This in from Steve Simmons of The Toronto Sun, his interview with Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong about the unheralded crop of Canadian goalies competing to start for Canada at the Four Nations Face-off tournament in February.
Simmons notes that the main contenders — Stuart Skinner of the Edmonton Oilers, Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues and Adin Hill of the Vegas Golden Knights — may well be the least likely trio of Team Canada goaltenders ever in that they are short on regular season accomplishments.
But Armstrong noted that Canadian goalies are still long on NHL playoff success, with Binnington and Hill having led their teams to Stanley Cup wins and Skinner going to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last June.
“Look at who wins championships,” Armstrong said. “Seven of the last 10 Stanley Cup winners had Canadian goaltenders. The other three were Russians. We don’t talk enough about who wins. Canadian goalies win… And sure, this is a different time (for Canadian goaltending). The floor is closer to the ceiling than ever before. You rarely see a goalie who goes on a decade run or half a decade run the way we used to see it. I’m confident we’ll be all right in goal.”
My take
1. I’m not as confident on this point as Armstrong, but I’m still cautiously optimistic.
If you’re looking at playoffs wins in the last six years, Binnington ranks seventh overall with 20 wins, Skinner is ninth with 19, Darcy Kuemper is 15th with 14 wins and Hill is 17th with 12 wins. But Hill has the best save percentage of any of the top playoff goalies in this time period, .932 in 19 games. Binnington is at .910 and Skinner and .894.
2. Hill, Skinner and Binnington are all off to iffy starts this year, Binnington with an .895 save percentage, Hill at .855 and Skinner at .845.
Hmm.
Of course, the season is young.
3. Team Canada does not have to have the best goaltending to win, though having that ace in the nets certainly has helped in the past.
Canada won with great goaltending in the 1976 Canada Cup with Rogie Vachon, the 1991 Canada Cup with Bill Ranford, the 2014 Sochi Olympics and 2016 World Cup with Carey Price, and the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics and 2004 World Cup with Martin Brodeur.
It’s also won with solid-to-OK goaltending, such as Ken Dryden and Tony Esposito against the Soviet Union in the 1972 Summit Series, Roberto Luongo in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and Pete Peeters in the 1984 Canada Cup and Grant Fuhr in the 1987 Canada Cup.
But it’s also lost with solid goaltending, such as Nagano 1998 with Patrick Roy, Turin 2006 with Brodeur, and the 1996 World Cup with Curtis Joseph.
Then there was the 1981 Canada Cup where goalie Mike Liut struggled and Canada lost.
4. There is no superstar in nets for Team Canada just now. They’re more of the quality of goalies like Peeters, who won internationally, and Liut, who lost.
I’ll suggest that goaltending is the biggest worry by far for Team Canada, but it’s also easy to imagine Skinner, Hill or Binnington stepping up and getting the job done for Team Canada, just like Peters in 1984.
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