Arizona Coyotes’ Louis Domingue Shows Off New Mask
Arizona Coyotes goaltender Louis Domingue had a big offseason. He returns to training camp prepared to push Mike Smith and propel the Coyotes into playoff relevance.
Louis Domingue took the Arizona Coyotes’ fan base by storm in 2015-16.
After nearly leaving the organization for a contract in Europe, Domingue signed on for another season to play goaltender for the Yotes’ AHL affiliate Springfield Falcons.
In December, when Mike Smith picked up an injury and backup Anders Lindback couldn’t cut the mustard, Louis Domingue filled in brilliantly.
The kid kept the club in playoff contention far longer than expected and was rewarded with a two-year, one-way contract worth $2.1M for his efforts.
The only thing better than Lou re-signing was the way he announced the news:
The 24-year-old netminder also became a newly minted father in April. Seems like everything is turning up aces for Louis right now.
Expectations in the desert are much higher than they’ve been in several years. Part of that is thanks to Domingue, who will now form a much more reliable tandem with Mike Smith than what the Yotes iced last season.
To honor Arizona sports, Louis Domingue had a new mask painted by Dave Gunnarsson that features some of the Valley’s greatest legends.
Larry Fitzgerald, Randy Johnson, and Steve Nash are all represented on the mask to cover the other three major sports. Former Arizona Coyotes goaltender and goaltending coach Sean Burke is the Yotes’ representative on the new lid.
Before choosing to go with Burke, Domingue considered putting his captain, Shane Doan, in the design but decided against it.
“That would have been weird,” Domingue said with a smile before explaining how he likely would put Doan’s image on a future mask after the 39-year-old Coyotes captain retires.
It would have been a bit strange to see a current player immortalizing another current player on his mask. On the other hand, while we love Burke, there’s certainly no bigger Coyotes’ legend than Doan.
Regardless, Lou will suit up behind Smitty in a few short weeks and we’ll get a glimpse of how this new and improved goaltending tandem will work out.
It’s not impossible to think that Louis Domingue could supplant Mike Smith as the number one netminder given the disappointment of Smith’s past few seasons.
Next: Coyotes 2015-16 Player Grades: Louis Domingue
For Head Coach Dave Tippett and the Arizona Coyotes, however, the hope is that Domingue remains as a very competent backup to a resurgent Mike Smith.
At least for a couple more years.