Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
And for the record you don't think there's a fatigue element in a goaltender playing 70+ games in the regular season two seasons in a row?
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Not especially.
These aren't guys playing with horsehair pads anymore.
Why would a goaltender be more fatigued than a 25+ minute defenseman or a 20+ minute forward?
If it was up to the goalies they'd probably play all 82 games.
As of yet I've yet to see any evidence that goalies play better in platoons.
There is some evidence that goalies do worse when starting the second game of a back to back after playing the first, but this may come down to the team being sloppier as a whole and it showing up more in the goalie's stats.
There is evidence that teams as a whole show poorly on the last in a series of 3 games in 4 nights regardless of goaltending, so fatigue can definitely be a factor.
I'm not sure why it would affect a goalie any more then players though. And I don't think there is any proof that fatigue can have an effect across multiple seasons. These guys do get months off to rest. Even the guys that win the Cup.