A Second Look at Kiprusoff, Brodeur, Lundqvist, and Osgood

We must never forget that a NHL season is 82 games, and many things can happen over the course of such a long stretch. Today's darling is tomorrow's forgotten has-been.

Sure, teams and players go on hot and cold streaks, but the true nature of the beast, in terms of statistical measures, tends to show itself as more and more games are played. Just think of NBA Jam or Super Mario Kart and the 'Rubber Band AI' that tends to smooth out things like peanut butter. Goalies that I had panned or praised earlier in the season look like far different animals now that the cage has been opened.

Miikka Kiprusoff is a perfect example of the peanut butter theory, as he's now worked his save percentage to a just-below average 90.5%, up from the depth of the 88's that he was sporting earlier this season.

October: 12GP 6-3-3 2.97GAA 89.1SV%
November: 13GP 4-8-0 2.95GAA 87.9SV%
December: 14GP 9-1-4 2.57GAA 90.9SV%
January: 11GP 7-3-1 2.67GAA 91.4SV%
February: 12GP 6-5-1 2.51GAA 91.5SV%
March: 1GP 1-0-0 0.00GAA 100SV%

Not long after signing a lengthy contract extension, Kiprusoff started the season in a serious funk. It was if Kipper completely lost his game, and aged 10 years in one day.

As we've seen recently, however, Kipper has been above average since in the New Year, and one more solid month should bring his overall numbers to at least average.

Great? No, but at least he's back to a respectable level, and is playing well at the best time to be doing so. One could deduce that the Flames can expect a 91.5SV% goaltender come playoff time.

Martin Brodeur also started the season in an awful slump, and a horrible October brought down his overall numbers so much that he wasn't considered a true Vezina candidate for the longest time.

Well, looking at the numbers, we can see that October was a complete outlier, and now Brodeur has made himself into an uber-l33t Vezina contender. He isn't giving up his Burger King crown that easily, and we can see that he's been absolutely stellar in every other month! It's strange how a poor start skewed his stats so much until he got more games under his belt.

October: 9GP 3-6-0 3.02GAA 88.5SV%
November: 13GP 8-4-1 1.81GAA 92.9SV%
December: 12GP 8-3-1 2.13GAA 92.0SV%
January: 11GP 7-4-0 2.07GAA 92.5SV%
February: 15GP 9-3-3 2.09GAA 92.5SV%
March: 2GP 1-1-0 1.51GAA 95.5SV%

Now, how about some examples of goalies going the other way, such as Henrik Lundqvist and Chris "The Wizard of" Osgood?

King Henrik played the first two months like a man on a mission, taking away the crown from King Mabel . Then, the floor fell out from under him, and he's not even close to being one of the best goalies in the league.

October: 11GP 4-6-1 1.82GAA 93.0SV%
November: 12GP 9-3-0 1.81GAA 93.0SV%
December: 11GP 5-4-2 3.11GAA 87.5SV%
January: 12GP 4-6-2 2.55GAA 89.1SV%
February: 10GP 7-2-1 2.39GAA 91.5SV%
March: 2GP 0-1-0 4.25GAA 76.9SV%

A good February might suggest that Henrik is out of his slump, but I'd find it hard to count on a guy who has been so wildly inconsistent the entire season.

Chris Osgood, signed to be a backup/caddy to the fossilized Dominik Hasek, was a media darling for his sparking stats and fine play as the de-facto #1. Thanks to Osgood's amazing play, the Wings managed to pile up an artificially high W-L record that had everyone and their mother going bonkers.

Then, reality smacked him upside his hobbit-like head, the clock struck midnight, and Osgood and his Wings started losing game after precious game.

October: 6GP 6-0-0 1.50GAA 93.1SV%
November: 9GP 6-1-1 1.97GAA 92.0SV%
December: 6GP 5-1-0 1.67GAA 94.1SV%
January: 6GP 4-1-1 2.35GAA 91.3SV%
February: 8GP 2-5-1 2.99GAA 87.3SV%


Now that the Wings want to use Hasek for most of their remaining games, it's unlikely Osgood's overall stats will decrease significantly. Still, it was quite obvious that he was playing out of his mind, and nobody should realistically expect a repeat of his numbers from October-December. His January-February stats paint a much more realistic picture.