Arizona Coyotes: An Outlook On Goaltending
The Arizona Coyotes’ goaltending situation is in the spotlight this week as Howlin’ Hockey looks to break down who will continue to be a Coyote next year and who won’t.
As the season continues to near its scheduled end, the Arizona Coyotes are beginning to look towards the future.
This season’s crazy highs and even crazier lows can be traced back to a few key events and subjects. The defense has struggled mightily all season. Max Domi, Anthony Duclair and Jordan Martinook have all jumped onto the NHL stage as regular players with productive qualities. But perhaps the biggest reason for the Coyotes’ bipolar play this season can be traced to goaltending.
Now you may be asking yourself how the goaltending this season went down so here’s a brief summary of what happened:
The Yotes started off hot coming out of the gates in October on the back of what appeared to be a rejuvenated Mike Smith.
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But then came the end of November and December, a time of the year that doesn’t particularly like the Arizona Coyotes franchise.
Smitty suffered a significant core injury leading to the call up of a young goaltending prospect named Louis Domingue. Initially backing up backup goalie Anders Lindback, the Coyotes floundered with Lindback starting in net. So when head coach Dave Tippett gave Domingue the starting nod, King Louis never looked back.
But that isn’t the end of the Coyotes goaltending adventure this season. In February, Lindback suffered an off-ice, lower body injury that put him on the injured reserve list for the balance of the season. In the fervor of Lindback going down, the Coyotes activated their emergency goaltender Nathan Shoenfeld and made the call up to Springfield for a new backup to replace Lindback.
Initially, it was Nicklas Treutle who got the promotion and later Marek Langhamer, but neither were long term replacements because a familiar face was set to return to the ice at Gila River Arena.
Mike Smith, who recovered from his surgery, leapt back onto the ice without missing a beat. As a tandem with Domingue, the Arizona Coyotes’ goaltending has improved heavily over the past half dozen games, showing what the season could have been had our goaltenders stayed healthy (and Domingue been given the shot as backup over Lindback last offseason).
With the season nearly complete and playoff race elimination a mere formality, we as a fan base must look at the team’s bright future and ask ourselves, “Who are going to be our goalies of the future, let alone next season?”
To start y’all off, I’ve chosen three words to respectively describe the three goalies currently on the NHL roster; confusing, promising, and streaky.
Next: Mr. Confusing, Anders Lindback
Don Maloney’s special guest this year in the “Arizona Coyotes’ Center for Goaltender Career Rehabilitation and Innovation” is…Anders Lindback
First off, the confusing character in the bunch, Anders Lindback.
After the rebirth of Devan Dubnyk‘s career during Mike Smith’s injury last season, the Arizona Coyotes called up Louis Domingue and he, for the most part, looked okay. Obviously, any rookie call up at any position needs substantial seasoning and ice time, but he looked alright.
Then came the offseason and Coyotes GM Don Maloney decided it was a good time to continue his career’s work of making Arizona a paradise for rehabilitating goaltenders into NHL life. So he signed the journeyman goaltender Anders Lindback as a rehab project.
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But this time, the project blew up in the mad scientist’s face. Lindback has posted a sub-.900 save percentage, has a below .500 win percentage and allows over 3 goals per appearance on average. That is not a successful rehab project at all, particularly when compared to Dubnyk’s 9-5-2 win/loss/OT loss line and a .916 save percentage.
Dubnyk also fetched a 3rd round pick last year as the Arizona Coyotes tanked for Connor McDavid and ended up settling for Dylan Strome, who isn’t a bad consolation prize I might add. Lindback, on the other hand, fetched himself a spot on the longterm injured reserve list due to an Achilles injury.
In all, Lindback was a general disappointment and that’s not super surprising because sitting in my dorm room at the beginning of this school year, I already had scant hope for Lindback’s tenure in Arizona. I imagine the thought was unanimous around Arizona Coyotes’ fandom.
Even more, as soon as the season started, I really didn’t see his career getting revitalized after Mr. Streaky started off hot. But as the wretched month of December freezes over Arizona goaltender’s ability to stop pucks and not get hurt, it became apparent that Lindback was really not a solution to anything except staying afloat in the Pacific Division, barely.
So, with all that said, Anders Lindback’s signing ended up being a failed rehab project and in retrospect, a little confusing.
Next: Mr. Promising, Louis Domingue
Meet Mr. Promising, Louis Domingue…
The reason Lindback’s presence in the desert is confusing is based on the idea that I see some promise right above him on the roster.
Louis Domingue may not be the next Jonathon Quick or Henrik Lundqvist, but he’s a pretty good developing prospect. He’s young and agile with a good eye on the puck. Now any goalie who wants to succeed in the NHL has to have those qualities and then some, but Domingue has the advantage of being in arguably the worst division in the NHL.
