Varly has only been a great #1 in 13-14, which is looking more and more like an anomaly rather than how good he really is. Nobody is asking Varly to stand on his head... people are asking for a .910-.915 sv percentage, and he'd be getting next to no flack. There are worse defenses out there, and Varly is bottom of the pack right now. We should be past excuses for him at this point.
By the way, all you have to do is go back and watch the goals he’s given up in the last four games, to see why any complaints are without merit. Not one of them is even close to a bad goal. They are perfect shots, wide open men, breakaways, bad turnovers, unlucky bounces, deflections, and perfect screens. All of them.
These are the kinds of goals bad teams give up. Unless your goaltender is standing on his head every night, he’s going to let in these goals, and his numbers are going to suffer unless he’s facing 40+ shots every night to make up for it.
If his team gives up 3 goals like most bad teams will do more often than not, then he’s got to face 36 shots to get a .915 percentage. This is higher than the average shots against for any team in the league.
If he instead faces 30 shots, which is still a lot, then he only finishes with a .900 save percentage.
If they give up 4 goals in a game like they have been, then he’s got to face 48 shots just to get a .915%. This is if you take save percentage as gospel in terms of judging all goaltenders on both good and bad teams.
Case in point why just looking at save percentage to tell the story is a bad idea, he’s got a .871, .912, and a .889 the last three losses, despite giving up goals that he’d have to stand on his head to save.
On top of all that, people are basing their opinion of his performance, off his numbers in a 18 game sample size.
Case in point why this is a bad idea, if you take out that disaster Vegas game where they lost 7-0, he goes from a 3.14 GAA and .905 save percentage on the season, to a 2.91 GAA and .914 save percentage.
Exactly what you’re asking his season save percentage to be. Just based on one game.