The NHL is changing. It’s getting younger. More skillful. Less brute force. This has been pretty much the concerted opinion of every hockey analyst, writer and blogger for a couple of years now. Players like Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon keep the highlight reels coming for the NHL to promote this new era of Hockey.
One of the other things changing about the sport is the goaltender situation. Load management is making it’s way to every sport and goaltenders are the first to feel it in the NHL.
Gone are the days of a number one and hopefully an adequate backup who could play limited games. Now it’s pretty much a 1a and a 1b. And if your 1b isn’t up to the job you could find making the playoffs a lot harder than it should be, see Toronto Maple Leafs for example.
The Maple Leafs backup, Michael Hutchinson, had an .886SV% on the year, with a shockingly bad .838SV% in his last five games, when Kyle Dubas pulled the trigger and traded for Jack Campbell from the LA Kings. Campbell has a solid .900SV% on the year, despite playing with a very bad LA Kings team, but will be expected to increase that number on a Maple Leafs team without Freddy Andersen, who remains out day to day with a neck injury.
When it comes to 1a and 1b, the Boston Bruins currently have the holy grail in Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak, with the Dallas Stars’ tandem of Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin not too far behind. Rask certainly seems like the number one in Boston and come playoff time, when games are more spread out, should get the nod, but having two goaltenders running above a .920SV% (as do Dallas) will certainly give Bruce Cassidy options.
Bring Joe Thornton Back To The Bruins
This is the time of year though when goaltenders either rise or fall. It was this time last year Jordan Binnington emerged and helped the St Louis Blues go all the way to a Stanley Cup and teams around the league will be hoping their shot-stopper can ride a hot hand from now until April 4th and possibly even further. To do that, breaks will be essential. Hence why the era of the 1b is now.
