Ryan Miller’s 500th NHL Game

With Ryan Miller nearing his 500th NHL game, here is a chart of all other NHL goaltenders who have played at least 500 NHL games:

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• Miller will become the 62^nd goaltender in NHL history to play 500 games. The last was Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (April 5 at PIT). The last before Lundqvist was former Sabres goaltender Martin Biron, who also appeared in his 500^th NHL game as a member of the Rangers in a road game against the Penguins, exactly one year prior to Lundqvist’s milestone (April 5, 2012 at PIT).

• When added to the list of 61 goaltenders who have reached the 500 GP mark, Miller currently ranks fifth with a .915 career save percentage. Dominik Hasek (.922, 1^st) is the only retired goaltender to rank in the top 10 in save percentage among this group. Miller ranks 14^th among the group with a 2.59 goals against average. Hasek (2.20 GAA) also leads all of these goaltenders in that category.

• Miller, who has spent his entire career with the Sabres, will become the 20^th goaltender in NHL history to play at least 500 games with one team and the 12^th to play his first 500 with the same team.

• Of the 19 goaltenders with 500 NHL games played with the same team, 12 played in the NHL Entry Draft era. Of these 12, half were drafted in the fifth round or later: Billy Smith, Miika Kiprusoff, Evgeni Nabokov, Kirk McLean, Henrik Lundqvist and Marty Turco. Only two (Martin Brodeur and Olaf Kolzig) were selected in the first round.

• Despite being ranked 62^nd on the all-time games played list, Miller ranks 40^th in wins (268). His record ranks him second among these goaltenders in win percentage (.549), seventh in points percentage (.607)  and 19^th in adjusted points percentage (.564), a measure in which all ties, overtime losses, and shootout wins/losses are counted as regulation ties to better compare goaltenders from different eras.