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Niklas Backstrom

#32 · Goalie · Calgary Flames

Born Feb 13, 1978 in Helsinki, FIN · 6'2", 192 lb · Catches left

Trophy case

William M. Jennings Trophy Goaltender(s) on Team with Fewest Goals Against 2006-07

Compare with a similar player

The goalies closest to him in games played in 2011-12. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Jaroslav Halak STL · 46 GP, 0.926 Steve Mason CBJ · 46 GP, 0.894 Devan Dubnyk EDM · 47 GP, 0.914 Mathieu Garon TBL · 48 GP, 0.901 Tomas Vokoun WSH · 48 GP, 0.917

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.

Playoffs

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

2011-12 season totals

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 30 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 2012-13, with 1 season left after this one, and he is then an unrestricted free agent.

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

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 2011-12 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.

2011-12 analytics

Rating

Each number is coloured by where it ranks among the 48 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. 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 47 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 47 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