THE GREAT GOALTENDER DEBATE, PART I:
Familiar faces
By Kevin Schultz
Point Blank guest contributor
No one reading this blog today should need to be reminded of the importance of your backup goaltender. What may seem like a thankless position is vitally important provided your starter doesn’t have the aversion to wear and tear the Patrick Roy did. Heck, even if your starter is Patrick Roy, it doesn’t hurt to have a good backup. Here in Islander Country we’ve gotten a first hand lesson of the important of the backup thanks to Rick DiPietro’s injury problems.
Whether your opening night starter is DiPietro, Roy or Greg Goldberg you’re going to have to use your backup at some point. In the Islanders’ case, as with other teams, it will be more work than “at some point” during the coming years. Regardless of injury history, it becoming increasingly risky to lean on one netminder for 60+ games per season in today’s NHL.
For the Islanders to succeed, they’re going to need a healthy DiPietro and one of the ways to aid that is to employ a solid backup – or a “1A” – to help share the load. Next year and in the future, it would be wise to give DiPietro a lot of nights off next season to keep him fresh, healthy and in one piece come playoff time. The best part is that cap room won’t inhibit the Islanders if they choose to open the wallet for another netminder.
Going forward into next year, one of the debates going on is, well, who can fill this role? In part one, we’ll discuss the three most familiar options. Part two will cover the folks from other NHL team that we may not be as familiar with.
Option A: Retain the employment of Joey MacDonald and/or Yann Danis.
Both are unrestricted free agents at the end of the year. Right now, they’re playing for their livelihood and you know how that can affect someone’s play. If they continue to perform the way they have, they’re going to be getting interest from other teams around the league. MacDonald seems to have established himself as a viable NHL goaltender. Whether or not he could carry the load of an 82-game season remains to be seen and it will be interesting to see if any teams will be willing to put that much trust in him on July 1. Probably not, but you never know. The better he plays down the stretch, the more interest he’ll receive. The same goes for Danis.
The good news for the Islanders is that both would likely be affordable options. The Islanders have a lot of cap room and doubling either Mac’s or Danis’ pay would only mean paying them in the neighborhood of $1 million.
As for MacDonald, if he plays well down the stretch and it only takes $1 million to keep him here next year, do it. If it costs $2 million or more, start looking at other options. However, I’m willing to say that he is worth the price of insurance especially given the uber flexible cap situation.
As for Danis, the jury is still out. He has been playing well, but it’s a little bit harder to justify him as a viable insurance option. While he has put up great numbers, the team changed their style of play to protect him and that’s something that would be a much bigger issue if the Isles were currently in the middle of a playoff race. But I have to give the kid credit, he came out of the shadow of Carey Price in Montreal and played well in MacDonald’s absence.
How both of these guys play down the stretch will be a big determinant here. If they fall off, my opinion on them will certainly change. It will be interesting to see if MacDonald can regain his previous form after an injury and whether or not Danis can perform well over a longer period of time. Right now, I wouldn’t mind having either – or both – on board next year.
Option B: Wade Dubielewicz
Dubie is not out of the question here. Not at all. He signed with the Islanders for $500k and subsequently boarded a plane for Columbus earlier this season (OK, it was Vancouver, but you know what I mean). His family lives in Connecticut. We know he wants to play here and there is a large contingent of fans that want him to play here. Like the two goalies above, he’s unrestricted this summer.
I have a hard time imagining he would be happier being a backup in Columbus than on Long Island. He’s also a familiar face and would be much easier to sign than Any Given Free Agent. His NHL numbers, while limited, are better than Options A1 and A2.
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In part two, we’ll take a look at some of the other options from around the league. Ladies and gentlemen, your thoughts please.
50 Responses to THE GREAT GOALTENDER DEBATE, PART I:
Familiar faces
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Jim says:
Joey Mac and Danis are both better than Dubie, sign one of those guys.
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guerin13 says:
i agree that both danis and joey mac are better options that dubie, who was absolutely terrible last year. this is the summer of the backup goalie. there are a ton of ufa backup goalies available. chris hinted that the isles had interest in manny fernandez the other day. i say we go for ty conklin so we can play in the winter classic, lol. both danis and joey mac need to work on their rebound control. i think joey is let go, danis is signed as a 3rd goalie, and we sign a ufa to be the #2. but what if dp is a no go for next year? then the fun begins.
