Washington Capitals’ Review — Goaltenders

In the past two days, I’ve examined the regular seasons and playoffs the Washington Capitals had individually based on position. First were the forwards, then defensemen, and now the goaltenders. The Capitals’ goaltending — which was the subject of many doubts regarding the Capitals’ worthiness as a Stanley Cup contender — was more than serviceable in the regular season and was certainly not the primary reason that the Capitals bowed out in the first round to the Montreal Canadiens.

All in all, the Capitals used three goaltenders this season in Jose Theodore, Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth, all of which brought a different goaltending styles and yielded different results. So without further ado, let’s jump right into it.

Jose Theodore – After suffering through the toughest time of his life in August when his two-month son, Chace, died due to respiratory problems stemming from premature birth, Theodore fought back and gave the Capitals as solid of a season as they could have hoped for. Theodore started the season strongly in October, but struggled once the month reached its second month, yielding significant time in net to Varlamov. But Theodore’s regular season will be remembered for his 20-0-3 record to finish the season, with a 2.58 goals-against average and .922 save percentage during that time period. During that time, Theodore wasn’t particularly flashy or out of this world, but usually rock solid, always giving the Capitals a chance to win (obviously). As a goaltender for a team that was as offensively gifted as the Capitals were this season, if you put out solid efforts and keep the soft goals to a minimum, you’re going to win a ton of games. His best game of the season had to have been the 44-save effort against the Detroit Red Wings on January 19. In the first game of the playoffs against the Canadiens, Theodore stood toe-to-toe with Jaroslav Halak in an overtime battle, but was eventually beaten by Tomas Plekanec in overtime. In Game 2, Theodore allowed the Canadiens’ first two shots to go in, although his defense wasn’t exactly helping the cause. After that, Theodore was pulled in favor of Varlamov and never saw another second of playing time the rest of the series. It’s probably useless to speculate as to when Capitals’ head coach Bruce Boudreau could have put Theodore back in net during the series.

Semyon Varlamov – It was an interesting year for Varlamov, as he had multiple injuries sideline him for a significant period of time, an experience in Vancouver as the third goaltender for the Russian Olympic squad, and was thrust into the heat of the NHL playoffs as a replacement of the starting netminder for the second consecutive season. Varlamov finished the regular season with a 15-4-6 record with a 2.55 goals-against average and .909 save percentage. Varlamov played very well early in the season when Theodore had his struggles, but his quality play was cut short when he suffered a groin injury against the Tampa Bay Lightning on December 7, and his return was delayed due to a knee injury Varlamov suffered in a rehab start with Hershey. Once Varlamov finally returned to the Capitals, it seemed as though he had a bit of trouble getting back to his usual self, as his flexibility and explosiveness in net did not seem to return until the very end of the regular season. But when the playoffs rolled around, he was called upon in Game 2 to replace Theodore. Varlamov, although unspectacular in relief of Theodore in Game 2, recorded the victory and played a key part in the Capitals’ wins in Games 3 and 4. In Games 5 through 7, though, a solid Varlamov was out-dueled by an out-of-this-world Halak. In short, Varlamov was not the reason the Capitals lost in the first round.

Michal Neuvirth -The 22-year-old Neuvirth went 9-4-0 in 17 games played (16 starts), while recording a 2.75 goals-against average and .914 save percentage. Neuvirth’s rookie status was only very apparent in a rough two day stretch in January against Tampa Bay and the Florida Panthers, when Neuvirth was pulled on consecutive days after allowing four goals on his first 15 shots each time. Other than that, Neuvirth was a worthy performer for the Capitals, especially considering that he was a rookie. After his rough performanes in Florida, Neuvirth went 4-0-0 before being sent down to Hershey, which included his fine 43-save performance against the Atlanta Thrashers on February 5. From what I saw out of Neuvirth this season, I saw a goaltender that plays a different style than Varlamov — Neuvirth seems to be a calm presence in net that relies a lot on sound positioning, whereas Varlamov’s athleticism allows him to move side-to-side more effectively and make the acrobatic save. One of the Capitals’ top priorities moving forward will be to develop these two netminders in order to maximize their potential. Watch out for fellow young goaltender Braden Holtby – a well-regarded goaltending prospect currently making an AHL title run with Hershey along with Neuvirth – to earn some starts in net for the Capitals next season.