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Finding oneself in a Pacific Division that is far less threatening than the other three divisions means that the trial by fire of playing in the top hockey league in the world could be a bit easier.
On top of that is the fact that there are no original six teams with their extensive media coverage in-division, and there’s also the bit where the three Canadian teams in-division are much worse off than the Arizona Coyotes when it comes to goaltending.
Now some of you may say, “Hey, Ryan Miller plays in Vancouver and Jonas Hiller in Calgary; they’re pretty good!”.
Sure they are, but have they looked good this year? No.
Domingue was a work horse for Tippett and the Arizona Coyotes on short notice, playing in 38 games and posting a .914 save percentage. It’s a middling save percentage to be sure, but it’s fair to argue the workload Domingue faced in late January and most of February got to him, particularly when Lindback was injured and there was no viable second option for Tippett.
The point being in all of this, Louis Domingue is a pretty solid goaltending prospect who is developing in a pretty bad division where half the teams are visibly worse than the team he plays for.
Given the right contract come this season’s end, he could be the solution to the perpetual streakiness of the next goalie up for evaluation.
Next: Mr. Streaky
He’s been the king of streaky goaltending since his arrival in the Valley before the 2011 offseason. Mr. Streaky is, in the Coyotes’ PA announcer’s voice, number 41, MIKE SMITH!
Mike Smith has had some good years in the past, even one Vezina Trophy level year.
Mike Smith has also had some really bad years in the past, say the last two or three season. So, inevitably, Mike Smith’s play can best be described as streaky.
The best comparison for Smitty’s play isn’t even a hockey player.
Here in Chicago where I go to school, the Chicago Bears are kinda a big deal, albeit a mediocre football team. None the less, a few years back they had a quarterback by the name of Rex Grossman. The saying goes that you never knew which Rex you were gonna see on Sunday, good Rex or bad Rex. Grossman also had a knack for getting himself injured a lot.
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Mike Smith is Rex Grossman’s hockey spirit animal.
When Mike Smith steps out onto the ice every night, you never know which Smitty you will see between the pipes. When he’s good, he’s 2012 good. He makes dynamic saves, brilliant poke checks, flashes the leather like Diamondbacks’ Gold-Glover Paul Goldschmidt and stacks the pads with the best goalies in the league. He is a fantastic goaltender.
But when Bad Smitty shows up, its much like watching the Edmonton goaltending situation, Sonoran style.
To be succinct, its just flat bad. Pucks get in from bad angle shots, he gets fixated on playing the puck behind the net then only to notice after parking himself behind his net that the puck is already in his net and worse of all, he forgets what his blocker is good for.
By the way, a blocker is good for stopping pucks and holding sticks. On bad nights, Mike Smith does neither.
Mike Smith is streaky. And the only reason Mr. Streaky is still around and the Arizona Coyotes aren’t shopping the open free agent market for a goaltending upgrade is because of the genius behind the “Arizona Coyotes’ Center for Goaltending Rehabilitation and Innovation”.
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Don Maloney gave Mike Smith a huge and luxurious contract. In fact, according to General Fanager, Mike Smith’s contract is a whopping 5.66 million dollar contract through the end of the 2018-2019 season. That is a lot of cash, and far too much cash to simply buyout like the 1.44 million dollar Mike Ribeiro disaster the Coyotes bailed out of last year.
So, we are stuck with Smith for a few more years. We can’t trade him because there is likely to be no interest and he has little worth on the market. On top of that, the brilliant contract GMDM offered Smith has a full no trade clause.
Isn’t our goaltending situation awesome? *high-fives myself in the face*
Next: Goaltenders in Development
The Coyotes have a pretty mediocre farm system when it comes to goaltender stocks.
Down on the farm where the draftees and non-drafted free agent signings lay roosted, 4 goaltenders wait for the opportunity to expose themselves to the NHL bonfire.
Nicklas Treutle recently experienced this searing heat, starting one game in two appearances this season. He gave up 5 goals on 20 shots. I’m pretty bad at math, but that isn’t all that fantastic of a save percentage. Then again, the most experience Treutle had before this season was professional hockey in Germany which isn’t particularly stocked with the likes Corey Perry, Cam Fowler and Rickard Rakell.
It’s understandable that he got demolished in his lone start. He needs more time to develop and he is only 24 so the only thing stopping him is an expiring contract at the end of this season. But he will be a restricted free agent, so if the Coyotes want to keep him around that option is the organization’s to decide.
Another goaltender who got the call up from “Triple-A” Springfield this year was Marek Langhamer. Initially called up to replace Treutle after getting pummeled by Anaheim, Langhamer never got to touch ice for more than practice and warmups because of Mike Smith’s return. Langhamer is noted as a very talented prospect who has the pieces but still needs to put the puzzle together.
