Are more
goalies coming out of the woodwork this NHL season to grab headlines? It
seems so, if only because of the large number of injuries that have hit
some key players at the position so
far.
While former Vezina Trophy winners,
for the most part, are struggling through some awful records and subpar
play (as
documented here a few weeks ago), the mercurial
position of goalie has a number of surprises as of
late.
Here's a look at a
few:
With
former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Quick out four to six weeks
with what is reportedly a strained groin muscle, the Kings have been
forced to rely on a relative unknown in Scrivens, who went 7-9 with a
2.69 goals-against average last season with Toronto. Go figure that
former assistant general manager Ron Hextall, a former top NHL goalie
himself, was still on the staff at the time the Kings acquired Scrivens.
Hextall has since moved on to Philadelphia, where he starred as a
player, in a somewhat similar role. Scrivens has earned three of his
five victories this season by shutout -- the kind of performance that
would make the legendary George Hainsworth himself envious. Scrivens'
1.35 goals allowed average is best in the NHL, as is his .949 save
percentage. He had a scoreless streak of 191 minutes 19 seconds ended on
Tuesday in a 5-2 win at Tampa Bay, falling about 11 minutes short of
Quick's franchise record.
The 2013 Masterton
Trophy winner for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey,
Harding is one of the league's feel-good stories. Diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis prior to last season, he had mostly served as a
back-up in 122 career games. Until this season, the 29-year-old had
never played a majority of his team's games, with a career-high of 34 in
2011-12. Last season, he played a grand total of 185 minutes, about
three games. But with No. 1 Niklas Backstrom out since the second game
of the season, Harding has played 18 games, posting the No. 2 GAA in the
league (1.38). He also is tied for third in wins (12) and ranks fifth
in save percentage (.941).
It seems every season
the Ducks manage to produce another breakout goalie. Last season it was
Viktor Fasth. This season it's the Swedish rookie who is fourth in GAA
(1.66) and third in save percentage (.943). It's gotten to the point
where Jonas Hiller, the Ducks' breakout goalie of five years ago,
appears to be on the trading
block.
The
Alabama-Huntsville product continues to outplay the great Henrik
Lundqvist. Talbot is 4-1 with a 1.58 GAA and .943 save percentage to The
King's 6-9 mark, 2.38 GAA and .918 save
percentage.
This
one might be slightly premature, but what the heck. The rookie has
started the Predators' last four games (including three in four days
during which he is 2-1), and appears to be providing stability in goal
in a season that looked as if it were about to go off the rails with No.
1 Pekka Rinne out indefinitely with a hip infection. On Saturday,
Mazanec, starting for the second time in two days, defeated defending
Stanley Cup champion Chicago 7-2 and then posted his first career
shutout 2-0 at Detroit on Tuesday. He has stopped 63 of the last 65
shots he's faced (.969 save
percentage).
There is speculation Sabres interim coach Ted
Nolan, who coaches the Sabres in 1995-96 and '96-97, will be a fixture
with the team even if he's not given the job outright. (Gary
Wiepert/Associated
Press)
The other
shoe finally dropped last week in Buffalo, as owner Terry Pegula cleaned
house with a team that has owned the league's worst record since the
day the season began, firing GM Darcy Regier and coach Ron
Rolston.
Former Sabre Pat LaFontaine was
installed as president of hockey operations and Ted Nolan, the coach
under whom LaFontaine played in the late '90s, was named interim coach.
The Sabres appear to be following a structure that is gaining some
currency in the league, with a prominent former player serving as
president and a younger, business- and personnel-savvy general manager
taking over scouting, drafting and contractual
duties.
In Boston, Cam Neely serves as
president over Peter Chiarelli, 49, and the same is true in Columbus
where John Davidson hired Jarmo Kekalainen, 47, as GM last season
(Davidson did something similar in St. Louis, where, as team president,
he hired former Dallas GM Doug Armstrong). It's also worth noting that
in Calgary Brian Burke was brought in over GM Jay Feaster earlier this
season.
While some have kicked around the
name of Rick Dudley, 64, with his decades of Buffalo ties as a possible
Sabres GM, one former teammate of LaFontaine's thinks the Sabres will go
young -- as Pittsburgh did with Ray Shero, 51, a few years back and
Chicago did with Stan Bowman, 40.
