SAVING IT FOR THE PLAYOFFS
‘Load management’ for goalies is growing as an NHL strategy
Tuukka Rask needed a break. He just didn’t know how to ask for it.
As a goalie who earns $7 million per year — more than Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, serial Selke Trophy winner Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand — Rask knew what was expected of him. He was the team’s No. 1 goalie, its workhorse, someone who was capable of playing in every single game if needed.
And he nearly did.
In 2014-15, he appeared in 70 games, which was the third-most in the league. The following year, he made 64 starts. Then 65. But while he was in the Bruins’ net for most of the regular season, he wasn’t playing when it truly mattered, having made just six starts in the playoffs in those three years combined.
Something had to change. In order to play more, Rask knew he would have to play less.
“I thought that for many years,” he said. “It’s kind of a tough thing, as you know, if your starter makes $8- or $9-million. You want him to play. But then you want to win a Cup, so you have to think of it like, ‘If this guy plays 70 games, is he going to be able to play 25 in the playoffs at the same level?’ Versus, ‘OK, we’re paying him to play 45-50 really good games and then we’ve got the other guy, and he’s going to play 25 really good ones.’”
Last year, the Bruins finally decided upon the latter. Realizing that Rask didn’t have enough in the tank when the playoffs rolled around, the team signed Jaroslav Halak to be his backup. But it was a relationship that quickly developed into more than that.
Rask played just 46 games in 2018-19, while Halak appeared in 40 games. It was a tandem that didn’t lead to a Vezina Trophy nomination for Rask, but it did lead to an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final, as Rask enjoyed the best playoff run of his career.
“You need both goalies to play good in order to have that tandem to work,” said Rask, who posted a .934 save percentage in the playoffs. “Everybody wants to play. The older you get, the easier it gets to realize it’s not about me — it’s about the team.”
Really, it’s about load management. The term gained widespread recognition in the sports world after the Toronto Raptors scientifically rested Kawhi Leonard en route to winning an NBA championship last season. And while it’s a concept that’s been around in the NBA for years, the NHL is a different beast.
With the exception of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who ran away with the Presidents’ Trophy last season, every point in the standings counts. Every game matters. For forwards, such as Patrick Kane or Connor McDavid, taking time off — even if it’s one night — could mean the difference between making the playoffs or winning a scoring title.
“I don’t think I would ever want to do it,” said Kane. “Especially if you’re in the hunt for
(the Art Ross Trophy), you’re not taking a game off. But I could see it creep in with goalies. You’re seeing it where they used to play 65 games and no goalie is playing anywhere near that anymore.”
Indeed, it wasn’t just the
Bruins who realized that quality is better than quantity. Last year might have been was the first year when load management came to the NHL. But really, it’s been coming for some time now.
In 2007-08, Martin Brodeur and Evgeni Nabokov only had five games off, as six goalies played in 70-plus games and 10 played in 65-plus games. In the last four seasons, only one goalie has made 70-plus starts (Cam Talbot in 2016-17) and the number of goalies who have appeared in 65 or more games has dropped from six in 2015-16 to five in 2016-17 to two in 2018-19.
The back-up goalie, a position that required you to sit at the end of the bench with a baseball cap on your head, is no longer just a last resort option.
Calgary relied on a tandem en route to finishing first in the Western Conference. So did Carolina, Colorado, Dallas, Nashville and the New York Islanders. All of them made the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup with Jordan Binnington, who made just 32 starts, as the No. 1 goalie.
Only two goalies (Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk and Montreal’s Carey Price) appeared in
65 or more games last season. Both missed the playoffs, while Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, who ranked third with 63 games, failed to get out of the first round.
Coincidence? Maybe. After all, it’s not like St. Louis purposely rested Binnington for the post-season.
“I don’t know how many games he ended up playing,” said Toronto’s Frederik Andersen, “I don’t think he was sitting on the bus with the farm team waiting for them to be at the bottom of the league.”
For the record, Binnington played a combined 48 games in the NHL and the American Hockey League last season. That would have ranked him 21st among NHL goalies.
Perhaps that is why heading into this season, more and more goalie are deciding that two heads are better than one.
Tampa Bay, which was swept in the first round, signed Curtis McElhinney to take some games off of Andrei Vasilevskiy. Chicago signed Robin Lehner to a tandem role with Corey Crawford, while Edmonton and Calgary essentially swapped backups, and Montreal picked up Keith Kinkaid so that Price won’t have to flirt with 70 starts again.
Even the Maple Leafs, who invited two goalies to compete for the backup job this year, are looking to lighten Andersen’s load.
“I want to play as much as possible,” said Andersen. “It’s always a challenge to get into the playoffs first of all. You have to find a way in there. But sometimes it’s better if you save it.”