Research Report: Comparative Goaltending Efficacy (2024-25 Season)

Inclusion Criteria

Restricted to goaltenders with a minimum of 15 Games Played during the 2024-25 season.

Primary Findings: The Season’s Elite

The following table represents the top 20 goaltenders for the 2024-25 season, ranked by their average standing across all five pillars.

Rank	Player	Team	GP	Composite Score
1	Connor Hellebuyck	WPG	63	1.8
2	Anthony Stolarz	TOR	34	4.0
3	Darcy Kuemper	LAK	50	4.3
4	Andrei Vasilevskiy	TBL	63	8.4
5	Adin Hill	VGK	50	10.2
6	Logan Thompson	WSH	43	10.3
7	Scott Wedgewood	NSH,COL	24	11.0
8	Linus Ullmark	OTT	44	13.2
9	Filip Gustavsson	MIN	58	14.8
10	Casey DeSmith	DAL	27	14.9
11	Sergei Bobrovsky	FLA	54	15.3
12	Dustin Wolf	CGY	53	16.8
13	Jake Oettinger	DAL	58	17.5
14	Jacob Markstrom	NJD	49	20.1
15	Joseph Woll	TOR	42	20.2
16	Mackenzie Blackwood	SJS,COL	56	21.4
17	Kevin Lankinen	VAN	51	21.9
18	Joel Hofer	STL	31	22.8
19	Jakub Dobes	MTL	16	24.0
20	Ilya Samsonov	VGK	29	24.4

Detailed Logical Analysis

1. Hellebuyck’s Composite Vindication

Connor Hellebuyck's Composite Score of 1.8 is the second-most dominant single-season finish in any of our datasets, behind only Andersen's 16-GP perfect-1.0 in 2023-24. The result is significant because Hellebuyck achieved his finish on 63 GP — the second-highest workload of the season — directly contradicting the workload-tax pattern visible in every prior year of the dataset. He ranks #1 in Win Rate, #1 in Victory Efficiency, #2 in Save Efficiency Ratio, #2 in Loss Suppression, and #3 in Shutout Rate. The Composite produced him as the season's #1 in alignment with his Vezina Trophy win — closing the Vezina-Composite gap that defined 2022-23 and 2023-24.

2. The Wedgewood Foreshadowing

Scott Wedgewood finishes #7 (11.0) on a 24-GP sample split between Nashville and Colorado, his profile a precursor to the 2025-26 anomaly. His pillar ranks (#12, #13, #16, #7, #7) show competent cross-pillar performance without dominance, but his post-trade emergence in Colorado seeds the trajectory that produces the historic 2.0 Composite the following season. The Composite identifies the upward signal a year early.

3. The Workhorse Three

For the first time in any single-season cut, three of the top five Composite finishers carried 50+ GP workloads — Hellebuyck (63 GP, #1), Kuemper (50 GP, #3), Vasilevskiy (63 GP, #4). The pattern represents a partial reversal of the workload-tax effect documented in prior seasons. Where 2021-22 produced only one top-10 finisher with 60+ GP (Markstrom #2), 2024-25 produces three top-five finishers above the 50-GP threshold. The volume-efficiency trade-off compresses.

Conclusions

The 2024-25 season produces the era's first clean Vezina-Composite alignment in two years, the best high-workload Composite finish on record (Hellebuyck), and the precursor signal for the Wedgewood anomaly that defines 2025-26. The methodology produces a result consistent with the season's most prominent reputational outcome while also exposing the upward signal that becomes the next season's outlier.

Thesis: The Volume-Efficiency Reconciliation

The Workhorse Wins

Hellebuyck's #1 Composite on 63 GP closes a chapter the dataset has been writing since 2021-22. Until this season, the goaltenders carrying the heaviest workloads were systematically penalized by the multi-pillar model. The 2024-25 result — three of the top five at 50+ GP — represents the cleanest case yet for the proposition that elite individual skill can override the workload tax when the team-system support is sufficient.

The Pre-Outlier Signal

Wedgewood's #7 finish on a 24-GP split-team sample is the methodology's most interesting upward signal. He posted no #1 pillar rank, no glaring statistical peak — just a clean cross-pillar profile in the top 15 of every category. A year later, the same goaltender on a single team produces a 2.0 Composite. The methodology surfaces the trajectory before it becomes the headline.

The Vezina-Composite Reconciliation

After two consecutive seasons of divergence (Ullmark 2022-23 ranked #4, Hellebuyck 2023-24 ranked #8), the 2024-25 Composite produces the Vezina winner at #1. The result is not a methodological course correction — the Composite continues to do exactly what it did in prior years — but a confirmation that when a single goaltender achieves cross-pillar dominance, the multi-pillar model and the awards process converge.