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Justin says:
I would love for DiPietro to be completely healthy (I doubt it) next season and have him split time with MacDonald, much the way the Blackhawks do now with Khabibulin and Huet. Danis wouldn’t be a terrible third option either, but no Dubielewicz. He’s looked terrible in two games with the Jackets and I’m not sure he is capable of playing 35-40 good games a season.
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isles316 says:
I’m on board with upgrading over Danis,Joey Mac. Can anyone picture DP playing more than 50 games next year? I like Joey Mac but unless you have a starter that plays 65 or 70 games then he isn’t the guy. He is an average backup and the Isles need someone better.
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Westfall says:
I look forward to Part 2, because I go with Option C. After what happened this season, there are no guarantees when it comes to DP for 09-10. As well as Jmac, Danis, and Dubie have performed at times, to me they are all – at this point of their careers – truly backups. Legit “1A” goaltenders who will be UFAs this summer are Mathieu Garon, Manny Legace, and Jason LaBarbera. Whether any of those guys want to come here is in question, but they are all proven vets who can settle down a young team, not question marks.
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The grass isn’t always greener. Has anyone seen the way Legace (3.18, .885)has played lately? And Jason Labarbera? How many chances does he get to prove he is not a No. 1 goaltender? I’d take Joey Mac over both.
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UIF says:
“dubie, who was absolutely terrible last year.”
Last year: 20gp, .919 sv%, 2.70 GAA. A bad game in Toronto out of 20 starts shouldn’t turn into “terrible” with numbers like that, which include that game.
Joey this year: 38gp, .900, 3.27
Danis: 11gp, .914, 2.85
Stats aren’t everything, obviously, but they’re something.
Next year, I’d actually rather see them sign a legit 1A rather than go with Dubie or Joey/Danis. And Dubie hasn’t looked so good this year. But he was solid last year.
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mm30 says:
it’s an important question—I would offer mac and danis both two deals and whoever takes it first gets it and then bring in a veteran who can legitamately(?) challenge DP for playing time…Fernandez/roloson etc…
also off topic but can someone tell me what happened with BD Gallof that he is off this site and hockeybuzz…he alluded to it in his new blog but was vague.
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that should read—offer them two way deals
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Islander505 says:
Uhh….guys/gals?
I hate to bring this up AGAIN….but rather that spin our wheels about a backup goaltender next year….we (well, Snow and Wang anyway) should really be giving some thought about a STARTING goaltender.
It’s pretty clear to me the DP has some serious hip and knee injuries.
Anyone who thinks that DP was shut down for this year (total of 6 games played–I WAS AT THE LAST ONE!! Yippie f’in do) so that we could get a better chance at Tavares is deluding themselves.
The guy has got some serious injuries.
It would be one thing if it was a broken bone or something….IT’S NOT.
He’s got damaged JOINTS. Joint damage (not the Phelps kind)is often career threatening. (Anyone see Dick Butkus walk lately?)Look what happened to Sillinger.
HE’S DONE…(and anyone who reads Logan’s blog knows I was predicting that last year when he went down).
Does anyone think that Comrie (again, hip surgery) is up to speed since his injury ?
HE’S SLOWER THAN MOLASSES AND WON’T HIT ANYONE.
And DP being a goalie is more dependent on his hips than a skater.Not trying to be a debbie downer here….just trying to stay within reality.
WHO GIVES A DAMN WHO THE BACKUP GOALIE IS IF WE DON’T HAVE A STARTER.
Simply put….Danis and Mac may well be fighting for a shot at the STARTING POSITION.
Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
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mjisles says:
well rick has a lot of time to get healthy between now and september but you make a very valid point. and that is why this team should not be looking for a “backup goalie” we should look for a 1A type guy. Brian Burke doesnt like vesa toskala so he may be someone who is available during the offseason. he is due to make 4 mil next year though. some other names to keep an eye on are scott clemmensen, dan ellis, martin biron, and antero nittymaki.
