Generally, one of the biggest pieces of the team puzzle come draft day is finding your goalie(s). When you're picking a goalie, you really wanna make sure that you get yourself a starting keeper for any one of the thirty teams. Here's a run-down of the team-by-team situation before training camp.
There are several no-brainers going into camp... for the poolie, anyways... and Anaheim is certainly one of them. Jean-Sebastian Giguere should come into camp as the number one guy. As talented as he as made himself known to be, the questions of the Mighty Duck team in front of him and the shrinking pads makes me a tad skeptical towards going after him early in the pool. He will get most of the starts in Anaheim, but I have a feeling wins will be hard to come by for him.
With the career-ending knee injury to Pasi Nurminen in the last couple weeks, Kari Lehtonen should get 50 starts this season, if not more, for Atlanta. Lehtonen is a goaltending phenom who excelled in the AHL last season and should be able to escalate to the big show this season, but he is still only 22. Mike Dunham will get quite a few starts this year to rest the young muscles of Lehtonen, but Lehtonen will see the most time. I like his skills for quite a few points as well.
Andrew Raycroft saw action in 57 games in '03/'04 and managed to sneak out quite a few pool points. Boston doesn't quite have the depth in goal, nor any experience beyond Raycroft, so he'll be the easy pick for the starting role unless there's another signing before the season starts. The Bruins should be a fairly good team this year and Raycroft should ride the waves good fortune for the season.
In Buffalo, it'll be a great race for the most starts in the crease. Perennial starter, Martin Biron will take on both Mika Noronen and Ryan Miller who are all looking for the big job. Biron has been the starter in Bufallo for quite some time now and the best challenge will come from Miller by October. Buffalo also isn't one of my favourites for this season for wins... but the way they look in the pre-season will tell a whole lot, even though the games don't count for much. Keep your eyes on the situation... the competition may just make these keepers much better.
It's quite obvious after the big money deal handed down who will be the number one guy in Calgary. Mikka Kiprusoff will backstop the Flames on the road to get back to the Finals. The Flames have become a better team (on paper) than they were heading to the Finals, but how reliable will Kipper be? The Flames goaltending reliability hasn't been a great topic of discussion of the past few years, especially when hopes are pinned to these guys. Another point of note, I don't remember too many Finnish goalies standing the test of time and I have Kari Lehtonen may be the only one to give me hope. Pick Kiprusoff for the benefit of backstopping the Flames, not his potential as a starting keeper.
Carolina will be one of the great mysteries in the crease. As I understand, Martin Gerber is the only goaltender in their signed roster that has had any NHL experience. This shouldn't sit well with 'Canes fans. 11 wins in 32 games in '03/'04 isn't awful numbers, but they certainly are not starting numbers. Unless he's gotten substantially better, stronger & faster... Carolina should have been on the bandwagon to sign themselves an anchor for the beginning of the year. I have heard that Arturs Irbe may make a return to the Red & Black, but it's not guaranteed. He is 39 after all. Beware of the Hurricanes this year.
Chicago took it upon themselves to sign the Cup winning goaltender with the Lightning, Nikolai Khabibulin. With the 'Bulin Wall, the Blackhawks have a fairly solid backstop in their organization, which should give the rest of the team the added confidence to go out on the ice and perform without too much worry of a breakdown in the crease. That sort of confidence will reflect everywhere in the team, including the win column. This is certainly another one of the 'no-brainers' mentioned earlier. I would say a Top 5 goalie in the league and a 1st rounder in the pool.
Columbus is also blessed with a good goaltending situation. Marc Denis is considered the number one guy for the Blue Jackets, but Pascal Leclaire and Martin Prusek are licking their lips at the possiblity of pouncing on the spot should Denis faulter or become injured. Denis is good for 60+ starts in a season, winning 21 in the last season of play. The Jackets are getting better as well... so Columbus will be a great potential as a sleeper market for goalies. Pencil in Denis a little higher than some other less than favourable goalies in the league. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Once a goaltending legacy in Denver, the Avalanche aren't quite as deep as they may want to be coming into the new season. David Aebischer's 32 wins last season are very good, but not quite Cup worthy production of already a proud organization that knew the likes of Patrick Roy. With the lack of NHL experience behind Aebischer, the Swiss keeper should find himself the majority of starts for the Avalanche. He'll be a pretty solid pick-up late in the first round.
Finally in Part 1, the Dallas Stars. No surprise to see Marty Turco at the top of the heap. Turco leads the cast in the Big D crease and his 70+ game ability for a great team makes him a Top 5 pick in the first round of the draft. The Stars should be a force to be watched again this year with depth at most every position. I can see the Stars doing great things again this coming season. Points will be coming fast and furious most nights. My only question is will Turco be good enough for the shootout wins?
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