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Matt Villalta

#31 · Goalie · Buffalo Sabres

Born Jun 3, 1999 in Kingston, Ontario, CAN (age 27) · 6'3", 190 lb · Catches left · Drafted 72nd overall in 2017 by LAK (round 3)

Compare with a similar player

The goalies closest to him in games played in 2024-25. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Ales Stezka SEA · 1 GP, 0.870 Brandon Halverson TBL · 1 GP, 0.792 Clay Stevenson WSH · 1 GP, 0.868 Erik Portillo LAK · 1 GP, 0.966 Hunter Shepard WSH · 1 GP, 0.731

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.

2024-25 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.

The contract

Signed by the Utah Hockey Club on Jun 19, 2024, as an extension of the contract he was on: 2 years and $1.55M, beginning in 2024-25. It runs through 2025-26, with 1 season left after this one, and he is then an unrestricted free agent.

Each season of the contract, with this one marked. The cap hit is the same every year; what he is paid is not. The pay is as written when the contract was recorded in October 2024, so a later change, such as the rise in the lowest salary for 2026-27, is not shown.

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 2024-25 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.

2024-25 analytics

Rating

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. He has played fewer than 20 games, too few to be ranked.

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. What these numbers mean

Each bar shows the share of goalies he is ahead of, among the 62 who played at least a quarter as much as the busiest this season.

Where he was shot at

Every unblocked attempt he faced this season, with his net on the right. There is a dot for each attempt, bigger for a better chance. "Show as heat map" shades the ice by where the attempts came from. Click a goal for its details.

Game log