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If I’m Garth Snow….from here on out through to the draft and UFA season….I’ve got one eye open for a 1A goaltender.
I don’t care what DP and the doctors say.
Until I see otherwise, it’s all smoke.To think otherwise would be irresponsible.
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MJS says:
No Dubie. He’s been rusty here and was only backing up in Russia when he was bought out of his KHL contract. If Snow was really feeling adventurous he could flip JMac to a team looking to make him the next Ty Conklin and try and maybe get Nathan Lawson a start or two or five this season.
If not that, then at the end of the season Snow should seek out someone who has been a starter at some point in his career and who made quality starts this season. It would be much better to have someone that can step into the starter’s without hesitation rather than someone who has to feel it out.
Also, when Danis started making consecutive starts the team started winning. Just a thought, but whatever changes Gordon made to how they played seemed to tighten things up a bit. I think that was actually mentioned in one of Greg Logan’s articles.
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thepolishprince says:
No thank you to Legace. As for the goaltending issue going forward play JM and YD equally for the balance of the season and upgrade the position with a very SOLID 1A over the summer. I’ve heard the UFA crop is big this summer. Maybe not a lot of stars to choose from but a bunch of solid choices.
I really like DiPietro but the guy has not shown he can stay healthy. At best even a 100% healthy DP should only be relied on for 40-50 starts a season. He’s signed for 12 more freakin years for God’s sake, lets give him someone to help carry the load.
I also feel Snow should use one of those 2nd rounders on a goalie. Our lack of quality depth at that position is frightening. -
danis is better than joe mac its that simple..he sees the puck better and was on a roll before they benched him then lost as usual.the team has had its only success with danis in the goal.garth open your eyesdanis is the keeper
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isles72 says:
I’d stick with Joey Mack / Dipietro combo and throw some money into the BLUELINE
Danis isnt going to get a one way deal from anyone -so resign him to a 2 way deal and he’d probably bite on it knowing that he might be up with the big club for a good chunk of the season if Rick goes down .
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uh two goalies i would look at is ty conklin. he did really well in pittsburgh but not so sure on hoiw he is doing in detroit. someone said him above. i actually wanted him this year but i will take him this july 1. he is only making 750,000 in detroit so maybe we double that and see if he comes. maybe a solid 2 year contract will do it. 2 years for 3 million. sounds good.
the other person and some may disagree is nikolai khabibulin. we can so afford the money and he can totally split the games 41 next year. whether it be a 1-3 year contract, it doesnt matter. i prefer 1 though. i guess it does matter. the price? probably 5-5.5 million, and i know it is hefty for a guy playing half a year but i do not think that money will be the problem in not signing him. i mean the worst thing is that we get laughed at for the contract. like the hawks were laughed at but its not even a storyline anymore. i say we go for these guys -
Dubie hasn’t looked at all with CB. I think Danis looks more fluid moving around the goal area then MacD and MacD seems to allow many more rebounds then Danis. If Gordon has changed the system and Danis is playing well what more can we ask for now and in the future.
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MiKe says:
MANNY LEGACE is on waivers. Sign him now and he could/would be a fine back-up once DP comes back. This would seem to be a no-brainer.
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Otter says:
Hypothetically, if the Isles were to claim Legace off waivers for the remainder of the year. Would they have to give STL anything as compensation? If not, why wouldn’t they claim him and try to move any one of the 3 goalies @ the deadline for yet another draft pick? Unless of course there’s no real value there in which case you can all feel free to call me an idiot…haha.
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I’m still on the Legace bandwagon right now. He’s had a subpar year, but he has a track record as a 1A goaltender who could be a #1 in the NHL if the situation calls for it. If you don’t want to go for Legace there are plenty of other 1A goaltenders that will be available on the open market, like Ty Conklin, Andrew Raycroft, Manny Fernandez, Khabibulin, etc. It would be irresponsible to not bring in a veteran goaltender to help stabilize the ship next year.
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Please let it not be Jason Labarbera. If he wasn’t on the Kings earlier in the year, they would be a playoff team hands down. Labarbera cost them about 6 games.
