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The New Jersey Devils enter this off-season with a lot of work to do.
Among the never-ending tasks on their to-do list, presumably, is finding a quality goaltender to pair with Mackenzie Blackwood.
Jaroslav Halak, who has posted a .914SV% or better in six of the last seven seasons, was perhaps the ideal candidate but he recently signed a very affordable one-year extension with the Boston Bruins.
There are still several quality options out there, though. Let’s take a look at a few of the realistic ones.
Cam Talbot (32) - Calgary Flames
Last summer the Flames made a smart, relatively cheap ($2.75 million) one-year gamble on Talbot to join a platoon of their own. It paid off.
Talbot bounced back from a rare down season by posting a .919 save percentage across 26 appearances for the Flames. That was miles ahead of the league average (.905 SV%).
While he mostly served as the backup to David Rittich, there were times when the latter would hit a wall and Talbot would be given more run. He made the most of those situations and ensured the Flames always had a chance to win on a nightly basis.
The 32-year-old netminder owns a .915 SV% through 314 career games and, at this point, can probably only hope to find himself in a platoon situation.
I think he’d be an awesome guy to have behind Blackwood. He’s solid, he’s experienced, and he can put together a string of quality starts if Blackwood goes cold, gets nicked up, etc.
It might take a little more money to pry him from Calgary, however, cap space is not exactly an issue for the Devils. They can afford to give him an extra few bucks if that’s what it takes to get his signature on a one or two-year contract.
Thomas Greiss (34) - New York Islanders
Greiss, like his tandem partner Jaroslav Halak, had a troubling year playing behind the defensive disaster that was the 2017-18 New York Islanders.
Since that point Greiss has been one of the best goaltenders in the league. No, seriously.
Of the 69 most used netminders from 2018-20, Greiss ranks 3rd in total save percentage (.932) and 6th in save percentage against high-danger shots (.857) at 5v5.
I’m sure some of you will be quick to point out the Isles have played better defensively under Barry Trotz. That’s true! But Greiss still faced his share of difficult shots.
Greiss was faced with 8.67 Grade A opportunities per 60 minutes of play, which was 13th most during that time.
His workload has not been as easy as many would assume and he still garnered extremely good results.
As somebody who has started more than half of his team’s games just once in his career, I think Greiss would be a strong platoon option to play behind Blackwood.
Anthon Khudobin (33) - Dallas Stars
Khudobin might not be the sexiest name out there but he has been an *elite* 1B for several years now.
He has appeared in at least 30 games in each of the last three seasons. In those years he managed save percentages of .913, .923, and .930. Not bad!
I realize Boston and Dallas are strong defensive teams but *zero* of the other 76 eligible goaltenders (1,000+ minutes from 2017-20) have stopped a higher percentage of the 5v5 shots than Khudobin. Zero.
Khudobin sits tied for 14th in save percentage against high-danger shots during that time so it’s not like he can’t stop quality shots.
It also seems worth noting he faced HD looks at a comparable rate to Cory Schneider during that period (7.34 per 60 for AK, 7.76 per 60 for CS). He has just done a much better job at stopping them.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying Khudobin and Schneider have faced the same level of shot quality (Schneider’s workload was tougher). I’m just pointing out the difference is not as drastic as most would think.
Beyond providing the Devils with quality goaltending, he’d give us all some comedic relief.
numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com and Hockey-Reference.com
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