Controversy, Schmontroversy

The thing is, it's time for the idea of having one "real" goalie and a scrub backup...held by everyone from fans right up to team management...to change. I think the days of the number-one goalie who can play seventy games a year are over. If we look at goalies who've put up those kinds of numbers in the last few seasons, like Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur, it's notable that they haven't had outstanding playoffs. One theory for that is simple exhaustion. Playoff hockey is intense, hard and fast, and a goalie who's been worn down by a heavy workload over the course of a season has got to be nearly superhuman to raise his game to a higher standard in April.

The other argument for teams going back to a more traditional platoon goalie system is injury prevention. Most young goalies today employ the butterfly style, and it's been proven that, with the speed of the game and number of shots goalies are facing, butterfly goalies are sustaining more hip, groin, knee and ankle injuries than in the past. A reliable backup who plays a significant number of games helps relieve the physical stress on both goalies. More work for the backup also alleviates the overwork problem for the starter.

The current school of thought, which focuses on a number-one guy and a relatively insignificant backup, depends heavily on the starter's durability. The Devils were really lucky this year to have Scott Clemmenson step up after Brodeur went down long-term. But not every team's cheap backup is able to do that. The usual system also sees the starter spelled by a backup who must step in cold and keep the team winning after he hasn't seen a game in weeks. It's tough to find a backup able to do that consistently, which would support the argument that the work should be spread more equitably between the two goalies for the good of the team. Ideally, since every single win is important, a team needs a number-one guy playing about fifty games, and a backup playing a solid thirty or so. That way, someone's always ready, no one's getting overworked or risking unnecessary injury and each goalie has a chance to gain the confidence of his teammates and his place on the ice. On the other side of things, if the starting goalie is struggling, the roles can switch around. It's a system that worked for one of the greatest teams in history, when Ken Dryden and Bunny Larocque shared the Habs' net in the seventies. Patrick Roy and Brian Hayward worked on a 45-35 game split in the late eighties, and won three Jennings Trophies for having the best team goals-against average in the league. Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog split their games nearly evenly in the same time period and their team won four Stanley Cups in that stretch.

The Canadiens are really lucky to have Price and Halak who are young, cheap, talented and...when they're on their game...able to beat anyone in the league. It's a valuable combination to have, especially when neither of them has proven he's the number-one, in the way that Luongo or Brodeur or DiPietro, is a number-one goalie. While they're both developing, Price and Halak have upside we can't yet calculate. But while they're working on becoming the goalies they'll be in five years from now, they could be a very strong tandem with a more even division of games. It would be good for them and good for the team.

The trick to making it work is obviously an understanding and agreement between the two goalies about how the games will be divided. That means one guy has to be content with playing fewer games. And the guy with more games has to accept he won't beat some of the records other goalies will set because he won't have a comparable number of career starts. It means both goalies have to sign contracts that make neither of them cap-space casualties. It's hard to imagine a player taking less just to keep his spot in a good situation, but it's something for a smart goalie to consider. There are lots of cases of a goalie receiving the number-one mantle and the big contract that goes along with it, only to falter under pressure and end up waived or traded for little return. Jose Theodore collapsed in Montreal and Martin Gerber did the same in Ottawa. Other goalies who were once valuable members of a team, like Ilya Bryzgalov and Manny Legace, have been let go with little fanfare. Life's not easy for an NHL goalie, and their futures are only slightly more secure than those of NHL coaches.

I don't expect the dominant mindset on how the goaltending position should be filled to change overnight. But there are compelling reasons for a team to keep two strong, competent goalies on the roster to truly share the netminding load. In the meantime, though, while the Canadiens are trying to decide how to use their young goalies, it would be nice to see supporters of the team really support both of them.  They're not enemies, and if they can both find a way to play well, they can be the best friends the team can have.