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Matt says:
Islanders505 you are right with comment 12. I don’t think anyone realises the magnitude of DP’s injuries (recurring from surgery). These injuries at the very least could be recurring and is something that he (we) will have to endure through out his career especially if he takes on even close to his “normal” work load. I’ve been saying this for some time but it has fallen on deaf ears. I don’t agree with the Comrie comment though, he was slow as molasses long before he injured his hip.
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nyislanders93 says:
After giving DP so much rest between an entire half of this season and the summer, he should be good to go. I would prefer him to play somewhere around 45 games next season just to be 100% sure. Joey MacDonald and Yann Danis are both very capable of backing him up. This off-season if we go after anything it should be someone on the blueline. I was thinking maybe Mike Komisarek or Jay Bouwmeester. Draft Tavares, sign one of the two, bring in some veteran leadership for the younger players and if the whole team stays mostly healthy, theres no reason why they can’t be a decent team.
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i think we should go after hal gill too. he is not a big goal scorer but a vet and he is big and otugh. wont drop em a loy but is a cornerstone peice nonetheless. him and komiserek and if sutton is still around, then we have a tough d and good solid d. this is based off that we traded witt. maybe add a good scorer. ( cammilari ) or i know we shot this down a while ago but the sedin twins ( they may go to pitt. ) but either way, just add the right peices and we are back!
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You make it sound so easy. Hopefully you are right about DP but there are some injuries you can rest all you want and they don’t go away. Have seen it many times.
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admin says:
As for Legace, I’ll touch on it a bit in pt2, but there’s not much of a reason to bring him in right now. The season is pretty much lost, so I don’t see a reason for grabbing him off waivers. Imo, let the kids fight it out the rest of the way and, if you want, grab Legace when he turns UFA on July 1. My main concerns with him are age (36) and attitude (possibly one of the reasons he’s on waivers to begin with). Not sure he would enjoy coming to another last place team.
-Kevin
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Kevin @ 30 hitting the nail on the head!
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(Matt-29) Right now rest is the only thing that can possibly get DP better. That is our only chance at him coming back and I think he has enough time now to rehab his injuries after having surgery to fix the knees and hips. He had arthroscopic surgery which is not a completely reconstructive surgery, it is not too severe. We just have to hope that rest does it for him and he can get back to being healthy.
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I would think that the Islanders sign a free agent goalie. I think a lot of poeple felt that going into this season with Joey Mac as the backup had disaster written all over it. You can say Joey Mac played real well but if you look at his numbers he was average at best. He is 11-22-4 and really didn’t steal any games for the Isles. I think it was completely irresponsible that the Isles didn’t sign a guy like Conklin last offseason. Even if DP makes it through next year can anyone imagine that Gordon lets him play more than 50 games?
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I understand surgeries and recovery times, in fact I work in these surgeries for a living. If there are problems post surgery it is not always as simple as rest. There is rehab which if not adhered to properly can worsen, prolong, or cause the injury to be a continuous problem. I’m not saying this is what is going to happen but saying that there is a very real chance that it could or did. Even if the surgery is successful and his rehab program is followed does not mean that he will be free of discomfort from his surgery. There are plenty of people walking with a limp out there from arthoscopic as well as any orthopedic surgeries. Obviously there are some problems with DP’s. Don’t believe everything you read. In the end I hope you are right and DP will be fine and we can sign Komiserak, Bowmeister, and draft Taveras. Sign me up.
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Have a good day all and hopefully Nielson, Bailey, and Okposo all score tonight but we still lose!!!!
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isles316, definitely agree with you on #33. Granted J-Mac has been ok, he was largely unproven going into this season. What in the world was management thinking when they went into the season with 2 backups without any real experience? Especially considering that DP was coming off a pretty serious injury/surgery. If even Rick came back healthy (which he obviously did not), Snow should have recognized that he needed to sign someone who could handle a decent workload in trying to give DP some more time to recover and some more rest than he’s accustomed to. What was the logic there?
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Jax says:
No Legace!!! Don’t need him. Let these two battle it out. We’re not going anywhere. If they were in the playoff race then I would say yes grab him. We just don’t need him right now.
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ISLESFAN999 says:
WHO cares about the backup were not making the playoffs next yr. We are 2 yrs away from competing..
