You can follow Todd on Twitter @ToddCordell!
Over the last week or so I've been tracking a lot of data to see
how Cory Schneider and Martin Brodeur fared vs. defenseman compared to forwards.
While I took an in-depth look at the numbers, I never really compared Schneider's numbers to Brodeur.
Considering Schneider and Brodeur are teammates and are expected to share the net all season long, I decided to do some more research and compare their numbers.
Before I begin I'd like to say that save percentage isn't always a perfect indicator of play and can be flawed at times, however, I believe it is the most telling goaltender statistic.
Without further ado here is a graph I made with situational save percentages for both Schneider and Brodeur this past season.
Going from left to right, you can see that Schneider had a significantly better overall save percentage this past season as it was over .925 while Brodeur's was barely over .900.
Schneider also has a better 5 vs. 5 SV%, as you'd expect to see from someone who stops over .925 of the shots he faces. With that said, Brodeur's numbers in that same situation are very impressive, as well, and are above league average as they're only slightly below .925.
When playing with a lead, both goaltenders stop over .925% of the shots they face but Brodeur has a slight edge there.
I'm not sure if it's because of the makeup of the team, style of play or strictly performance based, but Schneider's SV% drops off pretty significantly when trailing while Brodeur seems to excel in said situations.
Lastly we have the 4 vs. 5 SV%, where Schneider blows Brodeur out of the water. At least he did last year. Schneider stopped about .915% of the shots faced when down a man while Brodeur stopped about .800% of the shots he faced when playing in 4 vs. 5 situations.
I didn't track 4 vs. 5 numbers in the next graph I'm going to post, but I will say that Brodeur's 4 vs. 5 SV% was worse than Schneider's even when the Devils set a record for highest penalty killing percentage.
The three most important situations posted above, in my opinion, are total SV%, 5 vs. 5 SV%, as most of the game is played in that scenario, and 4 vs. 5 SV%. Even when Brodeur posted respectable numbers in those categories, Schneider's numbers were still better to much better which indicates he's the better goaltender right now. That's expected when you compare a goaltender entering his prime to a goaltender in his 40's.
Considering how poor the New Jersey Devils played last season and the injuries they faced, it isn't entirely fair to Brodeur to compare numbers solely from last year, right? I thought so, which is why I made another graph below that shows some numbers over the last two seasons.
For viewing purposes, I put Brodeur and Schneider's numbers from each of the last two seasons directly beside each other.
When you look at the 2011-12 numbers, a couple things stand out a) Schneider had over a .925 SV% in every situation listed and b) even in the categories Brodeur excelled in, Schneider still had better numbers in each category. Again, the Canucks were a better team in the regular season, but a decent sized portion of that can be attributed to goaltending. Brodeur was good and got the job done, but Schneider was simply magnificent even though he faced more shots per game.
The last thing I took away from the 11-12 numbers is Schneider's SV% when down a man. In that situation he stopped about .960% of the shots he faced which is absolutely ridiculous. Is it sustainable? Probably not, but that was well beyond league average.
Now when you go over to the 2012-13 numbers, Brodeur and Schneider's situational statistics from the year before both take a hit. That said, Schneider still posted a .925 SV% or above in three of the four categories and those numbers were all league average or higher.
Brodeur's 5 vs. 5 SV% and 5 vs. 5 SV% when tied were both very good and above league average in 2012-13, but they weren't enough to beat Schneider in either category. Come to think of it, if you look at the numbers, Schneider posted better situational save percentages in every category listed over the last two seasons.
Brodeur is still a good goaltender and has some good hockey left in the tank, but it's clear at this point that Schneider is now the better goaltender and despite Brodeur's credentials, Schneider should see at least 50% of the starts.
**
Alexei Ponikarovsky joins Ilya Kovalchuk with SKA St. Petersburgh.
Who found success vs. Martin Brodeur last season?
Who found success vs. Cory Schneider last season?
A look at how Schneider and Brodeur fared vs. defenseman compared to forwards last season.
What is Adam Henrique worth?
Why Ryane Clowe's in line for a bounce back season.
Just how good is Reid Boucher?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those interested, you can follow Todd's Calgary Flames coverage on Twitter@ToddCordellCGY!
Email:
[email protected]
New Jersey Devils Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»