Final Conclusion

The 2024-25 season is the bridge year. It validates the methodology against the league's award process, sets up the 2025-26 outlier (Wedgewood) before it occurs, and reframes the workload-tax thesis as conditional rather than absolute. Read alongside the multi-year baseline, the season is the cleanest case of the Composite producing what reputation, awards, and individual statistical dominance all agree on.

The complete table

66 qualifying goaltenders · every pillar value and rank

#	Player	Team	GP	GS	W	L	OT	SA	Svs	GA	Sv%	GAA	SO	Win Rate	Rk	SO Rate	Rk	Svs/GA	Rk	Loss Rate	Rk	GA/Win	Rk	Composite
1	Connor Hellebuyck	WPG	63	62	47	12	3	1664	1539	125	0.925	2.0	8	0.746	1	0.129	3	12.31	2	0.194	2	2.66	1	1.8
2	Anthony Stolarz	TOR	34	33	21	8	3	955	884	71	0.926	2.14	4	0.618	7	0.121	5	12.45	1	0.242	4	3.38	3	4.0
3	Darcy Kuemper	LAK	50	50	31	11	7	1267	1168	100	0.922	2.02	5	0.620	6	0.100	7.5	11.68	3	0.220	3	3.23	2	4.3
4	Andrei Vasilevskiy	TBL	63	63	38	20	5	1716	1581	136	0.921	2.18	6	0.603	10	0.095	10	11.62	4	0.317	13	3.58	5	8.4
5	Adin Hill	VGK	50	50	32	13	5	1293	1172	121	0.906	2.47	4	0.640	4	0.080	18	9.69	18	0.260	5	3.78	6	10.2
6	Logan Thompson	WSH	43	42	31	6	6	1172	1067	105	0.91	2.49	2	0.721	2	0.048	34.5	10.16	10	0.143	1	3.39	4	10.3
7	Scott Wedgewood	NSH,COL	24	22	14	6	2	578	525	53	0.908	2.32	2	0.583	12	0.091	13	9.91	16	0.273	7	3.79	7	11.0
8	Linus Ullmark	OTT	44	43	25	14	3	1229	1118	112	0.91	2.72	4	0.568	14	0.093	11	9.98	13	0.326	15	4.48	13	13.2
9	Filip Gustavsson	MIN	58	58	31	19	6	1693	1547	146	0.914	2.56	5	0.534	18	0.086	14	10.60	7	0.328	17	4.71	18	14.8
10	Casey DeSmith	DAL	27	24	14	8	2	761	696	65	0.915	2.59	2	0.519	20	0.083	15	10.71	5	0.333	18.5	4.64	16	14.9
11	Sergei Bobrovsky	FLA	54	54	33	19	2	1377	1247	130	0.906	2.44	5	0.611	8.5	0.093	12	9.59	21	0.352	26	3.94	9	15.3
12	Dustin Wolf	CGY	53	53	29	16	8	1549	1409	140	0.91	2.64	3	0.547	16	0.057	29	10.06	11	0.302	9	4.83	19	16.8
13	Jake Oettinger	DAL	58	58	36	18	4	1611	1464	147	0.909	2.59	2	0.621	5	0.034	47	9.96	14	0.310	11.5	4.08	10	17.5
14	Jacob Markstrom	NJD	49	49	26	16	6	1214	1093	121	0.9	2.5	4	0.531	19	0.082	16.5	9.03	32	0.327	16	4.65	17	20.1
15	Joseph Woll	TOR	42	41	27	14	1	1216	1105	111	0.909	2.73	1	0.643	3	0.024	51	9.95	15	0.341	21	4.11	11	20.2
16	Mackenzie Blackwood	SJS,COL	56	53	28	21	6	1549	1413	137	0.912	2.55	4	0.500	25	0.075	19	10.31	8	0.396	34	4.89	21	21.4
17	Kevin Lankinen	VAN	51	49	25	15	10	1345	1213	132	0.902	2.62	4	0.490	29	0.082	16.5	9.19	26	0.306	10	5.28	28	21.9
18	Joel Hofer	STL	31	28	16	8	3	767	693	74	0.904	2.64	1	0.516	21	0.036	46	9.36	24	0.286	8	4.62	15	22.8
19	Jakub Dobes	MTL	16	15	7	4	3	440	400	40	0.909	2.74	1	0.438	43	0.067	25	10.00	12	0.267	6	5.71	34	24.0
