Washington's New View in Net, Take 2
As Pucksandbooks pointed out in his recent post, his assessment of the Capitals' goaltender situation was his own. Now I don't dispute Pucks' facts, nor are his conclusions irrational — but from my perspective they seem a bit dire and premature mere hours after the signing. So, as a counterpoint, here's my take on the situation which, while hardly sunny, is a more optimistic outlook.
Let's start with the bad: There's no doubt that a combination of bad planning and bad luck has left the organization with a goaltender dilemma — one that has been hanging over the team, Sword of Damocles-like, for years now. Olie Kolzig's career naturally progressed from stellar to solid to adequate as he aged; a successor needed to be a top team priority before Kolzig's ability to carry a starter's workload was in doubt. As Pucks pointed out, the organization made such an attempt by bringing in Maxime Oulett from Philly; sadly, Maximus turned out to be more of a minimus.
Varlamov and Neuvirth are top prospects and progressing quickly; it is certainly feasible to see one if not both in Caps' uniforms come 2010-11. Yet, really, a top-tier netminder was needed five years ago to avoid the team's recent stop-gap measures. Easier said than done, to be sure . . . building and maintaining a team is tough. But if it were an easy job then it wouldn't pay well, and GMGM couldn't afford all those snazzy suits.
While the team's need for a "bridge" goaltender, and its difficulty in addressing that need earlier, led to their shaky netminder situation this offseason, the team could do little to change the past on July 1, 2008.
So let me say this: the organization made the right call with Huet. The information slowly revealing itself indicates that, while the Capitals tried to lowball Huet initially, they were more than flexible in eventually giving him exactly what he asked for . . . only to have Huet reject the contract like James T. Kirk scoffed at alien STDs.
Once Huet made the business decision to squeeze a bit extra from another team, the Caps immediately snagged the best guy still available: Jose Theodore. General consensus saw Huet and Theodore as the two best 'tenders in this year's admittedly goalie-light free agent pool. Some would say they were equal; some feel Huet was #1 and Theodore #2 or #1A.
Regardless, once Huet made it clear that he wanted more money and a four-year deal, the Caps acted quickly to get the remaining free agent with the best potential as a starting netminder.
Huet returning for 3 years at a reasonable price would have likely been the best outcome for the Caps. But Theodore is no slouch; their styles are different, yet in many ways Huet and Theodore have similar pasts, similar potential, and similar stats. Remember, too, that expectations for Huet would have been intense based on his 20 games in a Capitals sweater . . . a mercenary like Huet may be one of those archetypal contract-year wonders who slip back to normalcy once they get their big deal. Tying up $22 million for four years of average play is not what the Capitals need — particularly not with a pricey Alexander Semin contract just a year or two away.
Has the loss of Huet impacted the Capitals' chances of a deep post-season run in the next two or three years? Perhaps a bit — but mostly due to the team adjusting to their third starting goalie in less than a year, and the impact that may have on defensive strategies and cohesiveness, than a significant drop-off in goaltender skill.
Change is scary; changing a goaltender doubly so. But with a well rounded roster, stars like Ovechkin and Green, and top-notch coaches and staff (notably in Theodore's case, superstar goalie coach Dave Prior), the 2008-09 Capitals hardly project to be bottom-feeders.
Let's see Theodore don his new Capitals' sweater and get a few games under his belt before deeming his signing a failure or a success.
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