Based off of what I’ve seen coming from training camp last fall, he has the ability to grow into an NHL goaltender, but he just is not there yet. Given some more time in the minors, Langhamer, like Domingue, could be a long-term solution to the Arizona Coyotes’ goaltending issues.
Two other notable goalies in the development system right now are Adin Hill and Erik Kallgren.
Hill is ranked second in Coyotes’ goaltending prospect talent depth according to Hockey’s Future. Hill was drafted in the 3rd round last year at the NHL Amateur Entry Draft and currently plays in the WHL for the Portland Winterhawks. Based on Hill’s junior statistics, he’s really something.
In 115 games with his junior team, Hill has posted a combined 2.47 goals against average and a .924 save percentage. More time and a successful stint in the Coyotes’ professional minor league system will tell whether Hill’s talent sticks with him or bleeds off, but right now I like what he’s showing off.
Kallgren is currently playing in the Swedish professional leagues but does not appear to be signing with the Arizona Coyotes until after next season. Hockey’s Future’s profile of Kallgren notes exceptional lateral skill and agility but, as many goaltenders fail to develop quickly, does’t have disciplined technical skills, meaning blocking and catching as well as positioning and intuition.
Kallgren could develop down the road, and that’s likely the context of when you might see him on the Arizona Coyotes’ roster within the next three seasons. A while down the road.
Next: Restricted and Unrestricted Free Agent Goaltenders
The free agent market for goaltenders this offseason will be busy and the Arizona Coyotes will likely not be in on the action.
Honestly, talking about free agent goaltenders is a little futile given Mike Smith’s burgeoning contract. But as a fan of the game of hockey, I’ll due my due diligence and tell you what goaltending fun we will be missing out on.
We are missing out on a lot, or at least I’d assume Don Maloney may think so.
Just listen to the list of these UFA’s and try not imagine GM Don Maloney drooling a little at possible clientele for the “Arizona Coyotes’ Center for Goaltender Rehabilitation and Innovation”: Cam Ward, Jonas Hiller, Karri Ramo, Antti Raanta, Jamer Reimer and Alex Stalock.
That, to be honest, is not a half bad list of free agents. They all have flaws and all of them have technical skills that are either permanently stunted or developmentally delayed thanks to mishandling and other managerial snafu’s, but there is at least one good name in that bunch.
The RFA market is much more interesting and even more unlikely to have any bearing in Glendale. Darcy Kuemper, Frederik Andersen, Petr Mrazek, Michael Hutchinson and Latvian Olympic folk hero Kristers Gudlevskis headline a pretty deep RFA goaltending market. The downside of such a good market is that most of them will be resigned before other teams can touch them or have their negotiating rights traded before they can test free agency.
Out of all of those players, only one in my mind may end up on the Arizona Coyotes roster and if he did, I still think it would be a mistake. Jason LaBarbera was a longtime Coyotes backup tendy and during his tenure, he was reliable and stable as a second man on the goaltending depth chart.
He is aging and currently playing in Philadelphia’s minor league team but I do believe he is still a qualified NHL backup.
Altogether, the Arizona Coyotes should not and likely won’t be addressing the free agent market when it comes to goaltending this summer. So after all of that, where does that leave fans and the organization. Final analysis is up next.
Next: Final Goaltending Analysis
Honestly, you’re probably gonna see a lot of what you saw this year last year with mostly the same characters…
Mike Smith’s contract dictates Mike Smith will be your 2016-2017 Arizona Coyotes starting goaltender. I’m pretty fed up with Mr. Streaky and his trail of never-ending injuries but money is money and we may as well put it to use if we are gonna spend it.
Your backup, in my eyes will be Louis Domingue. King Louis deserves an NHL contract and the right to back-up Mike Smith and he deserves it now. In my best Chris Berman ‘Swami’ impression, I predict “Swami says: 2 year contract for King Louis”.
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After that, I think everything we saw this year will be much of the same next year. Hill and Kallgren will stay abroad while Langhamer and Treutle play in Springfield.
Moreover, we will see Anders Lindback banished back to the land of misfit goalies. The location will likely be somewhere in Canada, where apparently the land of hockey can’t seem to put one of their seven teams in a playoff spot while every Californian team is throwing away razors in favor of playoff beards.
My final analytical thought is on my free agent of choice.
Would I love to see Jason LaBarbera return as the Coyotes backup? Ya, I think I would.
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Will he? Most likely no.
To summarize, your 2016-17 Arizona Coyotes goaltending situation: the team will rely a streaky goaltender to start with a decent alternative backing him up and a mixed bag in the AHL in coming seasons.