Doug Maclean made a fairly astute observation on Hockey Central (Rogers Sportsnet) the other night, noting a few of the NHL’s top contending teams lack a proven starting goalie. Not exactly earth shattering, but its a good point none the less. I’m sure many already thought of this days into the NHL season (or even before), but it sets a good foundation for goaltending speculation.
J.S. Giguere could be a potential solution for these Stanley Cup contenders... and he's classy.
Many consider the Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Red Wings, Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks a threat to win the Stanley Cup this year. However, the likes of Ray Emery, Chris Osgood, Jose Theordore and Cristobal Huet don’t exactly fill one’s mind with confidence. Huet hasn’t even experienced playoffs beyond the Conference Finals. Emery and Osgood are large question marks for their teams, as well, despite successful playoff track records. For Washington, I don’t even know who their starting goalie is right now.
It’s funny that these teams have emphasized winning the Stanley Cup this season but have seemingly placed no emphasis on goaltending. Look no further than Monday night when the Chicago Blackhawks allowed 5 goals against in less than half a game against the Calgary Flames. Or the fact that Ray Emery and the Philadelphia Flyers had two games last week that allowed 5 or more goals against. Or that everyone around the hockey world would choose Semyon Varlamov and his 5.11 goals against average over Jose Theodore for the Washington Capitals. These are big risks to take for Make or Break seasons.
Top flight goaltenders don’t grow on trees and are even harder to trade for mid season. And I’ve just spent the last three paragraphs making it painfully clear how badly the Flyers, Red Wings, Capitals and Blackhawks need reliable and proven goaltending. But, I have a potential solution.
J.S. Giguere of the Anaheim Ducks. Clearly Jonas Hiller is the future of the Ducks and is entering his final season under contract. Giguere has one more season after this year under contract with the Ducks. I’m not suggesting Giguere is or isn’t available, nor am I in the know if something is brewing, but if you are looking for a proven playoff goaltender, Giggy might be your guy.
I have no idea what the asking price would be for a Conne-Smythe winner and a Stanley Cup Champion. Probably steap, but these teams do have the depth to meet the asking price, if winning at all costs is the priority. Clearing cap space might be another issue, but since I’m not an NHL GM, that’s not my problem to worry about. For the record, J.S. Giguere makes $6 Million this season and next.
Whether the Flyers, Red Wings, Capitals or Blackhawks admit it, goaltending is an issue that needs to be addressed at some point this season. And as far as I can tell, Giguere is by far the best and most move-able goalie in the NHL right now.
Stay classy, J.S. Giguere and teams desperately needing goaltending.
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I really wouldn’t throw Philadelphia into this mix. Emery is clearly their guy this year. He’s not going to steal any games for them (although he has, twice), but he’s not going to lose them either. And that’s what matters most.
Detroit is a classic example of a team that has the ability to win Championship games, as long as their goalie stops what he’s meant to stop. There’s only a few goalies in this league that stop what they have no business stopping, and even that hasn’t led to championships (ahem, Roberto Luongo).
It’s a run and gun league now, and goaltending, while important, doesn’t play the same role that it once did in the late 90s. If you look at the last 5 Championship teams, none of them can definitively say that their goaltending is what won it for them.
PIT- stellar offence
DET- great all around team
ANA- kicked our asses
CAR- Cam who? I’m sorry, but that was just a good team that met a far worse team
T.B.- do you really think the Boulin Wall is why they won?
But run and gun only gets you so far. Conference Semi-Finals (or Finals) isn’t good enough – Washington, Chicago.
As far as the last 5 Cup champs… some rebuttals
- Pittsburgh – Fleury had series changing saves in each playoff series last year. Remember the Flyers save he made, or the last second save on Lidstrom you felt so compelled to call me about? (note to the readers: Tambland did scream like a school girl on that one)
- Detroit – Very true, but I recall Osgoode came into a bad situation after Hasek dropped the first two games to Nashville.
- Anaheim – Strong team with one of the best checking lines in recent memory. Giguere could easily been the Conne-Smythe winner in that run and no one would of complained (Neidermayer wasn’t heads and shoulders above everyone else)
You can’t tell me Khabibulan and Ward didn’t play huge roles in their Cup wins either. Ward even won the Conne-Smythe that year!
Ward was the last guy on that list who won a Conn Smyth.
All I’m saying is that in the “slightly aged, but still kind of new NHL”, all you need is a goalie that isn’t going to let more than 3 goals in. If you can’t put the puck in more than that, it’s your own fault.
Goaltending doesn’t win championships anymore. The teams around them do. So, and like I said in my first post, take Philadelphia off this list, and we can go back to being friends again!
Respond to my comments Burgundy!
As of now, Jose has been pretty good. Only people who don’t really pay attention to the Caps would choose Varly over him at this point in the season. (Then again, there was one Caps “fan” on Twitter who is a complete dumbass and was calling for Varly after LAST game; a game where Theo played fantastically.)
I would say that our goaltending situation was a bit iffy in the beginning of the season, but whether Bruce actually says it or not, Theo is currently our guy. He has said that Varlamov needs to be mentally more prepared to play, and Theo had started that past few games (Bruce had said maybe 60 games into the season he’d choose who’d be consistently starting, but for now, we’ve figured it out). Farther into the season, what you’re saying may be more true if Theo returns to his inconsistency. But for the time being, he’s been pretty stellar the past few games, and the team let him down with stupid penalties. Our last four games all resulted in one goal losses due to blowing a third period lead. I think it was against the NYR and DET where we were up, someone took an unnecessary penalty late in the game, and the opposition scored on the PP.
As for Giggy, the Caps probably wouldn’t be able to afford him. We’re up to the cap ceiling now. Backstrom and Semin are in contract years, and GMGM wants both of them signed to keep the young guns together. We’ll have quite a few free agents, but some of them will probably be signed to new contracts. Depending on what goes on with Theodore, McPhee probably wouldn’t go for Giguere.
Giguere has a no-trade clause in his contract and isn’t likely to waive it, given that his son has a deformed eye and Giguere lives nearby one of the best eye doctors in the world.
I actually think that Jonas Hiller is more tradeable right now. With his smaller contract, he’s definitely more affordable, and that’s what teams like Philadelphia, Washington and Chicago would be looking for, rather than Giguere’s $6 Million contract per season.
I think Chris Osgood gets a bad wrap because of his constant brain farts during the regular season but in the playoffs the last two years, he put up a .930 and .926 save %. That’s money.
The Capitals I don’t really see as being in need of goaltending, at least not when it comes to someone like Giguere who’s very much like Theodore at this point of his career. (Plus the Capitals have two young guys in Neuvirth and Varlamov who are the future). The Caps defensive problem has much more to do with their style of play (and personnel) up front rather than the goalies, in my opinion anyway.
But I agree with you Giguere would be a good insurance policy for the Hawks and Flyers. But if it is a trade deadline deal (which it would have to be to make it fit cap wise), then I don’t see why the Ducks would let him go instead of keeping him around as an insurance policy as well.