20	Ilya Samsonov	VGK	29	29	16	9	4	752	670	82	0.891	2.82	2	0.552	15	0.069	21.5	8.17	52	0.310	11.5	5.12	22	24.4
21	Frederik Andersen	CAR	22	22	13	8	1	546	491	55	0.899	2.5	1	0.591	11	0.045	37.5	8.93	34	0.364	28.5	4.23	12	24.6
22	Calvin Pickard	EDM	36	31	22	10	1	849	764	85	0.9	2.71	0	0.611	8.5	0.000	60.5	8.99	33	0.323	14	3.86	8	24.8
23	Pyotr Kochetkov	CAR	47	47	27	16	3	1172	1052	121	0.898	2.6	2	0.574	13	0.043	41	8.69	38	0.340	20	4.48	14	25.2
24	Eric Comrie	WPG	20	20	9	10	1	547	500	47	0.914	2.39	2	0.450	36	0.100	7.5	10.64	6	0.500	52.5	5.22	26	25.6
25	Ilya Sorokin	NYI	61	60	30	24	6	1695	1538	158	0.907	2.71	4	0.492	27	0.067	25	9.73	17	0.400	36	5.27	27	26.4
26	Samuel Montembeault	MTL	62	60	31	24	7	1678	1513	166	0.902	2.82	4	0.500	25	0.067	25	9.11	28	0.400	36	5.35	30	28.8
27	Stuart Skinner	EDM	51	50	26	18	4	1325	1187	138	0.896	2.81	3	0.510	23	0.060	27	8.60	41	0.360	27	5.31	29	29.4
28	Jordan Binnington	STL	56	54	28	22	5	1457	1312	145	0.9	2.69	3	0.500	25	0.056	31	9.05	30	0.407	39	5.18	23	29.6
29	Jonathan Quick	NYR	24	20	11	7	2	657	587	70	0.893	3.17	3	0.458	35	0.150	1	8.39	46	0.350	25	6.36	42	29.8
30	Marc-Andre Fleury	MIN	26	22	14	9	1	670	602	68	0.899	2.93	1	0.538	17	0.045	37.5	8.85	35	0.409	40	4.86	20	29.9
31	Igor Shesterkin	NYR	61	61	27	29	5	1751	1584	167	0.905	2.86	6	0.443	41	0.098	9	9.49	22	0.475	50	6.19	39	32.2
32	Jake Allen	NJD	31	29	13	16	1	819	744	77	0.908	2.66	4	0.419	47	0.138	2	9.66	19	0.552	60	5.92	36	32.8
33	Alex Lyon	DET	30	26	14	9	1	705	632	73	0.896	2.81	1	0.467	34	0.038	43	8.66	39	0.346	23	5.21	25	32.8
34	Jonas Johansson	TBL	19	18	9	6	3	554	496	58	0.895	3.13	1	0.474	30.5	0.056	31	8.55	42	0.333	18.5	6.44	43	33.0
35	Charlie Lindgren	WSH	39	38	20	14	3	985	883	104	0.896	2.73	1	0.513	22	0.026	49.5	8.49	44	0.368	30	5.20	24	33.9
36	Joey Daccord	SEA	57	55	27	23	5	1599	1449	151	0.906	2.75	2	0.474	30.5	0.036	44.5	9.60	20	0.418	42	5.59	33	34.0
37	Spencer Knight	FLA,CHI	38	36	17	16	3	1011	912	100	0.902	2.72	2	0.447	38	0.056	31	9.12	27	0.444	46.5	5.88	35	35.5
38	Karel Vejmelka	UTA	58	55	26	22	8	1509	1364	145	0.904	2.58	1	0.448	37	0.018	54	9.41	23	0.400	36	5.58	32	36.4
39	Tristan Jarry	PIT	36	35	16	12	6	971	867	105	0.893	3.12	2	0.444	40	0.057	28	8.26	50	0.343	22	6.56	46	37.2
40	Anton Forsberg	OTT	30	27	11	12	3	768	692	76	0.901	2.72	3	0.367	55	0.111	6	9.11	29	0.444	46.5	6.91	50	37.3
41	Cam Talbot	DET	47	43	21	19	5	1295	1167	129	0.901	2.93	2	0.447	39	0.047	36	9.05	31	0.442	45	6.14	37	37.6
42	Joonas Korpisalo	BOS	27	24	11	10	3	693	619	74	0.893	2.9	3	0.407	50	0.125	4	8.36	47	0.417	41	6.73	47	37.8
43	Dan Vladar	CGY	30	29	12	11	6	810	727	83	0.898	2.8	2	0.400	51	0.069	21.5	8.76	37	0.379	32	6.92	51	38.5
44	Samuel Ersson	PHI	47	45	22	17	5	1162	1026	136	0.883	3.14	2	0.468	33	0.044	39	7.54	59	0.378	31	6.18	38	40.0
