	2	0	2	14	87	73	.839	4.73
84	Zane McIntyre	24	BOS	8	3	0	4	22	155	133	.858	3.97
85	Alex Nedeljkovic	21	CAR	1	0	0	0	0	17	17	1.000	0.00
86	Ondrej Pavelec	29	WPG	8	8	4	4	26	233	207	.888	3.55
87	Justin Peters	30	ARI	3	1	0	1	7	70	63	.900	3.16
88	David Rittich	24	CGY	1	0	0	0	1	10	9	.900	3.00
89	Jeremy Smith	27	COL	10	8	1	6	32	286	254	.888	3.54
90	Alex Stalock	29	MIN	2	2	1	1	3	54	51	.944	1.51
91	Anthony Stolarz	23	PHI	7	4	2	1	13	181	168	.928	2.07
92	Malcolm Subban	23	BOS	1	1	0	1	3	16	13	.813	5.88
93	Dustin Tokarski	27	ANA	1	0	0	0	0	5	5	1.000	0.00
94	Linus Ullmark	23	BUF	1	1	0	1	3	36	33	.917	3.06
95	Jeff Zatkoff	29	LAK	13	8	2	7	27	223	196	.879	2.94

Provided by Hockey-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/11/2018.

Everybody loves to debate the top goalies in the league.

Take Devan Dubnyk, for example. When he originally came to the Minnesota Wild by way of the Arizona Coyotes and a third round pick, he was near the bottom of the league, just trying to find a way to stick around.

Today, despite the playoff woes of the Wild in recent years, he’s one of the top goalies in the NHL. During the 2017/18 season he ranked #17 in GSAA.

Yet, since 2013/2014 he has the 2nd best save percentage in the NHL, only behind the Ducks John Gibson.

So, is GSAA the best way to rank goalies? Maybe. Maybe not. At the end of the day, goalies will continue to be judged based on their save percentage and goals against average.

GSAA is a helpful stat, however, in our opinion, it’s a “fans stat”. It’s interesting to debate, but doesn’t necessarily rank the best goalies year over year.