TOP 20 North America Developmental RANKINGS

    Jerry Shields
 HOW DO I DETERMINE THESE RATINGS?

An intensive, complicated analysis is done on each goaltender.

Care is taken to remove an bias from the ability of a goaltender's teams - as good teams allow fewer quality shots and vice versa for weak teams.

There are adjustments made for the caliber of goaltending in each league and then again for each level of hockey.

All of this results in a number that reflects a goaltenders current ability and compares him to others.  Most goaltenders' ability increases with age, until they peak in their early 30's.  Younger goaltenders' ratings increase faster at a young age as the progress through the ranks.

Goalies with few starts result in more inaccurate analysis and should be scrutinized closely.  Therefore I only rank goalies that have played a minimum of 1200 minutes.

What the Scores Mean....

Extensive research has allowed me to place a goalie in his current level of play based on these scores.
The scores relate to the following categories.
Keep in mind that these scores are CURRENT ability but do not indicate potential ability.
Quality Goaltenders often climb 1 category per season.

Score = Current Level of Play
00-09 = Tier II Goalie
10-19 = Tier II Starter
20-29 = Major Junior Backup
30-39 = Major Junior Starter
40-49 = Minor Pro Goaltender
50-59 = Minor Pro Starter/Fringe NHL Goalie
60-69 = Regular NHL Goalie
70-79 = NHL Starter
80-99 = NHL STAR