Former
long-time NHL defenseman Garry Galley, a commentator with Hockey Night
in Canada, said he thought the Sabres will hire "a good young GM that
can build and grow with a young team." Galley recommended one of his
former teammates with the Boston Bruins, Don Sweeney. Like Chiarelli,
Sweeney, 47, is Harvard-educated. Sweeney is one of two assistant
general managers in Boston and, reportedly, Buffalo already has asked
for and received permission to interview the other, Jim
Benning.
"He's sitting right there with a
Cup in the pocket and he worked alongside Cam and all those guys,"
Galley said of Sweeney.
Even though Nolan
has the title of interim coach, Galley, who said he has no inside
knowledge, thinks he will remain as a fixture in Buffalo -- even if he
doesn't remain the coach. Galley suggested that Nolan could get bumped
up to the front office if he wants. In terms of a head coach, Galley
suggested another name with a long history in Buffalo, Nashville
assistant Phil Housley, who is in his first season in the NHL as a coach
(The Predators organization tends to feed others in terms of coaching
and management, as Carolina hired Kirk Muller to be its coach away from
the Preds' top minor-league team and Pittsburgh hired Shero to be its
GM).
Galley said during his three years in
Buffalo, LaFontaine did not play much, owing to the concussion issues
that ultimately ended his career prematurely, but he was still very much
a leadership presence.
"Patty is a very
intellectually sharp guy," Galley said. "He has the drive and fortitude
to keep pushing through things. He's a positive guy. I think everything
is starting from scratch there… Pat will be there for the long
haul."
In all likelihood, he will need to
be, as the Sabres job appears to be a long-term
project.
The Blues own
the league's best points percentage at 1.55 per
game.
The Central
Division is ridiculously strong right now. The Blackhawks are tied for
the league's most points.
Corey Perry and Ryan
Getzlaf each are tied for fourth in the league in
scoring.
Tied with
Pacific Division rival Phoenix in points and games played, but its
plus-22 goal differential is
stronger.
Shane Doan has 10 of the Coyotes' 69 goals,
which ranks fourth in the NHL. (Jerome Miron-USA TODAY
Sports)
The Coyotes
rank fourth in NHL in goals-for -- this isn't your defense-first Western
Conference finalists of '12.
A 7-0 loss
at Edmonton on Tuesday is the kind that could cost Blue Jackets coach
Todd Richards his job.
The Panthers
could be climbing their way out of the bottom five: They've won three
of four under interim coach Peter
Horachek.
Was Dallas
goalie Kari Lehtonen, who played under Flames coach Bob Hartley in
Atlanta, showing up his old coach by sitting on the net during play in a
7-3 blowout last week over the
Flames?
Goalie Ilya
Bryzgalov arrived Sunday in Edmonton. Can he save the
Oilers?
The Sabres
lost two out of three after firing coach Ron
Rolston.
Over the last few years
this has become one of the league's top postseason rivalries. Adding a
dash of new Canucks coach John Tortorella and his feistiness ought to
spice it up plenty. Chicago is on fire of late, tying for the most
points in the league, while the transition in Vancouver has not exactly
been smooth, with the Canucks sitting in fifth in the powerful Pacific
Division (but still only six points out of first). Chicago began a
seven-game road trip on Tuesday with a 5-1 loss at Colorado and this
represents the third game on a grueling trip. Still, the 'Hawks would
probably like nothing better than to push the Canucks a little farther
back in the standings.
The Stars' Jamie Benn (left) and Tyler Seguin
are tied for eighth in the league with 23 points each. (Ron
Chenoy-USA TODAY
Sports)
Benn had one goal and
five assists and went plus-3 with four hits in only 15:14 (23 shifts),
while Seguin scored four goals and added an assist to finish plus-3 in
14:39 (21 shifts) in a 7-3 win over Calgary last Thursday. In essence,
Benn earned a point once every four shifts while Seguin earned one once
every five. Entering Wednesday, each was tied for eighth in the league
in scoring with 23 points. While Seguin had his image tarnished in the
playoffs last year for reportedly partying too much with Boston, which
led to his getting sent out of town, this is what Bruins fans feared:
The 21-year-old, drafted second overall in 2010, would mature and become
an elite scorer. In Dallas, he is starting to look as if he is on his
way.
The 38-year-old former
Hart Trophy winner had a goal and two assists with two penalty minutes
and won 50 percent of his faceoffs in 17:53 in a 5-1 win over
league-leading Anaheim last Thursday. With Steven Stamkos (broken leg)
out for several months, someone will need to carry the Lightning
offensively. It appears the ageless St. Louis is ready to carry the
mantle.
