30 in 30
Today marks the beginning of September and the soon approaching training camps for NHL teams. This is also a good time to take a daily look at 30 things about the Jets and what this season could look like. We start from the crease out.
Goaltending- the incumbents
Last year the Jets had their best year between the pipes since their arrival in Winnipeg. Ondrej Pavelec had a career year for him posting .920 save percentage going 22-16-8 in 50 appearances. Pavelec even managed to finish the season with 3 consecutive shutouts.
When Pavelec was not in net Michael Hutchinson stood in his place and at some point fans believed he was going to be there for the long term. At times he was as Pavelec only had 10 starts between December 31s and March 4th.
Hutchinson played 38 games going 21-10-5 with a .914 save percentage in his ‘rookie season’ as a full-time NHL player. He was given the chance to take over the number one spot but after a grand November-December run he could not quite manage the workload and his numbers began to slip.
That word, workload, is an important one as again this year the questions and subsequent theories will start around how much is right for Pavelec and can either of these two goalies manage more games. The prevailing theory on Pavelec is that he has a sweet spot and it hovers around 50 games/appearances. The reason is based solely around fitness and conditioning but will that change the longer the Jets are under the tutelage of Paul Maurice?
When Maurice first arrived to Winnipeg in 2014 he made some comments about fitness and then showed the team at the end what his expectations were. The team took notice and perhaps Pavelec more so than others but did something else happen to make his performance jump as it did?
One belief is that for the first time since coming to Winnipeg Pavelec faced some serious competition for the starting goalie position, courtesy of Hutchinson. Everyone loves a goalie controversy and at times last season there seemed to be one about to happen but it never did. The only controversy was that the same arguments about Pavelec happened again. Did he silence his critics the way he finished the season? Only until he played in the post season where the same rhetoric and questions came right back to centre stage.
As the training camp approaches one has to consider the likelihood that both of these goalies are here when the season starts or how long once it is underway. That could be due to trades or more pressure from within.
Goaltending-the candidates
Connor Hellebyuck showed that he may be ready from prime time in the NHL as he was the lone bright spot for a rather dour Ice Caps season after going to the AHL Calder Cup the year before. In fact at a speaking engagement late last summer Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said ‘the prospect in the organization he was most excited about was Hellebyuck’. In the AHL Hellebyuck was 28-22-1 with a .921 save percentage. In the top 20 goalies in the AHL by save percentage only Hellebyuck played more than 53 games and only one other goalie played more than 3000 minutes at 3049. Hellebyuck was 3331. Hellebyuck also had the most wins in the same group at 28 but also faced over 200 more shots than his closest competitor. To add to his impressive year he was tied for 3rd in shuts outs with 6, one behind 2nd place.
However when Hellebyuck was called upon by his country at the IIHF 2015 World Championships he finally faced competition similar to what many thought he might see should he play in the NHL this season. In 10 games he led the goalies in save percentage at .9479 ahead of Rinne, Smith, Pavelec, Huet, Enroth, Bobrovski and Berra. Only 2 goalies faced more shots and only one made more saves than Hellebyuck.
While Hutchinson and Hellebyuck have come from the US and made many take notice of their play the Jets still have more depth in goal and that comes with Eric Comrie. A product of the Tri-City Americans of the WHL he has shown flashes of brilliance and posted solid numbers as a junior with seasons of .915 .925 and .914 save percentages.
Comrie played 2 game for Canada at the World Juniors and posted an impressive .933 save percentage. An article from In Goal Magazine had this to say about Comrie and his career thus far.
What’s clear is that while Comrie may not be at the top of the depth list in goal he has a future with the Jets or any organization, but that future is still in his hands. The concern now is where does he fit to get the playing time?
The Jets have 3 goalies who could start on an NHL roster and one who will likely be in that position soon. It’s a spoil of riches that few organizations ever see but goaltending is a bit of voodoo with some witchcraft and a whole lot of unknowns as you can see from Steve Dangle on Twitter. The challenge is that Hutchinson is on a one-way deal this year and he surely would be snapped up on waivers even if he were assigned to the Moose. The same might not be able to be said for Pavelec but with the Canadian dollar so low is it realistic that the Jets pay him 3 million in the AHL? So that leaves Hellebyuck as the odd guy out and likely starting in the AHL unless something else happens.
That something else has happened and that’s a PTO contract offer to David Leggio as outlined from Buffalo Hockey Beat. There’s no way this is depth for the Jets but is it for the Moose? Probably as the only other player looking to make that team would be Jamie Phillips who is probably headed back to Michigan Tech this year anyway. This is still unclear though.
What is clear is that the Jets have options between the pipes for the first time since they arrived in Winnipeg. Now how they exercise those options is another issue altogether- I just wouldn’t expect anything too exciting.