So Jordan Binnington in 2018-19, Andrew Hammond in 2014-15, Dwayne Roloson in 2005-06, and am I missing anybody?
Am I missing a goaltender who joined an NHL team in midseason, either via trade or promotion from within the system, and made a difference?
The occasions are so rare they have become exceptions to the rule of general managing. The occasions are so rare that history is surely an obstacle to, say, New Jersey’s Tom Fitzgerald, as he attempts to patch the leak that has been haunting his team throughout the season.
The Devils are caught dealing with heightened expectations after a leapfrog 2022-23 in which they arrived early. They are not getting enough saves to merit confidence. They are not playing nearly good enough defense or showing defensive awareness to give their self-doubting goaltenders meaningful support. It’s a vicious cycle, and there is likely not a Binnington, Hammond or Roloson to come to the rescue.
So perhaps Fitzgerald’s primary mission should be to shore up the defense that was weakened first by offseason free-agent defections of Ryan Graves and Damon Severson, and recently by the potential year-ending torn left pectoral muscle sustained by Dougie Hamilton at the end of November, rather than seeking that white whale in nets.
Perhaps that represents the surest way to attack the problem and elevate the club’s save percentage, which was tied for last in the league with Carolina at .878. The Hurricanes have already waived Antti Raanta and said no thanks to Jaro Halak.
Young’uns Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec have crazy upside to their games that is likely to be realized sooner rather than later, but the time is not quite now. It hasn’t helped that John Marino has taken a step back after his boffo season a year ago. Kevin Bahl is hardly a finished product.
And though Brendan Smith might be the most willing teammate in the league, New Jersey is better off with No. 2 as a depth piece, as he was a year ago. Entering Saturday’s match against the Red Wings, the Smith-Luke Hughes pair had been on for two goals for and nine against with an xGF of 41.64 percentage.
Binnington came up to the Blues for good the first week of January 2019 when St. Louis was last overall in the league and went 24-5-1 with a 1.89 GAA and .927 save percentage to not only lead his team all the way back to a playoff spot, but to the franchise’s one and only Stanley Cup since joining the league in the 1967 expansion.
Hammond was summoned by Ottawa in the middle of February 2015 with the Senators buried in the conference. The 27-year-old turned himself into a folk hero, “The Hamburglar,” by going 20-1-2 with a .1.79 GAA and .941 save percentage in leading his team to an improbable playoff spot. Hammond won 11 games the remainder of his NHL career.
Roloson was acquired by the Oilers from the Wild at the 2005-06 deadline — for a first and a third — and though his numbers were only decent the rest of the way, the then-36-year-old led the team to the Cup Final before going down with an injury in Game 1 of the series.
Again. Those are the exceptions. More relevant, perhaps, is the history of Ryan Miller being unable to carry the Blues past the Blackhawks in the first round of the 2014 playoffs after St. Louis acquired the winningest U.S.-born goaltender in NHL history from Buffalo at the deadline.
Now, the Blues were equally complicit in their six-game demise, but this represents the NHL cautionary tale against trading for a marquee goaltender in midseason. It doesn’t happen.
There are, though, defensemen out there for the Devils, even if we are only perusing the rental market. And Fitzgerald may not be limited by salary-cap concerns, for if Hamilton is out for the season, the Devils would be able to replace the defenseman’s $9 million hit without having to worry about subtracting any for No. 7’s hypothetical return for the playoffs.
The NHL’s holiday roster freeze that goes from Dec. 19-27 is an anachronism. It was from the day when GM’s actually made meaningful trades outside of the three-week period leading to the deadline. Now, cap constraints — 17 teams are in LTI — and timidity are roadblocks to player transactions. It doesn’t mean that Fitzgerald will be able to find a partner just because he wants to dance.
But if Calgary is going to get down to it, 26-year-old Noah Hanifin, second on the team with 23:14 of ice time per game, seems like a perfect target. The Flames’ Chris Tanev would be on New Jersey’s list.
Would the Metro summer chalk — the Devils and Carolina, the former out of the playoffs, the latter hanging in by the teeniest of margins — attempt to help each other, and would there be any way for New Jersey to get either pending UFAs Brett Pesce or Brady Skjei? I wonder if Nashville’s Tyson Barrie has any appeal when the issue is defensive awareness.
It takes two to deal. Instead of attempting to pick a goalie out of his hat to ease the team’s burden, perhaps Fitzgerald should get a defenseman to ease the burden of Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid.
Holiday Snapshot.
Most Pleasant Surprises: 1. Vancouver; 2. Philadelphia; 3. Winnipeg; 4. Rangers; 5. Washington; 6. Nashville.
Biggest Disappointments: 1. Buffalo; 2. Carolina; 3. Minnesota; 4. Devils; 5. Seattle; 6. Ottawa.
This Just In: Connor McDavid has been traded to the Dodgers.
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