As much as I sometimes say the Hockey rumor business can tend towards certain predictabilities, every now and then something surprises you.
Take the goalie market for example. This year, as the season began we all looked towards one logical destination for Ben Bishop...with Dallas, but the reality was the Lightning would probably ride this one out, allowing him to just go in the UFA market and snag the cap space going into next year.
And the Stars, while they may not be in love with either option that they have currently, would likely also have to hope that one of their capable guys would step up enough to help their torrid offense move ahead.
And that's how it looked to sit. Sure a goalie may go down somewhere and a few goalies minor goalie trades could result, but that would be that.
Then the first four days of the NHL season happened.
On opening night, Jonathan Quick suffers a serious and concerning injury, leaving the L.A. Kings with Jeff Zatkoff, a 29 year-old with only 37 games of experience in the NHL, to carry the load for a team with Cup aspirations. Zatkoff, with Pittsburgh before the Kings, is a solid backup with experience, but Los Angeles is definitely asking around.
Also making things dicey, newly acquired goalies, Brian Elliott in Calgary and Frederik Andersen in Toronto, got off to very shaky starts opening the door to questions. The doors are only slightly opened for now, but seeds of doubt can go either way. The Leafs, not under extreme pressure to "win now" or make the playoffs in 2017, can wait this out, and will. Andersen looked much better in his second game, but internally the questions are there, prompting columnist Steve Simmons to write, "Though he says he’s not worried about his goaltending, Mike Babcock is worried about his goaltending." Anyone knowing Babcock knows how much he hates to worry about goaltending.
The Flames are in a different spot to be sure. Elliott is a great goalie and will likely turn this around but he probably doesn't have much more than a month or so to do so. It also doesn't help when you open with Edmonton, and that potent offense, back to back.
Oh, and remember Pittsburgh and Marc-Andre Fleury? The injury to Matt Murray has made masked that controversy and also shown the difference between having two legit #1s in Pittsburgh versus what has occurred with the Kings.
Add to this that the Kings love to trade with the Flyers, even prior to the former Kings assistant GM Ron Hextall coming to Philly. The Flyers happen to have two solid goalies in the final year of their contracts. Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth and currently sharing the load with Mason not looking quite as sharp against Arizona as Neuvirth looked against LA.
But both Flyers goalies have issues which could turn troublesome. Neuvirth, when healthy, has shown at times signs that his is an elite goalie in the NHL. But he has never been able to show he can be a workhorse playing night in and night out. Mason has shown he can be a workhorse for sure, he actually gets better the more he plays. Remember, Mason was a rookie sensation in Columbus. His downfall seemed to be when a challenging backup entered the scene. Mason had his best year in Philly with Emery backing him up. Emery was only going to see the net when Mason needed a break. There was no threat to Mason as the starter.
This year Neuvirth was named the opening night starter, after he was spectacular in the playoffs last year against Washington. The Flyers appear ready to rotate these goalies until the one true starter emerges. How that works will be anyone's guess.
One thing is certain though: one of these goalies won't be a Flyer next year.
Could Hexy turn to LA and move Mason to them? A few sources I talk to are saying that they are hearing murmurs form the Kings side on this. Getting Mason would solidify the Kings' spot and allow them to give Quick all the time he needs to recover. Goalies who rush back from groin injuries? Not good.
Or do the Kings look to Ben Bishop? L.A general manager Dean Lombardi loves Bishop and has shown so be elevating him to Team USA. But does Tampa look to LA and say, "We are an Andrei Vasilevsky injury away from problems if we move Bishop."
We will discuss this and the first weekend of the NHL season on today's HockeyBuzzCast Live at 1pm.
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