On Brodeur...
Talking to a source this morning and it sounds as if Martin Brodeur is prepared to wait out an Eastern Conference team who has great expectations, but who is unlucky enough to lose their starter to injury.
It makes sense when you look at the top teams in the conference. The Eastern conference isn't hurting for top-quality goalies, but when it comes to backup goalies the Western Conference is way stronger.
Think about teams with big expectations and their starters/backups
Boston: Rask/Svedberg Svedberg has played in exactly 1 NHL game. If the Bruins lose Rask don't you think they would be looking for some experienced help
NY Rangers: Lundqvist/Talbot Cam Talbot has played in 21 games in the NHL and has some sparkling numbers, but would a team that went too a Cup Final last year be willing to roll the dice on a 21 game goalie?
Philly: Mason/Emery Emery has tons of experience, but is fighting injuries and while he has truly adjusted his game for his diminishing quickness the Flyers wouldn't be OK with him as a starter long term and they know this. The Flyers would look at Brodeur and Vokoun in a heartbeat.
Montreal: Price/Tokarsky Yes Tokarsky ws quite the story last year, but he has almost no NHL experience as well. Would Montreal be OK handing him the fate of this season?
Washington: Holtby/Peters Justin Peters was a highly touted prospect at one point, but he is 28, has played in 68 total NHL games and only won 22 of them with a .904sv% and a GAA over 3.
Columbus: Bobrovsky/ McElhinney McEhlhinney has ben around awhile. He has played in 97 games and won only 29 of them with a sv% of 902 and a GAA of 2.97
The two teams with the arguably the best backups are the two teams who have had goalie issues in recent years.
Tampa: Bishop/Nabokov Nabokov is a veteran who can step in and play a lot of games. But even he has shown he can be overplayed in recent years.
Pittsburgh: Fleury/Greiss If you lost your starter to a season Greiss is the best backup among the eastern contenders for sure....and yet he has only played in 69 NHL games and only won 27 of them. His 915% and his 2.44GAA are respectable but there is an unknown of how he could do over the long haul
On Today's Hockeybuzzcast (at 2pm ET not 1pm) we are happy to welcome Russ Cohen. Russ has been a guest before, but today he joins us as the newest member of our team. Russ is the our new NY Rangers beat writer. He will be joining Jan Levine, who will assume the role of columnist for the Rangers. This combination gives us what I believe is the best Rangers coverage on the internet! Join us for the show!