Quote:
Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce
A backup should do this?
I'd guess is not the case for at least 75% of NHL teams.
Most are screwed if the starter goes down. We can hope Rittich stays healthy, and continues his great play.
We can also hope hat Smith will win more than he loses the rest of the way, and maybe gets 30% of remaining starts. So maybe 15 starts where the Flames get 18-20 points would be fantastic the rest of the way.
I don't think this is unrealistic?
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Considering critical stats, like GAA, SA% and W/L records, here is a list of goalies that started the season as a back-up (or 3rd stringer) and performed at at least the same pace or better than the incumbent for at least 10 games:
Hill (Arizona)
Halak (Boston)
Rittich
McElhinney (Carolina)
Grubauer (Colorado)
Columbus (Korpisalo)
Koskinen (Edmonton)
Reimer (Florida)
Jack Campbell (LA)
Cal Peterson (LA)
Alex Stalock (Minnesota)
Juuse Saros (Nashville)
Kinkaid (NJ)
Lehner (Islanders)
DeSmith (Pitts)
Dell (SJ)
Domingue (Tampa)
Copley (Washington)
Brossoit (Winnipeg)
That is 18/31 teams (LA gets credit for two) or 61% of teams that have a back-up that can maintain momentum for at least a little while.
Obviously you can't expect the back-up to carry the team forever, but it should be expected that a good back-up goalie can do it for a while. Mike Smith even as a back-up has worse numbers in every aspect than the current starting goalie (who was the back-up to start the season). Does anyone really feel that Smith could at the very least have a similar or better GAA, SA% or a W/L record if Rittich went down? I think if Smith had to step in for a 2 or 3 weeks, it would be a disaster. Smith and Rittich have played behind the same team for exactly the same number of games, but their critical stats are probably further off than any other tandem in the NHL where both goalies have played at least 10 games.
Good teams these days have solid tandems. It's not like it used to be where the back-up just opened the door and handed out water. Like I mentioned in another post, last playoffs, 29 goalies saw action at some point. At some point, Smith is very likely going to have to play some meaningful games and that thought is kind of depressing.