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