Curtis McElhinney
#35 · Goalie · Tampa Bay Lightning
Born May 23, 1983 in London, Ontario, CAN · 6'1", 210 lb · Catches left · Drafted 176th overall in 2002 by CGY (round 6)
Trophy case
Compare with a similar player
The goalies closest to him in games played in 2016-17. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.
Juuse Saros
NSH ·
21 GP, 0.923
Aaron Dell
SJS ·
20 GP, 0.931
Eddie Lack
CAR ·
20 GP, 0.902
Al Montoya
MTL ·
19 GP, 0.912
Philipp Grubauer
WSH ·
24 GP, 0.926
Career
Regular season games only. Pick a season to see its game log below. Cap hit is what he counted against the salary cap that season, where it is known.
Games played by season. The darker bar is the season shown below.
| Season | Team | GP | Shots against | Saves | Goals against | Save % | Cap hit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-08 | CGY | 5 | 51 | 46 | 5 | 0.902 | $605K |
| 2008-09 | CGY | 14 | 280 | 249 | 31 | 0.889 | $500K |
| 2009-10 | CGY | 10 | 235 | 208 | 27 | 0.885 | $535K |
| 2009-10 | ANA | 10 | 288 | 264 | 24 | 0.917 | |
| 2010-11 | ANA | 21 | 516 | 459 | 57 | 0.890 | $535K |
| 2010-11 | OTT | 7 | 205 | 188 | 17 | 0.917 | |
| 2011-12 | PHX | 2 | 36 | 34 | 2 | 0.944 | $625K |
| 2013-14 | CBJ | 28 | 703 | 639 | 64 | 0.909 | $600K |
| 2014-15 | CBJ | 32 | 949 | 867 | 82 | 0.914 | $600K |
| 2015-16 | CBJ | 18 | 417 | 371 | 46 | 0.890 | $800K |
| 2016-17 | CBJ | 7 | 198 | 183 | 15 | 0.924 | $800K |
| 2016-17 | TOR | 14 | 418 | 382 | 36 | 0.914 | |
| 2017-18 | TOR | 18 | 528 | 493 | 35 | 0.934 | $850K |
| 2018-19 | CAR | 33 | 968 | 883 | 85 | 0.912 | $850K |
| 2019-20 | TBL | 18 | 551 | 499 | 52 | 0.906 | $1.3M |
| 2020-21 | TBL | 12 | 296 | 259 | 37 | 0.875 | $1.3M |
| 13 seasons | Career | 249 | 6639 | 6024 | 615 | 0.907 |
Playoffs
Playoff games only. Pick a season to see that year's bracket.
| Season | Team | GP | Shots against | Saves | Goals against | Save % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-09 | CGY | 1 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0.900 |
| 2017-18 | TOR | 1 | 23 | 19 | 4 | 0.826 |
| 2018-19 | CAR | 5 | 128 | 119 | 9 | 0.930 |
| 3 seasons | Playoffs | 7 | 161 | 147 | 14 | 0.913 |
2016-17 season totals
| GP | Shots against | Saves | Goals against | Save % | Goals against per game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 616 | 565 | 51 | 0.917 | 2.43 |
Contract
His cap hit for the whole season, set against what he did in the regular season. Lower is better value. In a season still being played the cost per point starts high and falls as the games add up. Value is coloured by where it ranks among the 53 ranked goalies whose contract is known. How value is worked out.
The contract
Who signed him to it, and when, are not on record. It runs through 2016-17, so this is its last season, after which he is an unrestricted free agent.
| Season | Cap hit |
|---|---|
| 2016-17 | $800K |
Each season left on the contract. Only its cap hit and its end are known: how the pay is split by season, and any signing bonus, are not.
Contracts he has signed
| Signed | Signed by | Kind | Seasons | Years | In all | Cap hit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 to 2020-21 | $1.3M | |||||
| 2017-18 to 2018-19 | $850K | |||||
| 2015-16 to 2016-17 | $800K | |||||
| 2014-15 to 2014-15 | $600K | |||||
| 2013-14 to 2013-14 | $600K | |||||
| 2011-12 to 2011-12 | $625K | |||||
| 2009-10 to 2010-11 | $535K | |||||
| 2008-09 to 2008-09 | $500K | |||||
| 2007-08 to 2007-08 | $605K |
Every contract on record for him, newest first, with the team that signed him to it and the day it was signed. The one covering 2016-17 is marked. An extension is signed while the contract before it is still running, often a year ahead. A row with no team or date is a contract known only by its cap hit, most often one signed since October 2024.
