Goaltenders of the Decade: Playoffs

The list of legendary Stanley Cup-winning goaltenders over the last decade is a short one: Martin Brodeur. Dominik Hasek played a small part in winning a second cup, and no one else has won more than one, not surprising given that no one team has dominated the playoffs over the last decade.

We can turn instead to the league leaders in playoff minutes played:

As usual, Martin Brodeur is simply on another plane compared to everyone else. Hasek focused his dominance into relatively few minutes. But Hasek wasn't even in the top 10 in winning percentage, not surprising given that goaltenders who routinely play deep into the playoffs get fewer soft opponents and 4-0 sweeps to work with:

The goals-against leaders tell a good story too, accounting for more than half the Stanley Cups over the last decade:

In last place? You guessed it: Dan Cloutier. What about save percentage?

(You'll never guess who had the worst playoff save percentage…) Clearly, facing proportionately more shots in the playoffs and also stopping proportionately more of them is not the best indicator of success – teams have to limit opponent opportunities too:

Again, a lot of the best playoff goaltenders of the decade also played behind the best defensive teams of the decade. Only Marc-Andre Fleury and Cam Ward faced an above-average number of shots during their playoff odysseys.