GAA Calculator (Goals Against Average)

This GAA calculator is a tool useful for anyone interested in calculating goals against average. Use it to figure out what the GAA hockey statistic says about your skills, read on to find out more about its uses in different sports, and learn the goals against average formula. With the help of this calculator, you will be able to assess your goalkeeping skills quickly and effectively!

In short, the GGA hockey statistic is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goalkeeper. The lower the value is, the better a goalkeeper. It's most commonly used in field and ice hockey, but it's not uncommon to find it in soccer. It can be applied to any sport which has the concept of a goal. GAA is an analogous measure to baseball's earned run average (ERA) - the Japanese even use the same term (防御率) for both statistics! Check out the ERA calculator to learn more about this metric.

Goals against average is used as a measure of a goalkeeper's effectiveness. Although it has its downsides (for example, the fact that the number of times the opposing team attempts to score is affected by the performance of the whole team, not just the goalie), it's still regarded as a reasonable estimate of a player's skills, and it's worth considering when setting up a goalie's training pace, or trying to come up with a winning strategy.

Using this goals against average calculator is easy. To calculate your GAA, follow these steps:

• Input the number of goals a goalkeeper allowed during a game.
  • Remember that for hockey this means all goals scored during regulation and overtime play, but not during a shootout or when the net is empty - do not include those!
  • If you're using the GAA calculator to calculate for soccer, include all goals during regulation, injury time, and overtime.
• Input the game duration in minutes. We set up a default value of 60, as this is the standard time of a NHL game. In the case of soccer, this value should be 90 minutes. Naturally, unofficial and amateur matches may last different amounts of time. If needed, use the time converter.
• Provide the goals against average calculator with the total number of minutes the goalie played that match.

The calculator will implement the values you provided in the goals against average formula, and return the value of your GAA hockey (or soccer) statistic.

The goals against average formula used by our GAA calculator is easy and straightforward. If you ever feel like calculating this statistic by yourself, use the following equation:

GAA = goals allowed per game * game duration / total minutes played

Let's put this goals against average formula to use for clarification. As an example, imagine a hockey goalkeeper who allowed 13 goals during a standard 60-minute-long game, and was on the field for a total of 42 minutes so far. In this goalie's case, the calculation goes as follows:

GAA = 13 * 60min / 520min = 780 / 42min = 18.571

That's not a very good result, is it?

The general rule when interpreting GAA is the lower, the better. Specifics vary across sports. For example, while for the GAA hockey statistic a good result is around around 2 - 4, in lacrosse, the highest GAAs among professionals are closer to 10. It's also important to keep in mind that, as opposed to many other sports statistics such as basketball's true shooting (TS) percentage or cricket's net run rate, goals against average is not a perfect reflection on an individual's skills, as the team's defense plays a significant role in how many shots on goal are made during a game. Nevertheless, it's a commonly used and respected statistic, and it's a good idea to gain a little perspective of what its values mean.

To gain this perspective, take a look at the top 10 from the list of NHL's leaders in career GAA over the years (as of February 2020):

1. Alec Connell - active 1924-1937, GAA: 1.916
2. George Hainsworth - active 1926-1937, GAA: 1.932
3. Charlie Gardiner - active 1927-1934, GAA: 2.024
4. Lorne Chabot - active 1926-1937, GAA: 2.027
5. Tiny Thompson - active 1928-1940, GAA: 2.072
6. Dave Kerr - active 1930-1941, GAA: 2.135
7. Dominik Hasek - active 1990-2008, GAA: 2.202
8. Ken Dryden - active 1970-1979, GAA: 2.238
9. Martin Brodeur - active 1991-2015, GAA: 2.242
10. Tuukka Rask, active 2007-present, GAA: 2.264