Monday, June 4, 2012

Vokoun Marches with the Penguins:



When the Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated in the first round of this years playoffs by their rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, there was no mystery as to why their playoff run was cut short. Expected to be the favorite out of the Eastern Conference to advance to the Stanley Cup finals, the Penguins were mired by goaltending problems.

Marc Andre Fleury has been the man behind the mask for Pittsburgh since the 2005-2006 season. He has given the Penguins consistent goaltending for years, even backstopping them to the finals not once but twice; winning a Stanley Cup in the process.

However, this year was different. Between poor defence and Fleury’s sub-par play, the Penguins found the puck in their own net more times than they would have liked.



Read more about the Penguins problems and what they did to solve them, after the jump!




Some have suggested that Fleury could have been a victim of fatigue which is very possible. He played 86, 80, 72, and 73 games respectively in the past 4 years (including the playoffs). Yes, Fleury is still young (only 27 years old) however that is an extremely heavy workload for any goalie, young or old.

The first round matchup between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh was quite possibly one of the most exciting playoff series in recent memory because of the hatred between the clubs and an uncharacteristic number of goals scored.

Playoff series are notoriously known for being tight, defense first hockey with the majority of games being low scoring. Someone threw that book out the window for this matchup:

  • Game 1: 4-3 PHI (OT)
  • Game 2: 8-5 PHI
  • Game 3: 8-4 PHI
  • Game 4: 10-3 PIT
  • Game 5: 3-2 PIT
  • Game 6: 5-1 PHI

Aside from a quiet Game 5, this series was a goal scoring clinic. When it comes to the playoffs, chances are your team is not going to end up on top when they give up 30 goals in six games. To make matters worse? Fleury’s splits during the playoffs: a 4.63 GAA and an .835 save percentage... Yikes.

With a roster that features so many stars and so much promise, Ray Shero, Pittsburgh’s General Manager went out and did what he had to in order to improve his team.

In 2009, he signed Brent Johnson as a free agent to backup Fleury. While Johnson put up respectable numbers in his first two years with the club (2.47 GAA, .914 Save %) his numbers dropped significantly last season (3.11 GAA, .883 Save %).

It became clear that not only did Pittsburgh’s young goaltending star need more rest, he needed a goalie that could play 20-30 games and give the team a legitimate chance to win every contest.

Last summer when Philadelphia had their own goaltending problems they traded their two best forwards (Jeff Carter and captain Mike Richards) in order to create cap space to sign goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to a gargantuan 9 year, $51 million contract. Unlike their hated rivals, Shero made his moves without jeopardizing his team’s cap space.

This summer, Shero acquired Tomas Vokoun for a 7th round draft pick, landing his exclusive negotiating rights until July 1st. Wasting no time, the two sides agreed to terms on a two year, $4 million contract. Vokoun’s veteran presence allows Fleury to not be fatigued while still giving Pittsburgh a competitive team, night after night.

The 35 year old Vokoun is slowly nearing the end of his career with potentially another contract after this one expires. The move is a “low risk high reward” gamble with the Penguins only having to cover the $4 million over two years. If Vokoun plays poorly, his contract will expire sooner than later. If he plays well, the sky's the limit for this talented club.

Some have already began speculating that this move should light a fire under Fleury and Vokoun will push for the starting position. However both share the same agent (Alan Walsh) so it is unlikely that Walsh would push Vokoun to sign with the Penguins if it would do more harm than good to his younger client in Fleury.

Shoring up their goaltending for the next two years, Pittsburgh looks as scary as ever with a roster that consists of Malkin, Crosby, Jordan Staal, Fleury, and now Vokoun. Somenone better tell the Eastern Conference to watch out because this 2012-2013 Penguins squad already looks like an early favorite to do some serious damage come next season.

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