Goalie scoring system advice

[StuperousFunker]

Hey guys. In one of my leagues we're looking to transition from goalie points based on wins to a more performance-based point system. As it stands now it's pretty formulaic, the goalies essentially get points for being on a good team. I'd prefer to have it reflect the goalie's individual play so want to switch to a SV% or GAA based scoring system.

The league is points only for skaters, goalies get 3 pts per win and an additional 2 for a SO, and 1 point for an OT loss. The top goalie, Rinne, had 147 points, but the average hovered around 125 points for the season. I'd like to keep the end-of-season totals somewhere in this ballpark.

Any ideas on the best way to implement this? How do you guys score goalies in your leagues?

Thanks gents.

[horrorfan]

I would use a combination of wins, goals against, saves and, if you really want, a shutout bonus. Tinker with the point values until you get the right balance, so that the goalies you feel should be at the top are there in the end. Be careful not to overvalue workhorses who lose or like you said, goalies on winning teams. Every time you come up with a point system, see who the top 10/20 would be in that format. If it's too imbalanced, try again, and eventually you'll get there. Fractional points will be necessary but at least will be the most accurate.

[Hey Robbie]

If you want to eliminate the "playing for a good team" bonus, you should probably get rid of (or downplay) wins.

A good way to handle save percentage is to include positive points for shots against or saves, and negative points for goals allowed. If you want something that still rewards goalies who don't face lots of shots, similar to GAA, you can include TOI (eg, minutes played) as positive points.

A possible formula that will have top goalies near 125:

Goals against = -1, Saves = 0.1 points, Minutes = 0.02 points. With this formula, Smith had 126, Quick = 122, Rinne = 116. Backstrom, Vokoun and Bryz (middle of the road starters last year), were a little above half that value.

This formula roughly has save % 2-2.5 times as important as GAA. personally I thing save % says more about a goalie's skill and value than GAA does, so I would lean that way. If you feel a different balance between the two is more appropriate, just up the points for minutes and lower the points for saves.

A potential downside of this is that you might reward goalies with good ratios who don't contribute much to their team due to few starts. For example, Halak and Theodore were ranked 17th and 18th (among the top 30 G) despite only getting 26 and 22 wins for their respective teams. Of course that doesn't mean they weren't performing well when playing, so maybe you don't mind that. If you do, adding in 0.5 points per win will solve the problem and bring the point totals into the ballpark you had, while still having wins count much less than the ratios.