Coming into the season, Carolina’s defense or goaltending should not have been a question mark for anyone. Especially not the defensive game. The defense equipment of the hurricane pack as a whole can be considered the strongest in the buck league with good reason.
However, the beginning has been sticky. The red light behind the Carolina goal has come on more times than any other team in the first couple of weeks: 30 times in six games.
So far, there have been no saviors from goalkeepers.
There have been three entrepreneurs: Frederik Andersen, Antti Raanta mixed Pyotr Kochetkov. Out of the trio, no one’s save percentage even reaches 86. The averages of those allowed are all over four, the Russian goalkeeper even over five.
The peculiar three-goalie team is indeed an interesting topic of conversation around Carolina. It’s interesting especially now that the start has been sticky.
A special goalie hat
A quick primer on the goalkeeper situation. Carolina already used the same goalkeeper trio last season as it does now, and in the middle of the season, signed a four-year contract with the 24-year-old Kochetkov – even somewhat surprisingly. The contract is worth two million dollars per season.
The trio even made NHL history: in 49 games, each member of the trio had ten wins on their account. Three goalkeepers from the same team had never reached ten wins so quickly before. A balance was found.
In the summer, however, Carolina decided to sign new contracts for Andersen and Raanna as well. Two for Andersen and one year for Raanna. The value of Raanta’s contract is one and a half million dollars.
This created the basis for a special pattern of three goalkeepers.
– In the summer, everything was done to find a solution to the situation, but the end result was that the situation continued. Kochetkov’s contract was special, because surely at that moment he assumed with certainty that he would be the second NHL player to play when the new season begins, a former NHL goaltender Karri Rämö says.
A former top goalkeeper who played in North America and is also known from the Viaplay studio Riku Helenius is on the same lines as Rämö.
– That contract was proof that the club trusts the Russian. You don’t make contracts like that for AHL goaltenders.
However, the end result was that Kochetkov started the season on the farm – and not even on the farm of his own club, because Carolina does not have its own farm team these days. Fortunately for Carolina, Tampa’s number one goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was injured, which freed up a place for Kochetkov from Tampa’s farm team Syracuse.
– I would like to know how the situation will change when Vasilevski comes back and Tampa sends its farm hammer back down. They don’t use their goodness to give games to Kochetkov there. They want to develop their own goalkeepers, Helenius points out.
Challenging everyday life
Right now, Kochetkov is playing on the NHL side, because Andersen was injured last week. At the latest, when Tampa’s Vasilevski returns and Carolina’s trio is healthy at the same time, we have a special goaltending situation to say the least. Who plays, how much and where does the three-guard Kochetkov, who operates with a contract of two million, play?
Rämö says that first of all there are problems with the size of the assembly.
– There is a bit of a feeling that there may not be a very clear plan. However, is it the case that there is no certainty about Kochetkov, even though a four-year contract was signed, Rämö wonders.
Helenius sees the everyday life of three goalkeepers as an almost impossible equation.
– If there are three goalkeepers on a daily basis, in the end no one will be satisfied. In the NHL, practices last three quarters, it is almost impossible to rotate three goalies. If there are three veskars running around in team training, then all three will suffer, Helenius points out.
– I have understood that all these guys are good guys and the competition is certainly fair, but the everyday life of three goalkeepers is a problem. I don’t believe that myself. This cannot continue like this any longer, a more stable solution must be found, Helenius continues.
Quality is enough
Even though Carolina’s goalkeeping team is special, in the view of the former top players, there has been nothing wrong with the quality of the goalkeeping game – and Rämö and Helenius didn’t react strongly to the sticky early fall either.
– The level of the goalkeepers is not the problem here or that the contracts are somehow strange. It’s strange the number of veskars and the plan they have. There are good and quality goalkeepers there, even though the season has started with a cough. For the future, maybe that set of three is a risk, Rämö sees.
– They did not fall to Andersen in the playoffs in any way. That certainly left the club management with the feeling that it’s not up to the goalkeepers and they didn’t want to break the trio. I wouldn’t have gone to the free market myself. The level of Veskars is sufficient, but the situation of three goalkeepers is not sustainable in the long run, Helenius adds.
The situation may cease and calm down during the season practically only with the help of a player trade.
– Could Andersen or Raanna have demand and resale value? Perhaps. Maybe a club is looking for a more reliable second keeper or a solution in a tighter injury situation, Rämö ponders at the end.