Breaking down the most saves of all-time leader on the Capitals
The Washington Capitals have some new goaltenders in town but on this post we’ll look at past goaltenders that weren’t Ilya Samsonov nor Vitek Vanecek. That’s right, we’ll take a look at the most saves of all time on the Caps.
Before that, let’s see who had the most saves in a season. That was Braden Holtby with 1,887 during the 2014-15 season. The most saves in a career for the Capitals was Olaf Kolzig with 18,013 saves.
Kolzig holds 14 of 24 Capitals goaltending records. Kolzig and Holtby are tied for most games played in a season with 73. Kolzig did it in 1999-00 and Holtby in 2014-15.
Kolzig also holds the record for most games played in a career with 711 and holds the franchise record for wins with 301. Kolzig and Holtby are tied for most shutouts in a career with 35.
Kolzig also has the most losses at 293, the most ties in a season with 11 in 1999-00 and most ties in a career with 63. Holtby and Kolzig are also tied for the most overtime losses in season with 11 with Kolzig faltering in 2005-06.
Holtby also faced the most shots in a career with 19,873. He had the most minutes played in a season in 1999-00 at 4,370:50 and in a career with 41,259:36 minutes.
That 1999-00 season saw Kolzig take home the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender. He posted a 41-20-11 record that year with a 2.24 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.
In Kolzig’s Capitals career he went 301-293-86 with a 2.70 goals against average and .906 save percentage. He spent 17 years in the NHL with his final season being with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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Before there was Holtby there was Ollie the Goalie or Godzilla. That’s what the fans liked to call him. It’s no surprise when doing this research he led the Capitals all time in saves. At least he remained with the organization in a front office role and has his name on the Cup.