Minnesota Wild 2010 Draft Preview: Goaltenders

http://www.stateofhockeynews.com/2010-articles/june/minnesota-wild-2010-draft-preview-goaltenders.html

The State of Hockey News - A Minnesota Wild Blog
Minnesota Wild 2010 Draft Preview: Goaltenders edit
Written by Derek Felska
Saturday, 12 June 2010 11:14

If you spent any time listening to the post-game chatter after the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, there were a lot of comments given about the goaltending of the Flyers and perhaps some unfair criticism to Michael Leighton. The basic truth remains, the bigger the game the more intense the microscope over the play of a team's goaltender. Every save made can bring a team closer to victory and every missed opportunity can imperil a team from having a chance to win the game. It is not an easy job, where you can be the first loved by the fans or also the first hated. You can go from hero to zero in a single period of hockey. The bigger the game, the greater the pressure and the more criticism a goaltender faces. It is just like the other great "pressure" positions in other major sports like quarterbacks, and baseball pitchers. It is a place where positive consistency is valued above all else. A few bad games can have the fans, media clamoring for your replacement or removal. Goaltending has come a long way over the last 25 years where most netminders were selected since they were not as athletically gifted as their skating counterparts. To be a goaltender made you more of an artist than one of calculated angles and countless hours of practice honing ones body position. That all changed with a rookie goaltender named Patrick Roy who popularized the "butterfly" and the act of taking goaltending to the modern, heavily practiced medium it is today. Yet considering all the importance, it is very rare for any NHL team to draft a goaltender in the 1st round.

The earliest the Wild ever drafted a goaltender was in the 2nd round when they selected Josh Harding (38th Overall) in 2002. Yet developing goaltenders is always an important part of any organization. For some organizations, like the San Jose Sharks they seem to have a knack for developing puckstoppers, while the Philadelphia Flyers seem to have struggled with goaltending for the last 10 years. If there is one area that has been a consistent source of strength for the Wild it has been between the pipes, from Manny Fernandez, to Dwayne Roloson, to Niklas Backstrom; Minnesota has always had strong play from the crease. In fact, goaltending is the only place where the Wild have won an individual player award when Backstrom and Fernandez combined to win the Jennings Trophy for the 2006-07 season. With Backstrom is in his early 30's the Wild are in a bit of a quandary over the role of current backup Josh Harding who has patiently waited for his shot to be a #1 goaltender. Harding provided solid goaltending down the stretch as Backstrom battled groin issues but his salary is getting rather expensive for a goaltender who may only get 12-15 starts in the course of a season. Many Wild fans have hoped the organization could shop Harding in exchange for some help in other areas on the ice, but at the deadline there was no one calling Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher about the Regina, Saskatchewan-native. (click on the link for the rest of the article)

That's the last of the series and I'll have a complete mock draft up by the end of the week...enjoy!