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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)

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Compare with a similar player

The goalies closest to him in games played in 2018-19. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Alexandar Georgiev NYR · 33 GP, 0.914 Cam Ward CHI · 33 GP, 0.897 Jordan Binnington STL · 32 GP, 0.927 Cam Talbot PHI · 35 GP, 0.892 Jonathan Bernier DET · 35 GP, 0.904

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.

01020302007-08: 5 games507-082008-09: 14 games1408-092009-10: 20 games2009-102010-11: 28 games2810-112011-12: 2 games211-122013-14: 28 games2813-142014-15: 32 games3214-152015-16: 18 games1815-162016-17: 21 games2116-172017-18: 18 games1817-182018-19: 33 games3318-192019-20: 18 games1819-202020-21: 12 games1220-21

Games played by season. The darker bar is the season shown below.

Season Team GP WLOTLSO Shots against Saves Goals against GAA Save % Cap hit
2007-08 CGY 5 0200 51 46 5 2.00 0.902 $605K
2008-09 CGY 14 1610 280 249 31 3.59 0.889 $500K
2009-10 CGY 10 3400 235 208 27 3.22 0.885 $535K
2009-10 ANA 10 5120 288 264 24 2.76 0.917
2010-11 ANA 21 6912 516 459 57 3.43 0.890 $535K
2010-11 OTT 7 3400 205 188 17 2.56 0.917
2011-12 PHX 2 1000 36 34 2 1.67 0.944 $625K
2013-14 CBJ 28 101112 703 639 64 2.70 0.909 $600K
2014-15 CBJ 32 121420 949 867 82 2.88 0.914 $600K
2015-16 CBJ 18 2730 417 371 46 3.30 0.890 $800K
2016-17 CBJ 7 2120 198 183 15 2.39 0.924 $800K
2016-17 TOR 14 6701 418 382 36 2.85 0.914
2017-18 TOR 18 11513 528 493 35 2.14 0.934 $850K
2018-19 CAR 33 201122 968 883 85 2.58 0.912 $850K
2019-20 TBL 18 8731 551 499 52 2.89 0.906 $1.3M
2020-21 TBL 12 4621 296 259 37 3.09 0.875 $1.3M
13 seasons Career 249 94952012 6639 6024 615 2.83 0.907

Playoffs

Playoff games only. Pick a season to see that year's bracket.

Season Team GP WLOTLSO Shots against Saves Goals against GAA Save %
2008-09 CGY 1 0000 10 9 1 1.78 0.900
2017-18 TOR 1 0100 23 19 4 5.07 0.826
2018-19 CAR 5 3200 128 119 9 2.01 0.930
3 seasons Playoffs 7 3300 161 147 14 2.40 0.913

2018-19 season totals

GP Starts WLOTLSO Shots against Saves Goals against GAA Save %
33 33 201122 968 883 85 2.58 0.912

Contract

$850KCap hitends in 2019, then UFA
$47KCap dollars per goal above replacement18.2 goals above replacement
$4.4MWorth at the going ratewhat teams paid for a season like his
+$3.6MValueworth minus cap hit; below zero is overpaid

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 60 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 2018-19, so this is its last season, after which he is an unrestricted free agent.

Season Cap hit
2018-19 $850K

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 2018-19 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.

2018-19 analytics

Regular season Playoffs

Rating

+18.2Goals above replacement21st of 60 goalies
+3.0Wins above replacementgoals above replacement divided by six
+8.7Goals above averagehis goals saved above expected

Each number is coloured by where it ranks among the 60 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.

-10010202010-112013-142015-162017-182019-20Goals above replacementGoals above replacement, by season

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

+8.7Goals saved above expectedexpected goals minus goals against
93.7Expected goals againstfrom 1,364 unblocked attempts
85Goals againstwhile he was in net
0.912Save %0.903 expected from his shots

Goals saved above expected, taken per 60 minutes, and save % are coloured by where they rank among the 60 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.

Goals saved +0.26 above expected per 60 minutes77th
Shot difficulty 6.9% chance per attempt faced85thA higher bar means his team gives up more dangerous shots.

Each bar shows the share of goalies he is ahead of, among the 60 who played at least a quarter as much as the busiest this season.

020406080Game 10Game 20Game 30Expected 93.7Allowed 85

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 Decision Shots against Saves Goals against Save % TOI
Apr 6, 2019 @ PHI W 4-3 W 31 28 3 0.903 60:00
Mar 31, 2019 @ PIT L 1-3 L 28 25 3 0.893 57:07
Mar 28, 2019 vs WSH L 2-3 L 20 17 3 0.850 58:08
Mar 24, 2019 vs MTL W 2-1 (OT) W 29 28 1 0.966 63:06
Mar 21, 2019 vs TBL L 3-6 L 31 26 5 0.839 58:43
Mar 16, 2019 vs BUF W 4-2 W 37 35 2 0.946 59:51
Mar 8, 2019 vs WPG L 1-8 L 29 21 8 0.724 59:52
Mar 5, 2019 @ BOS L 3-4 (OT) OTL 38 34 4 0.895 61:46
Mar 1, 2019 vs STL W 5-2 W 23 21 2 0.913 60:00
Feb 23, 2019 @ DAL W 3-0 W, SO 24 24 0 1.000 60:00
Feb 19, 2019 vs NYR L 1-2 L 26 24 2 0.923 57:23
Feb 15, 2019 vs EDM W 3-1 W 41 40 1 0.976 60:00
Feb 12, 2019 @ OTT W 4-1 W 26 25 1 0.962 60:00
Feb 7, 2019 @ BUF W 6-5 (OT) W 39 34 5 0.872 63:25
Feb 5, 2019 @ PIT W 4-0 W, SO 23 23 0 1.000 60:00
Jan 15, 2019 @ NYR L 2-6 L 28 22 6 0.786 60:00
Jan 11, 2019 vs BUF W 4-3 W 33 30 3 0.909 59:41
Jan 8, 2019 @ NYI W 4-3 W 31 28 3 0.903 60:00
Jan 4, 2019 vs CBJ W 4-2 W 24 22 2 0.917 59:56
Dec 31, 2018 vs PHI W 3-1 W 23 22 1 0.957 60:00
Dec 29, 2018 @ NJD L 0-2 L 29 28 1 0.966 58:19
Dec 22, 2018 vs PIT L 0-3 L 32 29 3 0.906 60:00
Dec 5, 2018 @ SJS L 1-5 L 23 18 5 0.783 60:00
Nov 30, 2018 vs ANA L 1-2 (OT) OTL 29 27 2 0.931 61:15
Nov 27, 2018 @ MTL W 2-1 W 49 48 1 0.980 60:00
Nov 23, 2018 vs FLA W 4-1 W 35 34 1 0.971 60:00
Nov 21, 2018 vs TOR W 5-2 W 32 30 2 0.938 60:00
Nov 18, 2018 vs NJD W 2-1 W 34 33 1 0.971 60:00
Nov 6, 2018 @ STL L 1-4 L 19 16 3 0.842 59:45
Oct 20, 2018 vs COL L 1-3 L 22 19 3 0.864 57:17
Oct 13, 2018 @ MIN W 5-4 (OT) W 23 19 4 0.826 61:57
Oct 9, 2018 vs VAN W 5-3 W 25 22 3 0.880 60:00
Oct 5, 2018 @ CBJ W 3-1 W 32 31 1 0.969 60:00