Preface: Cross fingers before reading.
Braden Holtby is the greatest goaltender in the history of the NHL…at least where all-time playoff save percentage is concerned.
His career playoff save percentage is .938, which leads the entire National Hockey League world for its entire existence. Holtby’s career record in the playoffs however, is 22-24, which you can note is below .500. The Caps lose, but he ain’t the problem.
| Goaltender | Save Percentage | Games Played |
|---|---|---|
| Braden Holtby | .938 | 46 |
| Craig Anderson | .933 | 27 |
| Tim Thomas | .933 | 51 |
| Jonas Hiller | .930 | 33 |
| Tuuka Rask | .930 | 47 |
| Tomas Vokoun | .928 | 22 |
| Olaf Kolzig | .927 | 45 |
| Ben Bishop | .927 | 36 |
| Patrick Lalime | .926 | 41 |
| Jean-Sebastien Giguere | .925 | 52 |
The Canadian goalie is coming off a 2016 playoffs in which he saved 342 of 363 shots in 12 games for an absolutely inhuman .942 all-situation save percentage.
Now, of course Holtby has a smaller sample size and plays in a different era than Dominik Hasek, Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy. Not to mention all the guys who played before radios were invented, but that doesn’t make his numbers look any less spectacular within today’s context.
Holtby is clutch (anti-jinx). He is the one guy the Caps should have to worry about the least — barring disaster.
Fun fact: There are multiple former Capitals goalies in the top 50 all-time in this category. Tomas Vokoun is 6th, Olie Kolzig is 7th, some Slovakian dude is 12th, Semyon Varlamov is 33rd, and Jose Theodore is 36th.
Way less fun fact. Leafs starting netminder, Frederik Andersen, is 30th all time.
