Today's edition: hockey and Damien Cox.
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Instead, save percentage, something those of us who watched the game before the Original 30 never even knew existed, has become the sexy measuring stick for goaltenders.
Like on-base percentage in baseball, save percentage has come to be seen as the true measure of what a goaltender is accomplishing every night.
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Well, in the new NHL, it may be time to simplify again. As in, just wins, baby.
Victories are what matter the most, and perhaps should be the decisive issue when it comes to passing on the Vezina legacy.
Cox goes on to cite Ed Belfour as support for his argument - in three games, Belfour allowed 13 goals (for those of you who don't follow hockey, that's bad), but his team wound up winning two of those, so Belfour therefore did enough to win. There's no mention of the fact that, in each of those wins, Belfour received five goals of offensive support. And hell, despite allowing four goals in one of those games, Belfour faced 53 shots, making for a damn good save percentage.
Different sport, same bad argument. Just as individual stats mean little for the team, team stats mean little for the individual.