Goals against average
also: GAA
Goals allowed per sixty minutes of play. The oldest goalie stat, and the one that tells you most about the team in front.
GAA = goals against x 60 / minutes playedGAA rates a goalie per sixty minutes rather than per game, so a starter pulled after two periods is not punished for the minutes he did not play. It is returned beside save percentage on every goalie row.
It moves with shot volume, and shot volume is a team property. A goalie behind a team that concedes twenty shots a night will post a better GAA than an equally good goalie facing thirty-five, and neither number is about them. This is why GAA and save percentage regularly disagree about who had the better season.
It survives because it is the number on the scoreboard's side of the argument: it answers what a goalie cost his team in goals, which is what the standings are made of, even though it does not answer how well he played.
Comparing GAA across teams. Rank goalies by GSAX if you want to know who played well, and by GAA only if you want to know who let in fewer goals, which is a different question.
Where to get it
Related
Goals against average from the API
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