As the Penguins move on with their offseason Ray Shero will continue to assess players’ values and their worth to the Pittsburgh Penguins. One area that needs to be seriously looked at is goaltending.
With the departure of the clutch and grab era after the 04/05 lockout, it has become increasingly more difficult for goalies to take a team on their shoulders to win a Cup. There have been some incredible performances that have included Cam Ward, Tim Thomas, Jonathan Quick, and presently Tuuka Rask, but their teams were also terrific. It is a far cry from the days where an under skilled 1999 Buffalo Sabres could be carried by Dominik Hasek all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. Those days are gone.
One thing that hasn’t changed over the course of time is that your goaltender can still lose you a series.
The longer the Penguins rely on Marc Andre Fleury to win playoff games, the more likely it is that they will lose a series because of bad goaltending. The truth is in the numbers. Since Fleury’s terrific playoff season in 2007-2008 he has consistently seen his playoff numbers go down.
As you can see there has been a very steady decline in his quality of play during the playoffs. This has been highlighted during the past two playoff seasons in which Fleury has given up some of the strangest, most unlikely goals, at the most inopportune times. If not for Dan Bylsma switching to Tomas Vokoun during the Islanders series, the Penguins just very well might have seen their season end in round 1 for the third consecutive year.
With Tomas Vokoun coming in and providing high caliber goaltending which continued throughout the playoffs (even in defeat) it raises the question about who should start for the Penguins moving forward.
Here is a chart that shows both Fleury’s and Vokoun’s regular season even strength save percentages from the past 6 seasons
Vokoun has shown over the course of time to be the more consistent goaltender, and doing so on teams that were not nearly as good as the Penguins. While Vokoun may not be able to steal goals away with the spectacular athleticism like Fleury does, he also does not allow as many of the nickel and dime goals to go in.
When taking the averages over the past 5 seasons (5,000 minutes played minimum) there are only two goalies who have a better even strength save percentage than Tomas Vokoun (.9312). Tim Thomas (.9346) and Tuuka Rask (.9326). Marc Andre Fleury (.9205) is ranked 26th .
I have always likened Fleury’s role on the Penguins to be similar to the role that Grant Fuhr played on the Edmonton Oilers. Not great statistically, but makes those big saves when the team breaks down in front of him. The big saves have disappeared from Fleury’s game and have been replaced with weak confidence crushing goals against. You could see it in the eyes of the Penguins players during the Islanders series that they were mentally defeated due to the weak goals. There was a dark cloud hanging over the team which expressed a “here we go again” feeling. Not a great mental state to be in during the playoffs.
The Penguins are in the heart of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin’s prime, they need to strike while the iron is hot. One Stanley Cup championship for the duo would be considered underachieving. Waiting on Marc Andre Fleury to regain his 2007-2008 form is a risky proposition and one that the Penguins cannot afford to get wrong while their stars are young.
Given the steady decline of Fleury’s play it is time for Ray Shero to explore options that do not include the longtime Penguins netminder. Vokoun has proven that his caliber of play is good enough to win in Pittsburgh. The only question mark will be Vokoun’s durability. While Fleury would certainly provide an insurance policy in the regular season, is it worth having a 5M backup goalie?
With the Penguins finding ways to create more cap space, perhaps one of the easiest ways would be to part with a Flower that has lost its bloom.
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