There are only a few NHL goalies that wear the catching glove on the right hand. Mathieu Garon, Jose Theodore and Josh Harding always look a little weird in net, but do they have any real advantage, or is it just a coincidence that Garon and Theodore are playing so well in November?
So you’ve decided to focus this week on obtaining goalies that play consistently and actually produce. Well, there are some remarkable stories that are evolving this month, including the explosive number of “unproven” goaltenders like Ondrej Pavelec, Carey Price and Jason LaBarbera playing a surprising number of minutes.
But other stories are freaking us out, including goalies that haven’t been as successful as we were led to believe, such as Marc-Andre Fleury, Miikka Kiprusoff and Vesa Toskala. But if there’s one story that’s capturing my attention more than any other, it has to be Jose Theodore’s recent revival and the current rotation situation in Colorado.
In the blink of an eye, the NHL season is more than one month old and you might have dropped and signed more goalies than you did all of last year. Just take a look at the goaltending situation for each team and there are many “starters” giving way to their “backups”. Whether it’s due to their team severely lacking in the scoring department, nagging injuries or their own troubles between the pipes, this season is quickly turning into the backup goalie revolution.
So you’ve been told not to panic (probably by me) about some big-name goaltenders that started off the season in a funk. But now it’s almost a month into the season and a handful of the elite goalies are making even the most confident fantasy hockey managers start to squirm.
I’m often dead wrong on predictions, but that’s okay because I love when goalies silence their critics and prove to everyone what horrible analysts they really are. Well, before the season started I severely downgraded Manny Legace and Pascal Leclaire due to the tragic meniscus injuries they suffered last season. Two weeks into the season and so much for THAT lousy line of reasoning.
Every goaltender faces different struggles throughout their career, such as unfair criticism from the media, bad goals and disgruntled fans. But one thing that separates a good goalie from a great one is handling all of the finger-pointing and controversy by turning it into success when failure is expected.
Some play through long stretches in their career without having to handle these pressures, while others face it on a daily basis. Some let it affect their game and others fend it off and survive to see another day.
The first week of the season was full of competitive games and some really wild results. The Blackhawks coming back to defeat the Red Wings in a shootout, Columbus shutting out Anaheim and Washington doing the same to Carolina were just three of many impressive games that transpired in the last five days.
And while some team managers are reaping the rewards of having goalies like Chris Mason, Martin Gerber and Pascal Leclaire in their lineup, others are left feeling like a homicidal maniac perched high atop a bell tower with a trembling and itchy trigger finger, just waiting to drop or trade some of their top two goalies.
There’s something primitive and personal that lives, nay, grows inside every single fantasy hockey manager. For as each day of the National Hockey League season turns into night, we slowly morph into a primal animal and become consumed by personal superstitions that wreak havoc on our hockey souls. This creature – this animal – is known as the freedom of choice.
Ryan Miller is facing quite a arduous situation this year. His Sabres have been severely downgraded from “Stanley Cup favorite” to “playoff hopeful” due to the loss of Chris Drury and Daniel Briere. In fact, no other starting goaltender will have to deal with nearly this type of tumultuous roster turnover. So why is Miller so darn excited for the season to start?
Training Camp is here and there’s plenty for National Hockey League goaltenders to prove this season. In fact, all 30 teams have some type of question mark surrounding their tandems - and in some cases - trios. Think about the Western Conference alone and conglomerates of Q’s quickly arise; Can Dominik Hasek stay as healthy as he did last season? Will David Aebischer and Alex Auld join forces to help save Phoenix? Does Peter Budaj have the poise to play 70 games?
(School of Block is subbing in for the Wild West this week)
