Goaltending Woes

Prior to injuring his groin on December 7th against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Varlamov was 12-1-3 and was garnering serious consideration for Rookie of the Year. Since returning to the ice in the final game before the Olympic break Varlamov has endured the worst three game stretch of his young NHL career. In those three games he has posted a record of 1-1-1, a GAA of 4.33, and a save percentage of .843. I have to believe that despite his poor performance as of late there is no panic from within the organization. Many will speculate that Varlamov is the guy that the front office wants to be in net come playoff time and I have to agree. I have never felt that the coaching staff or General Manager are oozing with confidence when they speak about Theodore. I am always under the impression that they expect him to crash and burn.

The question should not be, whether Varlamov is who Mcphee and Boudreau want in net but more so, whether or not, Varlamov is the right guy for the job? To be honest, at this point in time I am not convinced he is. Varlamov is the goalie of the future, there is no question about that, but right now Jose Theodore is playing well enough to be the guy come playoff time. He, similar to Varlamov has been prone to let in soft goals at times. However, the biggest difference between the two is that Jose has made the big saves when they needed to be made. Thinking back to the Penguins Capitals game in early February, while trailing 4-2 Theodore robbed Sidney Crosby on the doorstep during a 5 on 3 with less than ten seconds to go in the 2nd period. The Caps went on to win that game in OT. Performances like that, as well as, the 44 save effort in a win against the Red Wings should give the organization some faith that he is capable of doing the job.

Theodore is the leading candidate to be the number one guy but a lot can change over the next month. When the Caps made the playoffs two years ago for the first time in the post lockout era, the team had to make a crucial decision during the first week of March. The nature of their position forced them into picking Cristobal Huet as their number 1 goalie would be for the remainder of the season. Fortunately, this years team is not scrambling to make the playoffs, and perhaps their greatest luxury is they can afford to rotate two goalies all the way down to the very end. This is advantageous for two reasons; one it eliminates the likelihood of fatigue affecting their play, secondly, and perhaps more importantly it also gives the organization the proper amount of time to figure out who is the right guy for the job. For Theodore this means he must continue to play at the top of his game. The slightest misstep could lead to the promotion of Varlamov, by the already Varlamov obsessed GM. For the time being, Varlamov has an extra month to hone his skills and reclaim his thrown as the number one netminder in DC.

On a final note, I am not concerned about the alleged goaltending woes of this team. Although, individually the goalies have struggled over the course of the past two years, there have been very few instances where they have both played miserably at the same time. I am very confident that if Varlamov can not get the job done then Theodore will and vice v.