What are the effects of a team’s system on the performance of its goaltenders? Can a good system make an average goaltender put up better numbers than he would otherwise? Will a poor structure make even an elite goalie seem like a middle-of-the-pack netminder?
These are difficult question to get a conclusive answer for. There are too many variables.
In last year’s debacle of a season for the Montreal Canadiens, the numbers suggested that goaltending was a contributing factor. The numbers were not presented with an explanation of how they came to be what they were, they were just displayed as cold, hard fact.