During the

2013-2014 season, the Vancouver Canucks’ goalie depth chart was pretty clear

cut: Roberto Luongo was the starter, as all the previous drama was now behind

him; Eddie Lack was the backup though soon would want to be a starter

somewhere; and newly signed Joacim Eriksson was coming from Sweden to continue

development in the AHL. In the Canucks

and Comets systems there was also Joe Cannata and Matthieu Corbeil signed, but they

were never going to be much more than ECHL starters (Corbeil was bounced around

4 teams, effectively cut from each) and AHL backups.

That all

changed the day John Torterella decided to play Lack in the Heritage Classic, citing

that the Senators had been scouting Luongo and he wanted to throw a curve-ball

at the Senators. He’s never blatantly

said it but, Luongo wanted to play it that game, and after years of abuse from

the fans, the media and the team, this was the straw to break the camel’s back.

Luongo was

shipped out, and in return came back young Jacob Markstrom as part of a

package. Not feeling confident with two

young goalies to start the 2014-2015 season the new Vancouver management signed

veteran goaltender in Ryan Miller. This

whole dynamic of 5 goaltenders in the system (with a sixth still developing in

the NCAA) is now going to start a new goalie controversy with two goalies

fighting for the number one position. I

am not talking about one in Vancouver, but rather one in Utica.

Read past

the jump for a breakdown of the Utica Comets goaltender situation.

During

training camp, it was rumoured for a few days that the Canucks would start the

season with three goaltenders in the NHL: Ryan Miller, Eddie Lack and Jacob

Markstrom. This is not a very ideal

situation as you can only have one goalie dressed as a backup on the bench, you

can only have two goalies in the two nets during practice which essentially

means that none of the goaltenders will get the proper development, coaching,

training and mental/game preparedness they need. Furthermore, a third goalie chews up a roster spot that could be used for a spare forward or defenseman, kept around in case of injuries.

Thankfully,

this idea only floated around for a couple days as the Canucks sent Markstrom

down on the first day of waivers.

Eriksson was sent down a few days later effectively creating a second

goalie controversy with two solid netminder options now duking it out for the

number one position in Utica.

Jacob Markstrom

Jacob

Markstrom is currently on the last year of his one-way contract where he is

being paid $1.4M. Because of the “Redden

Rule”, where you cannot bury contracts in the minors, Markstrom is causing a

dead weight cap hit in the NHL of $275K.

The Canucks didn’t want to lose him on the waiver wire, in part because

they feel he still has some value and in part because of the negative reaction

that the Luongo trade return would only be Shawn Matthias (even though that was

the result of the old management). It

has been speculated and came to light earlier that the Canucks were impressed by

his play during camp and didn’t want to expose Markstrom to other teams, so the

only game he played in was the one in Stockton which may or may not have happened (but we

have no proof).

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Elliote Friedman

reported that that the Canucks did try and trade Markstrom for a pick, to New

Jersey and Winnipeg, so they wouldn’t lose him for nothing. When nothing materialized out of that the

Canucks sent down Markstrom on the first day to have the best chance of him not

being claimed. Given that it was

reported in that Markstrom was excited for the opportunity to work with Rollie

Melanson to try and refine his game and it was interesting to see Friedman also

mentioned this interesting nugget:

7. Two

years ago, Florida came through Toronto late in the season, while giving

Markstrom a run of starts. Their goalie coach, Rob Tallas, was excited about

the opportunity for him and what it could do for his career. Last season, while

Tallas never said a negative word, you could tell the enthusiasm was gone, that

Markstrom did not take advantage. He’s still only 24. Will the knowledge he was

unwanted give him the kick he needs?

I’ve

written about Markstrom before

and I don’t think that he should be written off as a non-NHL caliber

goaltender. The premise for that

argument is three-fold: (1) Markstrom

has just turned 24, he’s still young and developing for a goaltender. (2) Markstrom

has only seen 1200 shots against in the NHL which is only 40% of the 3,000

shots against we need to see in order to be confident on a goalie’s true

talent. (3) Finally, NHL players are usually the best of the best, meaning that

they have succeeded in lower tiers of hockey and so far Markstrom has done that

both in the SHL and the AHL. The problem

is that management is risk adverse in the NHL and when goalies start going on a

bad streak they rarely give them second chances. It’s this survivorship bias that could be

removing a lot of bad goalies, but still keeps ones like Ondrej Pavelac around.