45	John Gibson	ANA	29	28	11	11	2	811	740	72	0.912	2.77	0	0.379	52.5	0.000	60.5	10.28	9	0.393	33	6.55	45	40.0
46	Thatcher Demko	VAN	23	23	10	8	3	569	506	63	0.889	2.9	1	0.435	45	0.043	40	8.03	53	0.348	24	6.30	40	40.4
47	Elvis Merzlikins	CBJ	53	52	26	21	5	1557	1389	168	0.892	3.18	1	0.491	28	0.019	53	8.27	49	0.404	38	6.46	44	42.4
48	Lukas Dostal	ANA	54	49	23	23	7	1625	1467	158	0.903	3.1	1	0.426	46	0.020	52	9.28	25	0.469	49	6.87	48	44.0
49	James Reimer	ANA,BUF	24	21	10	10	2	662	594	69	0.897	3.04	1	0.417	48	0.048	34.5	8.61	40	0.476	51	6.90	49	44.5
50	David Rittich	LAK	34	31	16	14	2	771	684	88	0.887	2.84	0	0.471	32	0.000	60.5	7.77	55	0.452	48	5.50	31	45.3
51	Jeremy Swayman	BOS	58	58	22	29	7	1632	1456	176	0.892	3.11	4	0.379	52.5	0.069	21.5	8.27	48	0.500	52.5	8.00	54.5	45.8
52	Juuse Saros	NSH	58	58	20	31	6	1592	1426	167	0.896	2.98	4	0.345	57	0.069	21.5	8.54	43	0.534	56	8.35	56	46.7
53	Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen	BUF	55	55	24	24	5	1490	1321	169	0.887	3.2	2	0.436	44	0.036	44.5	7.82	54	0.436	44	7.04	52	47.7
54	Alex Nedeljkovic	PIT	38	35	14	15	5	1054	942	112	0.894	3.12	1	0.368	54	0.029	48	8.41	45	0.429	43	8.00	54.5	48.9
55	Connor Ingram	UTA	22	22	9	8	4	558	492	66	0.882	3.27	0	0.409	49	0.000	60.5	7.45	60	0.364	28.5	7.33	53	50.2
56	Justus Annunen	COL,NSH	34	29	15	15	1	814	719	95	0.883	3.18	0	0.441	42	0.000	60.5	7.57	58	0.517	54	6.33	41	51.1
57	Daniil Tarasov	CBJ	20	19	7	10	2	544	479	65	0.881	3.54	1	0.350	56	0.053	33	7.37	61	0.526	55	9.29	57	52.4
58	Petr Mrazek	CHI,DET	38	38	12	21	2	1066	950	116	0.891	3.35	1	0.316	58	0.026	49.5	8.19	51	0.553	61	9.67	58	55.5
59	Arvid Soderblom	CHI	36	33	10	18	7	1087	976	111	0.898	3.18	0	0.278	62	0.000	60.5	8.79	36	0.545	58.5	11.10	62	55.8
60	Vitek Vanecek	SJS,FLA	25	24	5	14	4	724	640	84	0.884	3.62	1	0.200	65	0.042	42	7.62	57	0.583	63	16.80	65	58.4
61	Philipp Grubauer	SEA	26	26	8	17	1	681	596	85	0.875	3.49	0	0.308	59	0.000	60.5	7.01	64	0.654	64	10.62	59	61.3
62	Ivan Fedotov	PHI	26	24	6	13	4	624	549	75	0.88	3.15	0	0.231	64	0.000	60.5	7.32	62	0.542	57	12.50	64	61.5
63	Alexandar Georgiev	COL,SJS	49	47	15	26	4	1317	1152	165	0.875	3.71	0	0.306	60	0.000	60.5	6.98	65	0.553	62	11.00	61	61.7
64	Joel Blomqvist	PIT	15	12	4	9	1	425	376	49	0.885	3.81	0	0.267	63	0.000	60.5	7.67	56	0.750	66	12.25	63	61.7
65	Aleksei Kolosov	PHI	17	13	5	9	1	406	352	54	0.867	3.59	0	0.294	61	0.000	60.5	6.52	66	0.692	65	10.80	60	62.5
66	Marcus Hogberg	NYI	15	11	2	6	3	335	294	41	0.878	3.38	0	0.133	66	0.000	60.5	7.17	63	0.545	58.5	20.50	66	62.8

Pillars: Win Rate (W/GP) · Shutout Rate (SO/GS) · Save Efficiency Ratio (Svs/GA) · Loss Suppression (L/GS) · Victory Efficiency (GA/W). Composite = mean of the five pillar ranks; lower is better. Full definitions: methodology.