Dallas Stars: What To Look For In New Goaltender
By Josh Clark
There is plenty of commotion stirring that the Dallas Stars need to find at least one new goaltender for their lineup before next season begins. If they truly are pursuing a change in the crease, what type of goaltender should they seek?
Spot-on goaltenders are a necessity in today’s NHL. With the fast-paced offenses putting shots and scoring chances up like never before, having a confident and capable goalie between the pipes can singlehandedly decide whether a team wins or loses a game.
The Dallas Stars have been stuck in a goaltending mess for the last half-decade, and it becomes more intricate and complicated with each passing season.
First was the brimming duo of Marty Turco and Kari Lehtonen. After that came the era of Lehtonen and names like Andrew Raycroft, Richard Bachman, Dan Ellis, Tim Thomas, and Anders Lindback. The fact that these goalies all played for Dallas at some point in the last five years and that none of them currently play in the NHL should leave you speechless.
This past season may have been the Dallas Stars’ most valiant effort to fix the problem that has plagued them for so many seasons. By trading at the draft and bringing San Jose Sharks veteran starter Antti Niemi to Dallas, the Stars officially adopted the two-goalie system. And not many knew how to feel about it.
Sure the Stars were linking two veterans with starting experience to their crease, giving them an obvious edge whenever they were in need of making a change. But how would the goalies adapt to playing less minutes? Would it be a seamless transition?
As the regular season concluded, people were still as confused as they were at game one. Each goalie picked up 25 wins a piece which contributed to the Dallas Stars’ 50 wins, which was the second most of any team in the league. But each goalie had an “off” season statistics-wise. Kari Lehtonen finished with a .906 save percentage, while Niemi logged a .905.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs came along, and people immediately discounted the Stars’ chances, saying a two-goalie tandem is not plausible in the postseason. Once again, it’s not possible to say whether they were right or not. The Stars carried themselves to the second round and battled it out in a seven-game slate with the St. Louis Blues.
Lehtonen put up an impressive 6-3 record, though the .899 save percentage was lower than it should have been. Meanwhile, Antti Niemi posted a 1-3 record with a .865 save percentage. But the tandem did work, considering the Stars were able to switch goaltenders after a bad performance by one and get a decent result from the other.
But the atrocious performance in game seven against the Blues will burn in the minds of Dallas Stars’ fans for the entire offseason. And, considering the hate is still radiating, fans are calling for an overhaul in the crease. Whether that means trading one, buying one out, or getting rid of both of them, Stars fans want to see heads roll after an ugly 6-1 loss ended the Cup run for Dallas.
Whether the Dallas Stars will take this avenue or not remains to be seen. From what was said on exit interview day and in interviews since, the general consensus from not only the management and coaching, but also the players, was that the goalies were spectacular and one of the main reasons the team got as far as it did.
Lehtonen and Niemi are both 32-years old and have multiple years left on their current contracts with the Stars paying them a combined $10.5 million per year, the most of any goaltending duo in the NHL.
So will the Stars decide to make a move and pursue a new goaltender? That is still up in the air. But why not prepare ahead, right?
If Dallas is looking into tacking a new goaltender to their crease, there are a few qualities that they will need for him to have.
First off, he needs to be relatively young with potential. Whether that is a name like John Gibson or someone else, they need to abandon the route of picking up older players that are usually trying to resurrect their careers. If you have kept up with the Dallas Mavericks over the past three or four seasons, you know that this strategy is not a successful one.
On top of the younger age requirement, the Stars will need to find someone that they can swing a good deal with. They will not benefit from trading for or signing a big-name goaltender with a cap hit in the four or five million cap hit range.
With a Jamie Benn contract extension needing to happen in the near future and a handful of free agents that will need new deals, the Dallas Stars do not need to tighten their breathing room with the cap. They are already tight enough.
Third and finally, they need a younger guy that may need to accept a backup role, at least to start out the season. The Stars are currently juggling two veteran goalies with big contracts, so there is no way they will ditch both over the offseason. If anything, they won’t be able to.
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The only way the Stars will go out and find a new goalie is if they have already rid themselves of either Lehtonen or Niemi. But even if one of them goes, the other veteran remains. Said veteran is used to playing starter minutes, or in last year’s case, at least 40 games a year.
The Stars would not be smart to go find a new goalie and name him starter off the bat. It would cause a lot of trouble for the Finn at backup.
All in all, the Dallas Stars may not even be remotely interested in goaltending negotiations this offseason. GM Jim Nill could be dead set on sticking with the same goalie duo for next season and simply be looking for a quick fix to the defensive core that would surely turn the Stars into Cup contenders.
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Or, he may already be on the hunt for a new goalie. Either way, the Stars need to be relatively picky about a new net-minder, if a new net-minder is what they desire.