Monday, February 18, 2008

Why 3 may not be a crowd

Jonathan Bombulie up in Wilkes-Barre weighs in on the roster decision the Penguins are going to have to make coming up here soon:

I don't think Pittsburgh can afford to get rid of any of its goaltenders. They can't send Conklin down because he might be the No. 1, depending on how Fleury plays. They can't really risk sending down Sabourin either. It's not likely, but what if he gets claimed and Fleury re-aggravates his ankle? Then you have to make a trade or a waiver claim on a goalie because you couldn't realistically go into the playoffs with a Conklin-Curry tandem.

It's not that big a deal, really. NHL rosters expand at the trade deadline Feb. 26, so you only have to worry about using a roster spot on a third goalie for about nine more days. From a WBS perspective, it's good to get Curry and/or Brown some playoff
experience.

They just have to make sure Sabourin stays active in practice because they might need him in the playoffs. I've seen Michel Therrien use three goalies in a series before. Twice, in fact.



JB makes some good points, but usually in the NHL nobody is happy with a 3 goalie rotation; the goalies don't like it because it limits the amount of work the get, obviously in games but practices too. There are only two nets on the ice, after all.

Really though most of his hypotheticals center around another team claiming Dany Sabourin off of waivers. Sabs has had his moments, both good and bad this season but looking at the other teams in the league it's difficult to see one that might claim Sabourin this late in the season.

If we had our finger on the button (an last time we checked, we don't) Sabourin would be back in Wilkes-Barre. We'd roll with the risks that Fleury won't re-injure his ankle and Sabs wouldn't be claimed.

Oh yeah, and if Therrien ever ends up using 3 goalies in one series (short of having injuries), well then we are all in a world of hurt.

No comments: