The StatsMan

By The Statsman, Paul Bruno

In the six-team NHL, goalies were accustomed to playing all their team’s games, just like all the regular skaters. Emergency backups were waiting in the wings should either team’s starters get hurt.

Expansion, begin in 1967, changed all that as teams felt the need to lean on a two goalie system to help deal with the increased travel demands.

In most of the last 15 years, a single dominant goalie was again the preference of most successful teams.

Poolies have had to adjust their thinking to match each of these trends.

This season we may be on the leading edge of yet another swing in this pendulum.

Last week, three different backup goalies each posted three wins to aid their teams’ push for the playoffs.

Florida’s Craig Anderson, Anaheim’s Jonas Hiller and St. Louis’ Chris Mason each began the season as the clear second stringers yet their value as integral parts of their respective teams has been driven home.

They are also far less well paid than their respective starters. Budgetary issues in a salary cap league have dictated this disparity.

They have all stepped forward to relieve injured or underperforming starters at the most critical juncture of the year.

When we look around at some of the lesser clubs, we can quickly cite the lack of a viable second goalie as a glaring deficiency.

With the success of these three “subs” we wonder if more teams will recognize the need to get two solid goalies rather than pin their hopes on one starter, if this is truly to be a new era for goalies in the NHL.