Quote:
Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm
Yeah, fair enough but teams going with a tandem in the regular season more often now then pick their goalie come playoff time and ride him. When Chicago won it with Niemi he actually had played less games then Huet and the end of the regular season. When they won it last year with Crawford he had played 30 games to Ray Emery's 21, that's tandem.
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I look at the tandem goaltender the same as the 1A/1B QB situation in in football that if you have two starting QB's that means you don't have a starter. There are for sure exceptions such as Vancouver last year, the Oilers in the 80's with Fuhr and Moog, etc. I think there's a mental aspect and confidence a team develops playing in front of what they consider a top goaltender. Much like how the Flames never seemed to play the same when one of Kipper's backups was in net.
That said depth is important and a contending team needs to have a viable alternative at the position in the case of injury or slump. I still think you need that clear cut #1 guy though.