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Alexandar Georgiev isn’t going anywhere

By Steve Paulus

TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 01: Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers stretches in warm-ups prior to the game against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game One of the Eastern Conference Qualification Round prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 1, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - AUGUST 01: Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers stretches in warm-ups prior to the game against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game One of the Eastern Conference Qualification Round prior to the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Arena on August 1, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Getty Images) /
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Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

Modern NHL teams need two top goalies and that’s what the New York Rangers have

The days of the iron man NHL goaltender are over.   We are never going to see a New York Rangers goalie play 73 games in a season like Henrik Lundqvist did just ten years ago.  This season Alexandar Georgiev led  the team with 32 starts compared to 26 for Lundqvist and 12 for rookie Igor Shesterkin.

In this shortened NHL season, Carey Price and Connor Hellebuyck were tied for most starts, with  58 out of 71 games.  Five other goalies starter more than 50 games.

Look at how the number of goalies who started 55 games or more has dropped over the last four seasons:

  • 2019-20 :  2
  • 2018-19:  12
  • 2017-18:   16
  • 2016-17:  17

While it’s reasonable to assume that there will be goalies who will start 80% of their team’s games like Price and Hellebuyck, that would be in normal seasons.  The 2020-21 season promises to be anything other than normal.

The new season is already going to miss its target start date of December 1 and smart money has the season beginning in mid to late January.   The league is determined to play a full 82 games season and that means it will be an incredibly condensed season with more back to back games and fewer days off.

Most NHL teams are already moving to a tandem of two quality goaltenders, but with a compact schedule, all NHL teams will need two solid goalies. There is also the unknowns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.  The virus along with injuries will continue to hang over the NHL until there is a vaccine.

Look at this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Dallas rode their backup Anton Khudobin to the Finals after losing Ben Bishop to injury.  Jacob Markstrom was lost to the Vancouver Canucks and Thatcher Demko stepped right in.   The same thing happened to the Penguins when they won the Cup in 2017 when Matt Murray replaced Marc-Andre Fleury.

Fortunately, the New York Rangers are set with Shesterkin and Georgiev.  Of course, that assumes that the Rangers will buy out Henrik Lundqvist sometime in the next two weeks, strictly for salary cap purposes.

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