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Arizona Coyotes Recall Goaltender Niklas Treutle From AHL Springfield

By Jason Harrison

February 5, 2016; Anaheim, CA, USA; Arizona Coyotes goalie Anders Lindback (29) defends the goal against Anaheim Ducks during the second period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
February 5, 2016; Anaheim, CA, USA; Arizona Coyotes goalie Anders Lindback (29) defends the goal against Anaheim Ducks during the second period at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Arizona Coyotes have called up goaltender Niklas Treutle from their AHL affiliate in Springfield to fill in as the backup to Louis Domingue. Treutle’s call-up comes on the heels of Anders Lindback sustaining an injury while stretching prior to last night’s game against Montreal.

With options dwindling, the Arizona Coyotes called up first year AHL goaltender Niklas Treutle to Arizona to fill in for the battery of injuries that are plaguing the Coyotes’ original goaltending tandem.

Anders Lindback injured himself last night prior to the Yotes game against Montreal. General manager Don Maloney said that Lindback’s injury was to his Achilles tendon and that his season was likely done.

The Arizona Coyotes were already without starting goaltender Mike Smith.

Smith has just begun skating and taking shots in practice after being out since December with a core muscle injury.

Here’s the Coyotes’ press release:

"Arizona Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney announced today that the Coyotes have recalled goalie Niklas Treutle (troyt-LAY) from the Springfield Falcons, the club’s American Hockey League affiliate (AHL). The 24-year-old Treutle has a 9-11-5 mark with a .909 save percentage and 2.91 goals against average in 26 games with the Falcons. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound native of Nuremberg, Germany posted a 20-10-0 record with a .923 SV% and 2.06 GAA in 30 games with Munich (DEL) last season. Treutle signed with the Coyotes as a free agent on July 29, 2015."

Treutle’s call-up means that the Arizona Coyotes now have both of their Springfield Falcons’ goalie tandem backstopping in the NHL.

On the one hand, it’s a glorious opportunity for Niklas Treutle to showcase his stuff with the team. On the other hand, the Coyotes’ playoff hopes are draped across the back of two AHL goaltenders.

For his part, Louis Domingue has been the superior option to Smith or Lindback thus far in the NHL. He’s been more consistent and his statistics are considerably better. Conversely, he’s still prone to the soft goal and now there is less and little cushion behind him.

While it is hard to envision Treutle performing worse than Lindback, he does have a .909 save percentage with Springfield thus far this season. We’re not exactly talking about Matt Murray here.

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Odds are Niklas will not see much time in the Arizona Coyotes’ crease. Domingue had already been getting the lion’s share of the games including back-to-backs, and Mike Smith will likely be set to return in a few weeks.

In the meantime, the Yotes have a young and mostly untested battery attempting to haul them into the playoffs. This should be exciting.

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