CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence

NHL goaltenders may travel a direct – or circuitous route – to the Big Tent.

Cory Schneider’s journey is tending towards the latter.

He has played in 76 AHL games – during the regular season – and 28 during the playoffs. He has only played in 8 NHL games and is 23-years-old.

CORY SCHNEIDER – AHL AND NHL REGULAR SEASON

CORY SCHNEIDER – AHL POST-SEASON

Some players have travelled directly to the NHL.

The 23-year-old Henrik Lundqvist never donned a Hartford Wolf Pack Jersey.

He played in 53 games during his first NHL season – 2005-06 – and his backups were Kevins Weekes – who appeared in 32 games – and Chris Holt who played in one contest.

The previous season, the Rangers had a cast of thousands between the pipes. Mike Dunham played 57 games, Jussi Markkanen 26, and Jason LaBarbera, Jamie McLennan and Steve Valiquette in the remaining 10.

Lundqvist came to the Rangers after leading the Swedish Elite League in Save% and GAA for three years in a row.

Still, some had thought that he would backup Kevin Weekes, while others believed that he would challenge for the starter’s job.

Loundqvist’s 2.24 GAA and .922 Save% guaranteed him the Number One spot.

And, with Lundqvist in goal, the Rangers made the playoffs for the first time since 1996-97.

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Writer’s Note: The following is a spreadsheet of the top 15 – current NHL goalies who have played in at least 250 NHL games. By the top, I mean those with the best Save% and GAA.

I have counted how many games each goalie played in the AHL, former IHL, and ECHL leagues – before steady NHL employment. I have also noted at which ages the European goalies came to North America to play.

Below the spreadsheet, I have written brief profiles on four goalies – besides Lundqvist – who appeared in less than 70 minor league games before playing in the NHL.

courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com

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Twenty-year-old rookie Roberto Luongo played in 24 games for the New York Islanders, and 26 contests in the AHL – his first professional 1999-2000 season.

The Island was in turmoil that campaign – as usual – and Felix Potvin played in 22 games, before being traded for Kevin Weekes who played in 36 games. Steve Valiquette also played in 6 games and Wade Flaherty in 4 that season.

Roberto was traded to Florida the following summer and the 19-year-old Rick DiPietro went on to play in 20 Islanders’ games.

Luongo’s first season in Florida, he shared his goaltending duties with Trevor Kidd, and played in 47 NHL and 3 AHL games.

Martin Brodeur replaced Craig Billington, who had been paired with Chris Terrari. That 1992-93 season, Brodeur played 32 games for the AHL’s Utica Devils.

During his rookie 1993-94 season, Brodeur played in 47 games, versus Terrari’s 44, and Peter Sidorkiewicz’s 3.

New Jersey allowed fewer goals than anyone in the league  that year and Brodeur’s .928 SV% and 1.95 GAA won him the Calder Trophy.

Brodeur played in 17 post-season games – versus Terreri’s 4 – and the Devils lost to the Rangers, who went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Like Brodeur, Chris Osgood was an NHL goalie by the age of 21. Tim Cheveldae and Vincent Riendeau had been Detroit’s goalies the previous 1992-93 season, while Osgood played 45 games for the Adirondack Red Wings.

Osgood played in 41 NHL games during his rookie campaign, Cheveldae in 30, Bob Essensa in 13, and Riendeau and Peter Ing in the remaining 11 (Riendeau was traded for Essensa near the trading deadline that season.).

Osgood had a 2.86 GAA and .895 Save%, and played 6 post-season games when the Red Wings lost to the Sharks.

Still, Detroit brought in Mike Vernon – who played in 30 games to Osgood’s 19 – during the following shortened season. What made it worse for Osgood was his numbers were better than Vernon’s.

But, Scottie Bowman knew that Vernon had already won a Cup with Calgary and Detroit went on to the Stanley Cup finals, losing to Martin Brodeur and the Devils.

REGULAR SEASON – 1994-95

POST-SEASON 1994-95

courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com

Like Lundqvist, Nikolai Khabibulin was another goalie who benefitted from his play in Europe.

During the 1993-1994 seasons, Essensa and later Cheveldae were the main Winnipeg goalies, and Stephane Beauregard and Mike O’Neill played in 13 and 17 games.

The following shortened 1994-95 campaign, the 22-year-old Khabibulin played in 26 games and Cheveldae 30 (While the NHL was out of action, Khabibulin appeared in 23 games for the Springfield Indians.).

During his second NHL season, the Russian played in 53 games versus 30 for Cheveldae, and 9 games for Dominic Roussel, Tom Draper and Scott Langkow.

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It’s apparent – from the chart – that some very good goalies took a while to get to fulltime NHL employment. Ryan Miller played in 172 games and Tomas Vokoun 129.

It’s also apparent that the goalies that arrived there the quickest, entered a situation where a team was looking for a good starting or back up goalie – in previous years, these teams were auditioning a variety of netminders.

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In a perfect world – for Cory Schneider – he would be sharing NHL goaltending duties with a veteran – much as Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo did with Chris Terrari and Trevor Kidd.

That way, he could learn the NHL game, and shooters, while he played – behind a mentor.

But, because Roberto Luongo is an expensive workhorse, his backup will play in a relatively few games and not really learn while on the job.

So, Schneider will have to work on his game in the AHL until another team trades for his services, or he becomes a free agent.

Either way, it will be a circuitous route to the Big Tent.