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Save percentage and GAA calculator for goalies

Save percentage and goals-against average are the two numbers printed beside every goaltender’s name, and they measure different things. Save percentage is per shot: how often the goaltender stopped the puck. Goals-against average is per 60 minutes: how many goals went in during a regulation game’s worth of time, however many shots the defence allowed.

Enter shots, goals and time played to see both, along with the saves and the shot volume they come from — which is usually why the two numbers disagree.

By Reign Creative LLCPublished More in the Hockey hub

Calculate goalie stats

Shots against means shots on goal, which include the goals.

0 to 59. Leave at 0 for whole minutes.

60 is the standard definition. Change it only to compare within a league that plays shorter games.

Save percentage (SV%).91791.7%

Goals-against average (per 60 minutes)
2.50
Shots faced (per 60 minutes)
30.0
Saves
1,650
Minutes played
3600.00

The formulas

Saves

saves = shots against − goals against

Save percentage

SV% = saves ÷ shots against

Goals-against average

GAA = goals against × 60 ÷ minutes played

Shots faced per 60

shots against × 60 ÷ minutes played

Shots against are shots on goal, which include the goals themselves. Sixty is the length of a regulation game, so goals-against average is the number of goals the goalie would concede in a full game at the same rate.

Worked examples

An illustrative season — not a real goalie — of 1,800 shots and 150 goals against over 3,600 minutes, which is 60 full games:

The illustrative season
StatisticCalculationResult
Saves1,800 − 1501,650
SV%1,650 ÷ 1,800.917
GAA150 × 60 ÷ 3,6002.50
Shots per 601,800 × 60 ÷ 3,60030.0

Now the same save rate — 92% — behind two defences, over one 60-minute game each. (Fractional goals are fine here: these are per-game averages, not single games.)

One save percentage, two goals-against averages
DefenceShots against per 60SV%GAA
Busy40.9203.20
Quiet25.9202.00

The goalie’s save rate is identical; the goals-against average differs by more than a goal a game because of how many shots got through.

What goalie numbers leave out

  • Shot quality. A save on a long-range wrist shot and one on a two-on-one count the same.
  • The defence in front. Goals-against average in particular reflects how many shots the team allows.
  • Sample size. Over a handful of games, two or three soft goals move both numbers a long way.

The goaltending explainer covers what the position actually involves, and plus/minus and hockey’s other statistics covers the skaters’ side of the stat sheet.

In Hockey Career Sim 2026 you can play a whole career as a goalie, with goaltending among the attributes you develop through training.

Reign Creative LLC makes Hockey Career Sim 2026, so we have a commercial interest in it. It is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any league, team, players’ association or athlete.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate save percentage?
Divide saves by shots against, where saves are shots against minus goals against. A goalie who faces 30 shots and allows 2 goals has made 28 saves, a save percentage of .933.
How can a goalie with a good save percentage have a poor GAA?
Because goals-against average depends on how many shots the defence allows. A goalie stopping 92% of shots concedes 3.2 goals per 60 minutes when facing 40 shots a game, and 2.0 when facing 25. Save percentage isolates the goalie a little more; goals-against average reflects the whole team’s defending.
How is save percentage usually written?
As a three-decimal number such as .915, meaning 91.5% of shots on goal were saved. The calculator shows both forms.
What counts as minutes played?
The time the goalie was actually in the game. A goalie replaced after two periods has played 40 minutes, so goals allowed in that time are scaled up to a 60-minute rate.
What if my league plays shorter games?
The standard definition always scales to 60 minutes. If your league plays shorter games, the calculator can also express the same rate per game of your length — useful for comparing goalies within that league, but not with goalies whose GAA uses 60.

Sources

  1. NHL Stats Glossary — GAA, SV and SV% (opens in a new tab)Hockey-Reference.com (Sports Reference) — accessed

League, governing-body and team names appear here only to identify the formulas and rules being used. Reign Creative LLC's sports games and calculators are not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any league, team, players' association or athlete, and all names and marks belong to their owners.

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