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New York Rangers: Alexandar Georgiev’s long-term future

By Nicholas Zararis

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 10: New York Rangers Goalie Alexandar Georgiev (40) in action during the third period of a regular season NHL game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers on February 10, 2019, at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. (Photo by David Hahn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 10: New York Rangers Goalie Alexandar Georgiev (40) in action during the third period of a regular season NHL game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers on February 10, 2019, at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. (Photo by David Hahn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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EDMONTON, AB – FEBRUARY 9: Goaltender Cam Talbot #33 of the Edmonton Oilers skates during the game against the San Jose Sharks on February 9, 2019 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
EDMONTON, AB – FEBRUARY 9: Goaltender Cam Talbot #33 of the Edmonton Oilers skates during the game against the San Jose Sharks on February 9, 2019 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Understanding the goalie market

As previously mentioned, the majority of the NHL pays its goaltender less than $5.5 million per season. This is in part due to the developmental system that is currently in place which typically forces a backup to play well and then get an audition as a starter following the end of their entry-level contract.

This is also why there is such a high failure rate for backups turned starters. There truly is no way or predicting how a backup will react to an increased workload with a less successful team. Typically, a good backup is allowed to leave a winning team because it cannot afford to pay a premium price for someone who only plays a couple of times per month.

In recent Rangers’ history, both Cam Talbot and Antti Raanta paint to distinctly different pictures. Although Raanta has dealt with injuries in both of his seasons out in the desert and the Arizona Coyotes are still building up, there’s no denying that he’s held his own when healthy enough to play. His .930 save percentage in 46 starts last season is hard to disguise behind a bad team.

However, when it comes to Talbot, going from playing behind a President’s Trophy winning Rangers team in 2014-2015 to the Edmonton Oilers was nothing short of a shock to the senses. Since heading up to Alberta, Talbot was put behind one of the worst collections of talent in the entire league and his statistics reflect it.

It is a fair guess to say that teams are hesitant to acquire a goaltender in the trade market for this very reason. It’s simply hard to understand how someone will play in a totally different situation with increased frequency and greater importance. That’s at least in part what keeps the market so undervalued and hard to get a fair return.

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