Tim Thomas Was Best Goalie in NHL Last Year, According to Sabermetrics

In case you weren't convinced by the Vezina and Conn Smythe trophies or Stanley Cup victory, maybe some sabermetrics can show you that Tim Thomas was the best goalie in the NHL last year.

A new stat called defense independent goalie rating, or "DIGR," echoes what everyone who saw a game last year already knew: Thomas had the best season of all goaltenders, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The DIGR stat, designed by a statistics professor at St. Lawrence University, takes into account not only the saves a goaltender makes, but accounts for the quality of the shots the goalie is turning away. Professor Michael Schuckers charted every shot a goalie faced and matched it up against all the shots taken in the NHL last season to get a sense of which saves a goalie should or shouldn't make, regardless of how his team's defense plays.

Thomas finished atop the list despite facing the eighth-easiest set of shots, beating out Stanley Cup Final counterpart Roberto Luongo, who came in second in the DIGR statistical rankings.

According to the article, St. Louis Blues netminder Jaroslav Halak faced the hardest shots last season, while the Kings' Jonathan Quick faced the easiest ones.