I am very proud to announce that I have officially published The Goalie Guild’s Periodic Table of Goaltending Elements. This infographic was made in the image and likeness of the traditional scientific periodic table of elements, but reveals 108 elements that I feel are necessary and vital components to successful goaltending during a game.

Please keep in mind that my Periodic Table of Goaltending Elements is simply a reflection of how one pro goalie scout perceives the goaltending position as it is being played during a game. This is not meant to be considered as an all-encompassing or ”official” representation of goaltending.

Every single person sees goalies differently, so this just happens to be how I view them. I took the summer months to create this infographic in order to show my readers and members exactly what I’m looking at and gauging when scouting games.

The Goalie Guild’s Periodic Table of Goaltending Elements was not created as a mechanism to help you evaluate goaltenders. It was created to give you a visual representation of how I personally view and dissect the goaltending position as it is being played during a game.

I stress “being played during a game” because the table reflects 108 crucial “in-game” elements, all of which have been arranged in a very specific and strategic order.  It does not include elements away from games, like practice habits or off-ice training. It is all about the position as it is being executed in a game.

This is the most important thing to keep in mind when looking at my Periodic Table. I would never have the cockiness or audacity to say that my way of viewing the position is the best, or the most accurate. So this chart is by no means an all-encompassing reflection of the position. It is merely a visual reflection of the position (being played during a game) through a pro goalie scout’s eyes.

That being said, this Periodic Table will still help many of you understand what elements make up a successful goaltending performance, and therefore it can help you evaluate a goaltender better. But that’s not really the point of this project. The point was to let everyone see in a real creative and unique way how I break down a goaltending performance.

Everyone knows that we stress the mental aspects of the position a great deal. I’m not the only one. Every pro, elite, high-level goalie and coach says the same thing; “Goaltending is mostly mental.”

If you don’t happen to agree with that, or you think technical skills matter more, your table would look completely different. That’s what makes this project so exciting – no two periodic tables made up of goaltending elements will ever look the same. They might include many of the same elements, but they will never be arranged the exact same way.

That, in a sense, is chemistry in motion. Every goaltender is different and we all process skills and performances differently. Statistics might represent the end result of a goalie’s performance, but they never reveal the way in which a goalie got to that end result.

What might your own Periodic Table of Goaltending Elements look like? What elements matter more to you than others? What are the most essential elements? What are the most difficult to harvest and control? Which ones are the most rare to find on this planet?

I’ve pondered these type of questions for years, and I’m very proud to say that this infographic is the culmination and visual creation of how I currently perceive a goaltending performance. I hope you all enjoy this project, and please feel free to leave questions and comments below!