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What To Do About Goaltending? |
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Last season the Coyotes went into the year with what looked on paper to be the worst tandem in the NHL. Mike Smith had had a constantly injured and inconsistent few years in Tampa Bay, leading ultimately to be sent to the minors before the playoffs after being supplanted by Dwayne Roloson. He showed some signs of excellent form in his limited appearances in the post-season, but overall it wasn’t looking too great. Jason LaBarbera was the second member of the tandem and the veteran back-up has shown he can give 8-15 mediocre to great (yes big gap I know) performances, especially when he plays Vancouver in his home province.
Mike Smith trained hard with Gary Roberts and earned his praise as the most athletic player at his camp, he trained with Sean Burke the Coyotes goalie coach and what culminated was one of the best stories in the NHL. He was a runner-up for the Vezina and was dominating in the post-season bringing the Coyotes farther than they ever had gotten in franchise history to go along with the Pacific Division Banner.
Fast forward through the lockout and you have to wonder, Mike Smith’s best play came down the stretch in February when he went unbeaten, could he continue the magic with all that time off?
Apparently not.
Mike Smith’s play this year has been one mired in inconsistencies and minor injuries with uncharacteristic defensive lapses, major flubs and broken sticks.
Now just by taking the stats out of context his .901sv% looks fairly grizzly and it is certainly a far cry from his Vezina caliber .930 of the year before. Yet when you break down the games you see that on many nights he is giving the Coyotes that quality goaltending, but, just as often he is giving them some of the shittiest. This is where the inconsistencies are really apparent. In 9 of the 26 games he has started he has allowed 4 or more goals, or in other terms 35% of the games. Last season he allowed 4 or more 14 times in 69 starts or 20%. That is a major difference in consistency.
Smith has suffered three minor injuries this year keeping him out various games (including right now on the IR with an upper-body injury) which haven’t helped as he is a goalie that relies on his excellent athleticism to overcome some of his wilder movement patterns in the net.
The season isn’t over yet and the Coyotes are still conceivably in the playoff hunt, yet with Smith still down and only LaBarbera and Chad Johnson holding the fort it is a bit grim. What do the Coyotes do? They are 13th in the West with 34 points only 3 points behind Columbus for the final spot which is till within striking distance. Every team in team in the West not named Calgary and Colorado are as well and therein is the biggest problem. Does this team have what it takes to make it, or do they need to make a bigger splash?
These next options will look at what can be gone going forward for the goaltending issues in Phoenix.
Option 1:
Make a trade. Easier said than done with goalies. Who on the market is better than Smith? Luongo. Do the Coyotes have the pieces needed to get a trade for him done? Yes. Do they have the financial capabilities to take on such a long contract knowing they won’t have the money teams like Vancouver/Philly/Toronto/Montreal and such have to buyout players with big cap hits? I don’t think so. Plus it isn’t in the Coyotes MO to go after high priced goalies and long signed goalies.
Ryan Miller? Now this one is interesting. Miller seems to be making enemies in Buffalo and some speculate he might be available. He has one more year at 6.25 million before becoming an UFA. One again like Luongo they have the pieces to get it done, but would they? 6.25 is a lot of money to throw at a goalie and one that will want his retirement deal in just one more season. However at his age (32) he is still young enough to stabilize the situation in goal for 4-5 years at least.
They could make a call to the Senators about Bishop, but is it worth the risk gambling on a soon to be 27 year old with under 50 games of NHL experience, most being a split starter? Is the cost both in terms of the deal (More than the 2nd rounder they first got him for) and failed potential worth it? I personally would like to see what Sean Burke could do with a 6’7 goalie, but I’m not a GM nor a goalie expert.
Option 2:
Re-sign Smith. This one is tricky. How much does he want vs how much is he worth? He’ll be an UFA at the end of the year and looking at the list, he is number two behind Backstrom. We all know how that dog and pony show goes. Backstrom will get some crazy arse deal and all the bidders will give Smith whatever he wants in desperation (Thanks lockout you sure fixed it!). Mixed in with this is the prospect situation.
Mark Visentin is only 20 and his first AHL year as a split-starter was pretty successful. That said, he’s young and has many improvements necessary to make the transition. I look at other highly touted goalie prospects around the NHL (Some above him, some on par) and I see Lehner in Ottawa taking the long route, Schneider in Vancouver took his time, Markstrom in Florida, Hackett in Minnesota, Bernier in LA and Allen in St. Louis. There are many and more, but that is the kind of slow development management has been preaching since Maloney took over and I expect it to be the same with Visentin. He won’t be ready for another two years at least.
Mike Lee is in his rookie year in the pro’s after his three years in college. He was fantastic in the ECHL and got the call-up to the AHL where he has been really solid. The 22 year old is a longshot, but is showing good improvement and intriguing upside. Like Visentin though, he isn’t ready.
Louis Domingue is the last and probably least on the horizon of goalies. The 21 year old started in the ECHL as well, though he’s had two games in the AHL. If Visentin and Lee are a few years away, Domingue is about 4.
So these are the top-3 goalie prospects in the pipeline. None are ready to be NHL starters yet, if ever (the way with goalies).
What I would do is sign Smith to a 3 year deal at 3.75 mil per. I know that on the open market somebody might give him more, but I don’t think he’s worth that high a premium. A kind of deal like this gives him three years to either prove he’s the goalie they need down the line or that he will always be an injury concern and inconsistent with flashes of brilliance. It also allows the prospects to develop and one (maybe Lee) take over as back-up at some point during the three years.
What do you guys think should be done? What can be done? Are the Coyotes sunk?
Thanks for reading. More on the trade deadline next time.
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