It’s only one week into the NHL season and already there are a slew of questions in nets across the NHL. Two of the more prominent controversies from the preseason, Toronto and Washington, have spilled over into the regular season.
Toronto, Washington Have Questions in Net After Opening Weekend
In Toronto, opening night starter Vesa Toskala was pulled in his second start after surrendering three goals on eight shots to the Washington Capitals. Jonas Gustavsson, better known as "The Monster", fared slightly better, giving up three goals on 16 shots in relief. The relentless Toronto media, which has been clamoring to see Gustavsson take the number one job since he was signed from Sweden, may finally be able to rejoice: Gustavsson will start Tuesday night against the Senators. According to PIerre Lebrun, however, Ron Wilson urges caution:
“I didn’t think [Toskala] was going to play 82 games this year,” said Wilson. “So this is our third game and ‘The Monster’ is getting a start. It’s nothing more than that.”
Having been at the Washington-Toronto game, I can tell you that both goaltenders looked extremely shakey at times during the game. Of course, that may just be because they were facing a potent offense in Washington and their newly assembled defensive corps has yet to develop much chemistry in front of them. Look for Ron Wilson, who coached Toskala in San Jose and successfully managed to split playing time between him and Evgeni Nabokov, to continue to rotate the two netminders until one emerges as the true number one rather than arbitrarily deciding who will get the majority of the starts.
Meanwhile, in Washington, last year's playoff sensation Semyon Varlamov is getting his second consecutive start tonight in Philadelphia. Despite conceding four goals to the Leafs on Saturday, Varlamov was deemed to have played well by Coach Bruce Boudreau and most of the goals were blamed on defensive letdowns. When asked about Varlamov getting the nod tonight, Boudreau responded that he thought playing in Philadelphia would be "a good test" to see where the youngster is in his development. Don't read too much into the consecutive starts for Varlamov. Jose Theodore looked extremely sharp in his opening night win against the Bruins, and if last season's timeshare between Theodore and Brent Johnson is any indication, Boudreau will roll with the "hot hand" in net, but both netminders will get ample opportunity to demonstrate that they are the "hot" one.
Although not nearly as buzzworthy as Toronto or Washington, keep an eye on Vancouver and Detroit as well. Canucks superstar netminder Roberto Luongo was pulled from last night's game with the Blue Jackets after conceding three goals on three shots. Expect Luongo to bounce back from this performance, but in the past, his brilliance in net has punctuated by shakey stretches. For the sake of the city of Vancouver, let's hope he isn't entering one of those stretches. Finally, the Red Wings may be on the market for a new backup for Chris Osgood; Jimmy Howard gave up five goals to the Blues, and by all accounts did not look up to the task of playing 15-20 NHL games this season.
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