2016-17 analytics
Rating
Each number is coloured by where it ranks among the 53 ranked goalies: green is in the top fifth and red the bottom fifth, with paler shades in between and amber for the middle. Hover over a tile for its percentile. Goals above average is coloured as it is under Shots faced below, where it is taken per 60 minutes.
The goals he saved for his team, compared with a spare-part goalie facing the same shots. A goalie's season is about one-third the goalie and two-thirds chance, so read one year lightly. Provisional: under 40 games it is more chance than player. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.
Shots faced
Expected goals adds up how likely each shot he faced was to go in, judged by where it came from, what kind of shot it was and whether it was a rebound. A goalie who lets in fewer than that has saved goals above expected. Only shots taken while he was in net count, and the league's goalies as a whole come out at zero. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones. What these numbers mean
Goals saved above expected, taken per 60 minutes, and save % are coloured by where they rank among the 55 goalies who played enough to be ranked: green is in the top fifth and red the bottom fifth, with paler shades in between and amber for the middle. Hover over a tile for its percentile. The two goals against tiles are left plain, since they follow how much he played.
Each bar shows the share of goalies he is ahead of, among the 55 who played at least a quarter as much as the busiest this season.
The goals he was expected to let in and the goals he did, as the season went on. When the allowed line runs below the expected line, he is saving more than his shots were worth.
Where he was shot at
Every unblocked attempt he faced this season, with his net on the right. Darker red means more attempts from that spot, and each dot is a goal. "Show every shot" switches to a dot for each attempt, bigger for a better chance. Click a goal for its details.
Game log
| Date | Opponent | Result | Shots against | Saves | Goals against | Save % | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 9, 2017 | vs CBJ | L 2-3 | 32 | 29 | 3 | 0.906 | 57:23 |
| Apr 8, 2017 | vs PIT | W 5-3 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 0.857 | 37:27 |
| Apr 4, 2017 | vs WSH | L 1-4 | 38 | 34 | 4 | 0.895 | 60:00 |
| Mar 28, 2017 | vs FLA | W 3-2 | 27 | 25 | 2 | 0.926 | 59:30 |
| Mar 25, 2017 | @ BUF | L 2-5 | 22 | 19 | 3 | 0.864 | 40:00 |
| Mar 23, 2017 | vs NJD | W 4-2 | 32 | 30 | 2 | 0.938 | 60:00 |
| Mar 14, 2017 | @ FLA | L 2-7 | 24 | 20 | 4 | 0.833 | 40:00 |
| Mar 3, 2017 | @ ANA | L 2-5 | 35 | 31 | 4 | 0.886 | 58:30 |
| Feb 19, 2017 | @ CAR | W 4-0 | 37 | 37 | 0 | 1.000 | 60:00 |
| Feb 15, 2017 | @ CBJ | L 2-5 | 34 | 30 | 4 | 0.882 | 59:16 |
| Feb 7, 2017 | vs DAL | W 3-1 | 40 | 39 | 1 | 0.975 | 60:00 |
| Jan 31, 2017 | @ DAL | L 3-6 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0.750 | 48:17 |
| Jan 26, 2017 | @ PHI | L 1-2 | 34 | 32 | 2 | 0.941 | 58:21 |
| Jan 14, 2017 | @ OTT | W 4-2 | 37 | 35 | 2 | 0.946 | 60:00 |
| Jan 7, 2017 | vs NYR | L 4-5 | 34 | 29 | 5 | 0.853 | 59:37 |
| Jan 5, 2017 | @ WSH | L 0-5 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 14:23 |
| Dec 20, 2016 | vs LAK | W 3-2 (SO) | 46 | 44 | 2 | 0.957 | 65:00 |
| Dec 3, 2016 | @ ARI | W 3-2 (SO) | 34 | 32 | 2 | 0.941 | 65:00 |
| Nov 21, 2016 | vs COL | L 2-3 (OT) | 27 | 24 | 3 | 0.889 | 60:26 |
| Nov 10, 2016 | @ BOS | L 2-5 | 23 | 22 | 1 | 0.957 | 47:12 |
| Nov 5, 2016 | @ STL | L 1-2 (OT) | 30 | 28 | 2 | 0.933 | 64:17 |