RECENT ARTICLES
For as long as we can remember, we’ve all heard the saying, you need great goaltending to win in the playoffs.
Last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs is questioning that theory in its entirety.
Many NHL teams are reassessing the contracts offered to their goaltenders, in both length and compensation. All-star goaltender Evgeni Nabakov* was not offered a contract lucrative enough to entice him to stay in the NHL and he headed overseas for the KHL.
Last season’s Stanley Cup Finals featured the goaltending matchup of Chicago Blackhawks’ Antti Niemi versus Philadelphia Flyers’ Michael Leighton. It was unquestionably the worst goaltending performance of recent memory, perhaps off all-time, in the Stanley Cup Finals. Chicago went on to win the Stanley Cup in six games.
In the off-season, Antti Niemi was free agent, and filed for salary arbitration. He was awarded a 1 year, $2.75 million contract which the Blackhawks decided not to opt for. Instead they signed veteran goalie Marty Turco, formerly with the Dallas Stars.
Niemi had to wait to find work in the NHL, until eventually the San Jose Sharks came calling. He is now a part of a tandem with teammate Antero Niittymaki and both are fighting for the top spot.
San Jose, usually a powerhouse in the NHL, currently sits 11th in the conference, and the only major change, other than the retiring of future hall of fame defenceman and captain, Rob Blake, was the goaltending change from Nabokov to Niemi and Niittymaki. Both Niemi and Niittymaki have struggled for most of the year and have yet to develop any form of consistency, other than losing.
Michael Leighton was not offered another contract immediately either. He was retained by Philadelphia who also had goalie Brian Boucher and prospect Sergei Bobrovsky, who was pushing hard to become the Flyers number 1 goalie. Leighton lost the starting job to Bobrovsky, and lost the backup job to Boucher; he has been placed on waivers by the Flyers.
It is absurd to think that these two goalies, Leighton and Niemi, neither of which have a starting job in the NHL, competed for the Stanley Cup last season.
There are a number of goaltenders in the NHL making top dollars and are locked in for years. Vancouver Canucks’ Roberto Luongo, and New York Islanders’ Rick DiPietro, come to mind for the longest and highest paid contracts in the NHL, and likely, will finish their careers for their respective teams unless traded. Luongo is enjoying a great season with the first place Canucks after a slow start. He is also facing competition from the up and coming rookie Cory Schneider, who has better numbers than Luongo so far this season, at a fraction of the price. DiPietro however, has not had a successful season since signing this contract and has faced severe injuries which have kept him from playing consistently.
Other goalies in the NHL, like Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils and Jean-Sebastian Giguere, are making ridiculous amounts of money and have less than stellar numbers so far this season. They are not locked in for as long as the aforementioned Luongo and DiPietro, but still make enough
money that it is difficult for teams to move the goalies when they are unsuccessful.
A lot of goalies are proving to be steals so far this season, such as Craig Anderson of the Colorado Avalanche, Ondrej Pavelec of the Atlanta Thrashers, Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens, Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings and many others equally impressive to note.
With all this in mind, could we be seeing a new trend in the NHL beginning to form? After all, it was proven last year that you don’t need great goaltending to win; sure, it helps. But would it be wiser to invest the potential $5 million plus that you save on a goaltender’s salary in another scorer, or added depth players so that if injuries strike, you don’t have to go fishing down to the minors to ice a roster?
*Evgeni Nabokov signed by Detroit, placed on waivers and claimed by the Islanders
Have your say on the topic, and whether or not you believe it is necessary to sign goaltenders to these monstrous deals that are becoming a bit too familiar in the NHL.
Jordon Judge
HockeyGods
1 COMMENT
Trend is the wrong word Many of the high power goalies with large salaries made their names in the pre lockout era when goal tending could carry a team to the cup. New Jersey is the best example of this A team that in pre lockout era dominated defensively with what I consider the greatest goalie ever in Marty. They win the cup in 03 then are targeted in many of the rule changes post lockout and have been in relative decline since. The modern (post lockout) NHL keeps goalies from carrying teams by eliminating many of the delaying tactics that became the goalies and defencemens best friend smaller pads also mean goltenders must be faster ie (younger) to compete.