The 31-year-old went
minus-3 with three hits and two blocked shots in 24:41 of ice time in a
5-4 shootout loss to Chicago last Thursday and was part of a Coyotes
defense that allowed 52 shots to the Blackhawks. In Columbus, Klesla
once averaged 23:13 over an entire season but over the last few years
his ice time has dwindled from 19:22 with the Coyotes in 2011-12 when
they went to the Western Conference Finals to 17:38 last season. He sits
at a career-low this season of 15:56, which also ranks lowest among the
team's defensemen. Klesla was forced to play extra minutes last
Thursday as No. 3 defenseman Zbynek Michalek went down early in that
game with an injury and No. 4 defenseman Derek Morris already was
out.
Bringing back Kris Versteeg via a trade with
the Panthers is key in the Blackhawks' efforts to retool their third
line. (Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY
Sports)
One of the
Chicago Blackhawks' secrets in winning the Stanley Cup twice in the last
four seasons has been having the best third line in the NHL -- and
being able to fit it in under the NHL's salary
cap.
Yes, great first- and second-line
players like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa and Patrick
Sharp are a prerequisite but in the Cup Final, great players tend to
cancel each other out. A dominant third line -- with players who would
be first-line players on lesser teams -- can prove
decisive.
Forced to continuously retool
because of salary cap issues, the Blackhawks took another step in that
direction on Nov. 15 with the acquisition of Kris Versteeg, a member of
their '10 Cup team whom the Blackhawks could no longer afford following
that year's title.
Thanks to a new
provision in the collective bargaining agreement that was concluded
earlier this year, teams trading a player can agree to continue to pay
part of his salary. That is how Versteeg went from a team with the NHL's
lowest-payroll, Florida, to one tied for the highest. (The Web site
CapGeek.com actually says the Blackhawks have $0 in cap
room.)
The 'Hawks were able to fit in
Versteeg and his cap hit of $4.4 million because each team is splitting
$2.2 million of it. The Panthers, meanwhile, are carrying nearly $4
million in dead salary, owing to buyouts and retained
salary.
"Well, I think we're fortunate that
that had to be one of the stipulations," Blackhawks coach Joel
Quenneville said. "Otherwise, there's no deal there. It worked out that
that was part of it. From the organization, I think he can really help
our team."
Versteeg, 27, a four-time
20-goal scorer, has been hard hit by injuries the last few years. He had
a hip injury in May 2012 and tore his ACL last March. This is his third
trade since 2010.
He bristled at the
notion proffered by Panthers general manager Dale Tallon, whose team has
grossly underperformed, that the pressure of Versteeg's contract
burdened the player.
"When I was 'The Guy'
there we made the playoffs and we lost to New Jersey in the seventh
game," Versteeg said of the first round of the '12 playoffs, in which
the Devils went on to win the Eastern Conference, "so I don't know what
he's talking about. The last two seasons I've been injured. This year,
coming back from a knee injury, I wasn't given any opportunity there at
all."
Nonetheless, in Chicago he will not
be relied upon to be "The Guy" -- and that is part of the great success
of the team, which only has two regulation losses in the last 25 days,
tying them for the best overall record in the league going into
Wednesday. Others purged in the wake of the '10 Cup title were Andrew
Ladd, now the captain in Winnipeg who has scored at nearly a 30-goal
clip over each of the past three seasons; Viktor Stalberg, a former
22-goal scorer as a third-liner in Chicago, who is now earning $3
million a year in Nashville; and Dave Bolland, with 19 goals two years
ago for Chicago and a member of both Cup teams, who is earning $3.375
million in Toronto.
"Obviously, coming to a
team like Chicago, with the talent and depth they have, you're not
fully relied upon on any given night," Versteeg said. "I'm used to it.
I've played on teams like that before. Accept what you're given and play
the best of your ability with whatever minutes it is and whatever time
on the ice you have. These players on this team will make you a better
player for sure."
Versteeg said with his
contract, he never imagined he would end up returning to
Chicago.
"I thought there was no chance I'd
ever come to a team with no cap room," he said. General manager Stan
Bowman, who is attempting to engineer the first repeat champions since
his father Scotty coached Detroit to them in 1997 and '98, "obviously
worked magic and made it happen."
And that
magic is critical.
"Yeah, he's been doing
it for obviously -- having to dismantle a team in 2010 and put one right
back together and win a Cup three years later is very impressive,"
Versteeg said of Bowman. "They've been doing a lot of great things here
and I'm just excited to come back and be a part of it."