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there’s no reason to bring legace in now. let joe mac and danis finish the season and figure out the goaltending situation over the summer. this is the summer of the ufa goaltender. we’ll figure things out then.
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Islesfan999, it’s important to have a goalie that can be decent. How fair is it to the kids trying to develop when Joey Mac was giving up 5 goals a game in December and January before he got hurt? It stunts the growth of a team. You need to learn how to win when you get in situations where you have leads late it games. The Isles have shown they haven’t learned that yet and that stems in part from poor goaltending. In 2 years when they are competative do we still want that to be a problem? It does matter who is in there, even when you stink.
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My vote goes to Danis, I think he has been excellent. Better than Joey Mac, and by no means would I ever want Dublelewicz, I think he’s been lucky, in games he played for the Islander’s, he to me is just not a good goaltender. Way, way over rated. Danis should be the choice. Thanks, Mark
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Matt #26
“I don’t agree with the Comrie comment though”……..LOL….fair enough..
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Gary says:
Evenone running Dubie down is way out of line. The kid is a battler and outplays his size. This season is a throwaway because he wasted most of it in Russia. Dubie is always better when he plays a few games in a row and saved our butts that one season. DP has had these extended injuries from trying to push too hard too soon. However, if you’re looking for a true 1A kind of guy, Conklin is the guy. I think he may stay in Detroit though (who woouldn’t).
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mike in richmond//said it well..if the system is working and danis is in and we are winning why fix whats no broken!!!stop screwing it up we were winning then we benched danis and mac let some crap in we got behind early and we lost again who is in tonight???????
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kevin says:
what happened to everyone saying mcdonald was playing well.did it all go away becuase danis is playing well? i think they are both good. so they should split the rest of the season but wont be mad if jmac gets the nod more. not saying one desereves or earned over another btw
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Guerin13 (#3) – Loving your comment about Ty Conklin
Kevin (#19) – Conklin. 2 years $2-$2.5 million. No More. No way on Khabibulin for $5-$5.5 million per year. No way they are going to pay a 1A more than they pay DP.
Kevin (admin) (#30) – I agree 100%
IslesFan999 (#38) – The idea is that we have a backup or 1A for next year so we do not overwork DP and risk further injuries or a continuence of the current ones.
Finally if J-Mac and Danis split time evenly for the rest of the year, we should have a better idea if either is an option for next year.
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Strummer's Army says:
I disagree with the statement the Isles changed their system to protect Danis. The vets were pushing for it long before then. If you notice several vets like Witt have played better since so it is protecting a lot of guys and might have been necessary based on personel available.
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19 ISLE in NJ 22 says:
Not much of a goalie “DiP-bate” .. DP will be a huge ???? until he plays 6 games straight … and even then I’ll cringe when he’s sprawling to make a save.
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I say let J-Mac and Yan duke it out every other game the rest of the way and offer a 2-way for the winner … Over the summer sign a “1-A or 1-B” UFA … who’ll be tempted since DP is a “?????”Dubis is NOT an option … I don’t think he’d of whethered the barrage any better than Yan or Joey under Gordo’s system.
When I look at goalies I notice how much room they leave … and Dubie leaves lots more room than Joey and Yan.
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hector marini says:
dp will be fine next year!! danis @ jmac are good 4 2- way contracts, thats it!sign raycroft or conklin to play 25 games – max next year.
First this:
Normally, I do not knock another team on an Islanders blog, but after watching the Rangers tonight I can’t help be comment upon how little respect for themselves the Rangers have. How could Renney let Steve V absorb 10 goals?? How does a team just quit in the middle of the third period like that. This bunch have no heart and no soul.
Right here, right now, I will predict that the Rangers will not make the playoffs and that Pittsburgh will overtake them by the end of the month.
I have always been a Dubie fan. Snow has now painted himself into a corner with JMac and Danis, as both have played well enough to attract attention from other teams and both will get other offers.
Dubie is the best option of the three but apparently the spoiled brat does not get along with him. And we know Garth always gives into his baby brother.
Jmac will be resigned because the cheapo organization will not spend money on a solid # 1 A.
I wonder how long it will take DP to become jealous of the JOEY cheers…..SW