In case it's not become incredibly obvious, I like lists. There is something about my personality that makes me enjoy categorizing things; I also like sorting laundry. This particular list derives from a post I saw on Twitter from the folks at Blue Seat Blogs (www.blueseatblogs.com), who are making a preseason list of the top 30 goalies in the league. While this is all well and good, and I'll probably write a post arguing with their choices, I decided to approach this from a slightly different angle. Specifically, I ask the question that every hockey fan has asked at some point: In case of injury, How Boned Are We?
While I considered ordering this list by which backup goaltender provides the smallest dropoff from the starter, but I scrapped that idea. The Oilers might not be any more boned if Dubnyk gets hurt, but they were probably pretty well boned with him in goal. Instead, it's a straight-up, who-has-the-best-backup list. Starting with last place (and with the starter in parentheses), let's begin:
30. Leiland Irving, Flames. Entirely aside from having a name more befitting a CPA than a professional hockey player, Irving was unimpressive in limited duty, with a 3.19 GAA in 7 starts. Calgary will have to rely on another nearly 70 game season from Kiprusoff in order to have any chance of contending.
29. Kevin Poulin, Islanders. Poulin's not bad, just extremely raw. He's 22 and has started only 13 games in the last two seasons, including only six last season. The Islanders goaltending situation isn't fantastic, but an injury to Nabokov would freeze their rebuilding in its tracks.
28. Steve Mason, Blue Jackets. Oh, how the mediocre have fallen. Mason has gone from being the worst starting goalie in the league to one of its worse backups. Mason has posted progressively worse years every year since his rookie season, and last year's 3.39 GAA and .894 SV% are rock bottom. So far.
27. Ben Scrivens, Maple Leafs. Scrivens, an undrafted rookie, becomes the beneficiary of the Monster's move to Detroit. Scrivens was solid in 11 starts last season, posting a 3.13 GAA and a .903 SV%. He should see a lot more work this year, as James Reimer has never even started 40 games in a season.
26. Jeff Deslauriers, Ducks. On the plus side, Deslauriers posted career highs in GAA and SV% last season. On the minus side, his previous bests were 3.26 and .901, respectively. And this was only in four games. Given the one previous full season we have to work with, I'm not optimistic about his ability to repeat his numbers over any significant timespan.
25. Chris Mason, Predators. The best goaltending Mason in the league, but not by much. Mason has bounced around the league after some successful seasons with the Preds in the mid-2000s, making stops with three different teams in the last three years. The Preds hope he's got some magic left in him, but after two straight years with a SV% below .900, it's gonna take some work.
24. Jason LaBarbara, Coyotes. LaBarbara, who I remember coming up with the Rangers, is pretty much a "what you see is what you get" guy. After starting for a year in LA, he's settled in nicely as a career backup who will give your starter around 15 nights off per season and be entirely serviceable.
23. Al Montoya, Jets. Montoya's got some skill, and showed it off in the early going with the Islanders last season. It would be great if he could ever show it off with a decent defense in front of him. However, even in the event that Pavelec goes down, that will not be this year, as the Jets gave up the fifth most goals in the league last season.
22. Ben Bishop, Senators. This one is based on nothing more than a feeling. Bishop posted decent numbers in the 9 games he started last season, but just having watched him in the AHL all-star game makes me think that he'd be serviceable if given the chance this season, and has the chance to be something special in the future.
21. Peter Budaj, Canadiens. Budaj is an interesting case. In the three seasons where he has started fewer than thirty games, Budaj averaged a 2.68 GAA. In the four seasons where he has started more than thirty, his GAA is 2.83. In other words, the kind of guy who is just fine as a backup, but you get worried if he has to start.
I'm gonna keep going with this, so let me know what you think of the list so far, and how you think the rankings should progress.
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