BATTLE BETWEEN THE PIPES
Sep 23, 2015By Joe O’Donnell – Follow @wildjoeradio
Go through each of the major sports and you’ll find one position that’s absolutely vital to a team’s success.
In football, you’ve got the quarterback. In baseball, it’s all about starting pitching. On the hardwood, you need an athletic point guard.
On the ice, it’s all about goaltending.
Sure, puck-moving defensemen and depth at the center ice position are huge. Splendid special teams and great coaching also play a big role. But, most teams go as far as their goaltending allows.
Look no further than the success the 2014-2015 Minnesota Wild enjoyed after Devan Dubnyk arrived in the Twin Cities, as the 6’6” Saskatchewan native went 27-9-2 with the Wild, almost single-handily lifting them into the playoffs. At one point, he made 39 straight starts for Minnesota. His goals against was sub-2.00 in a Wild sweater, and his save percentage was a gaudy 93.6%.
On the flip side, the Iowa Wild haven’t received great goaltending in their two seasons in Des Moines. Youngster Johan Gustafsson was too inconsistent, and headed back to his native Sweden after last season. Veteran John Curry posted decent numbers in his two seasons with the club, but they weren’t the eye-popping statistics that were really needed to help the Wild win more games. Now in fairness to both Gustaffson and Curry, the Wild weren’t always good enough defensively to make life easier on their netminders, especially last season.
However, the fact remains that playoff hockey teams typically get superb play from their goaltenders throughout the year. Stop the ones you should, and mix in a couple of clutch saves every night, and you’ve got the makings of a true, number one goaltender. The type of goalie that breathes confidence into his team because they know he’s there to bail them out when a puck is turned over, or a coverage assignment is missed. The type of goalie that stands in the crease and battles for his team. The type of goalie that does his part to end a losing skid, or carry the team to a streak of wins, thus helping the club jump up in the standings.
The Minnesota Wild began training camp last week with Dubnyk locked in as their number one goaltender, having signed him to a franchise-goaltender-type contract this summer. Backing him up is Darcy Kuemper. Had things gone differently (and quite frankly, more according to plan) the last two seasons, Kuemper most likely would have continued his development as a rising, NHL star, in Iowa. However, injuries and other circumstances in Minnesota meant Kuemper was part of the Wild’s NHL plans sooner than anticipated. Thus the need for Curry to join the ranks in Iowa, where he was paired up with Gustafsson, and occasionally called up to Minnesota when needed.
Also in the mix is veteran goaltender Niklas Backstrom, who appears healthy and ready to contribute. Backstrom pitched a shutout in Winnipeg in his 2015 preseason debut, after appearing in just 19 games last season.
But I digress from the big club’s masked men…now back to the Iowa Wild’s goaltending situation.
Right now, one might say the Iowa Wild are “unsettled” at this crucial position. “Unsettled” because there’s a competition taking place as we speak, one that may determine who plays 50 (or more) games in net this season.
With the recent tryout signings of veteran goaltenders Leland Irving (signed September 14th) and Kevin LaLande (signed September 16th), there are now four goaltenders essentially battling for two spots in Iowa.
Will it be one, or both, of the veterans that eventually earn a full-time contract? Will it be neither? Will rookies Brody Hoffman or Stephen Michalek impress enough to garner a spot on Iowa’s Opening Night roster?
All of this will continue play out over the next few days in Minnesota, and then beginning this Saturday in Iowa, which is the first day of practice at Wells Fargo Arena.
Depending on the short-term (and long-term, for that matter) status of Backstrom, it’s conceivable that Irving or LaLande could win that “number three” job on the depth chart in Minnesota. Every NHL team essentially has this spot - you know, the goaltender that’s the main backstop in the AHL, but always the first one to get the call when an emergency strikes at the game’s highest level.
I asked Minnesota Wild Assistant GM Brent Flahr on the first day of training camp about the signings of Irving, 27, and Lalande, 28, and if it was fair to say they were brought to camp partly to compete for Minnesota’s number three goaltender.
“Yeah, exactly, that’s what they’re here to compete for, as well as Hoffman and Michalek. Those [Hoffman and Michalek] are two, first-year pros so we may have to be a little patient, but at the same time, it’s up to them to show what they can do and show if they’re ready or not,” Flahr said.
The jury is out, and might be for a while, on Hoffman and Michalek. Each is fresh out of the NCAA ranks – Hoffman, 24, went 13-6-2 at the University of Vermont last season, while Michalek, 22, played in 79 games over three seasons at Harvard. Last season, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins rode rookie goaltender Matt Murray (25-10-3 in the regular season; AHL Rookie Of The Year honors) to the Calder Cup Playoffs, so it’s not unheard of for a rookie goaltender to have success in the AHL.
But having two rookies as your goaltending duo is a bit risky, hence the signings of Irving and Lalande.
Irving has appeared in 13 career NHL games, all with the Calgary Flames. In addition, he’s posted 20 or more wins at the AHL level three times in five seasons.
“Well, first of all, he’s a former high pick with the Calgary Flames,” Flahr said of Irving, a first round pick back in 2006. “He’s had experience playing in North America – a little bit in the NHL and the American Hockey League - and he’s been over in Europe the last couple years, so I felt it was a no-brainer to bring him into camp on a tryout. He’s highly interested in playing back in North America, as is [Kevin] Lalande. For us, it’s a no-brainer. It gives us a little competition in camp.”
And on Lalande, who has played pro hockey since the 2007-2008 campaign, Flahr commented:
“Kevin had a very good year for CSKA [Moscow] in the KHL last year. He’s a veteran guy, he’s been around, he’s played in the American League as well and he’s had a lot of success over in Europe the last few years. He’s interested in playing back in North America and we brought him in to take a look at him and he’s obviously in competition for the starting job in Iowa.”
Lalande, who ironically enough was also drafted by the Flames, has played for two AHL franchises, winning a total of 40 games at the AHL level. But he hasn’t played in the AHL since 2010, as he suited up in Russia the last five seasons.
The other part of this equation that’s worth noting is that Frederic Chabot is the new Wild Goaltending Development Coach. Chabot will work closely with Goaltending Coach Bob Mason, who’s been with the Minnesota Wild for an eternity. Earlier this month Chabot was in Traverse City, Michigan, at the NHL Prospects Tournament, watching Hoffman and Michalek. And now he’s at Xcel Energy Center working with all of the goaltenders in camp. In less than a week’s time, he’ll be making the trek to Des Moines to continue working with not only Hoffman and Michalek, but whichever of the veteran netminders find themselves in Iowa.
I spoke with Chabot as training camp opened, the former Edmonton Oilers Goaltending Coach, who played with Minnesota Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo in Houston on the 1999 Turner Cup Championship team. For the man they call “Freddie” there’s a lot of new faces to learn at his new place of employment.
“Well, all those guys are new to me, so I’m getting to know Brody [Hoffman] and [Stephen] Michalek and its fun to watch them,” Chabot said. “They’re young guys…skill, size, willing to learn too, so it’s going to be fun to work with them and help them become pros.”
“Also there’s a battle for the number three guy with [Kevin] Lalande and [Leland] Irving,” he added. [Since it’s early in camp] you don’t want to make a call right away… both brought some athleticism and both are good skaters, so tomorrow should be even more interesting.”
It’s still September, and there’s plenty of work to be done by all of the players and coaches, but despite what the calendar says, it’s actually a pretty pivotal time for the entire organization from a goaltending perspective. There’s a competition unfolding, and there’s a good chance that whoever comes out on top will be tasked with stopping pucks on October 10th at Wells Fargo Arena…