Joacim Eriksson

Eriksson

was a free agent signing last summer out of Sweden and a key to much of the success that the

Utica Comets had. Due to the Philadelphia Flyers neglecting to sign him after being drafted, Eriksson was a young free agent which allowed the

Canucks to acquire him. He spent the last

year in Utica where the first part of the year was a bit rocky, likely due to

the team in front of him forming while he was adjusting to North American

ice. By the end of the season Eriksson’s

Sv% had continued to increase until he put up a final mark of .911, which is better than AHL average. He even usurped Joe Cannata as

the starter for the Comets early in the season.

It is rumored that Eriksson’s contract has an out that allows him to return to

Sweden if he is not happy here in the AHL.

This would allow him to remain Canucks property but he would be far away

from their ability to monitor and help him develop.

While he

has a small sample size so far in North America, he has a track record of

success in the SHL. It will be key that

he proves last year was not just a random variance in the data but rather

indicative of proof he will be able to succeed in the NHL. It is possible that Eriksson could be playing in the

NHL within two years or so, and right now he may have a higher value than

Markstrom, due to Markstrom’s NHL struggles.

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Joe Cannata

Joe Cannata

is often forgotten about when talking about goalies in the Canucks’ system but

that is what happens when you are clearly at the bottom of the list. Cannata played in the NCAA where he put up

impressive numbers, but that success hasn’t been replicated in the pro

leagues. Despite that, at 24, he is as

young as the other goalies and it is possible that he will continue to develop,

though I wouldn’t hold my breath. He did

start off the season in Utica last year as the starter but was overtaken by

Eriksson only four games into the season.

Sports reporter and broadcaster in Utica, Ray Biggs told me that Cannata shouldn’t have even

been in the AHL let alone as a starter. This season, Joe Cannata has been loaned to the Ontario Reign of the ECHL as Kalamazoo already has two goalies on the roster.

2014-2015 Usage

Is

splitting the AHL starts between the two goalies the best approach? Ignoring non-playing factors I am not sure, I

do not know of any studies on optimal number of starts for goalie

development. I am sure every team,

coach, management and player has their own personal preference and ideas of

what is best. If we look at all goalies

that played 1500+ mins in the AHL last year we see a range of games played from

28 to 52. The best goalie in the AHL

last season was Jake Allen who posted a .928 Sv% over 52 games. Eriksson tied him in games played.

The average

number of games for the top goalies seems to be in the 37.5-39 range so it

might be possible to have Markstrom and Eriksson share starts without it

negatively affecting their development.

If we look at the next top 4 goalies last season (Joni Ortio, Abbotsford; Petr Mrazek, Grand Rapids; Tom McCollum, Grand Rapids; and Nathan Lieuwen, Rochester) they all

started 37, 32, 36 and 32 games respectively.

Splitting the season might work for these goalies without harm, but then

the question becomes, will the two goalies accept this situation?

If Eriksson

is not happy with this situation he could leave for Sweden, which would not be ideal for the Canucks. He will likely get

a decrease in the number of games started next year which is not a bad thing as

it would be Markstrom in relief and not Cannata. This could also help raise Markstrom’s trade

value as it is unlikely he will be re-qualified at the end of so it would be

nice to get something for him.

Right now the two goalies will have to fight out to be the 1A and the 1B – but the question is, who will become the 1A? With two games so far this AHL season both goalies have gotten the start. Markstrom played in the first game, let in less goals, but in less shots against. Markstrom made 24 stops on 25 shots for Sv% this year so far of 0.96. Eriksson played a full game, plus overtime going to the 3-on-3 format and with that he has made 25 stops on 28 shots good for a .893 – strikingly similar to his slow start last season, but with only a one-game sample size.



Cannata has been sent down to the ECHL which may be the best place for him to try and develop. For him it might be a little too late. A better, but more difficult option is to

find another AHL team that Utica could loan Cannata to. This is ideal as it will give him the higher

talent to hopefully continue to develop.

With all

that said and done, the fans in Utica are going to be happy regardless as they

have two solid AHL netminders in play this year, and Eriksson is already a fan

favourite. As long as Eriksson is

willing to stay, splitting the Comets games between him and Markstrom seems to be

an adequate option. All that is left

is for Travis Green to stop playing the same goalies in back to back situations.





