Hawks backup could be one hot commodity
Goaltender Darling may be next upstart to cash in when free agency rolls around
By now, we know Cam Talbot of the Edmonton Oilers is not only a No. 1 goalie, but the busiest netminder in the National Hockey League.
Before joining the Oilers, he was Henrik Lundqvist’s backup with the New York Rangers. Same goes for Martin Jones of the San Jose Sharks, who served as backup to Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings two seasons ago.
Both Talbot and Jones were traded to their respective teams the 2015 NHL Draft.
Teams are always on the hunt for a starting goalie. So who’s the next Talbot, who came to the Oilers for three draft picks after 59 games with New York — Glen Sather’s final gift to his old team before retiring as Rangers general manager?
The one that jumps to mind first is Scott Darling of the Chicago Blackhawks, with Antti Raanta of the Rangers, Joonas Korpisalo of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philipp Grubauer of the Washington Capitals further down the list.
Darling is the crown jewel at this time because he is the size of starters Devan Dubnyk of the Minnesota Wild and Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators. Darling is also an unrestricted free-agent July 1, so he will be available to everybody then or even to the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft because they’ll have a short window to talk to UFAs to see if they’re interested in signing with them before risking with a draft selection.
Former Oilers backup Daryl Reaugh, who sees a fair amount of the Blackhawks as a broadcaster for their Central Division rival Dallas Stars, likes Darling even with his small sample of starts behind Corey Crawford. Darling has played 72 games with a 2.27 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage as Crawford’s No. 2.
“For as good as Chicago is, they still win on goaltending an awful lot ... Crawford doesn’t get nearly enough recognition and there’s no drop-off to the backup,” said Reaugh.
Darling stands six-foor-six and covers a lot of net. He moves well for his size, though.
“He was also one of the first who blew up the theory that if you wore dark pads, shooters could find spots to beat you,” said Reaugh. “He took a chunk of time where he wore the white stuff and the black stuff for half a season and there was no difference in stats. So he debunked that ... which is why both goalies in Chicago wear dark pads.”
The size of the pads, not the colour, is what former NHL goaltender Brian Hayward, a longtime Anaheim Ducks TV colour commentator, wants to talk about most. All really big goalies such as Darling, even as good as he might be, benefit from pads that are way too far above their knees.
“That’s my soapbox,” said Hayward.
“All these six-foot-five, sixfoot-six monsters, you’re going to find out a lot about them (if they cut down the length of the pads). There’s such an advantage at that size to be able to have your feet spread wide apart and just fall and the pads take away the fivehole,” said Hayward.
“It’s always been the case, except for the last six or seven years, that tall goalies all have five-holes. Now they don’t. All they have to do is to cut it down to something reasonable,” he said.
So instead of a foot above the knees? “A foot? Ben Bishop’s are this (raising his hands about 18 inches),” said Hayward.
So if they cut down Darling’s pads?
“It will significantly affect him and will help all the true athletes in the game,” said Hayward.
There is increased pressure on goalies who go from playing about 25 games a year as a backup to about 65 as a starter, of course. Just because you can put up good numbers as a No. 2 doesn’t mean you can do it somewhere else playing three out of every four games. It depends on which team the goalie joins.
Jones went from a good team in L.A. to a better one in San Jose.
Talbot moved from a good team in New York to a young, improving one in Edmonton.
“We’ve seen it where guys play on a team with a good system and go somewhere else where they try to be the saviour ... then they get beat on stuff they haven’t seen before,” said Reaugh.
“Raanta’s seen a lot of both. He’s done a good job of stepping into a No. 1 role (with Lundqvist out).”
Lundqvist isn’t going anywhere, of course. But Raanta has the right stuff.
‘There’s not a lot of drop-off when he plays in New York,” Reaugh said. “I’d take Raanta for an expansion team. The backups who become starters are usually around 26 or 27 years old. What backups need is a presence in the net.”