It’s helpful to think of the summer goalie market as a game of musical chairs.
There are only 30 starter and 30 backup jobs available at the NHL level, and in any summer only a fraction of those jobs are available. In every summer in recent memory, there have been more unsigned major-league goalies than there have been NHL goalie jobs.
Thus, every summer, there’s a mad scramble to find work.
On Monday, Jhonas Enroth managed to finagle his way into what may have been the last available seat. Meanwhile, the Toronto Maple Leafs were rewarded for their patience with a decent goaltender for the same price as many other teams paid for inferior options.
That’s obvious when we compare Enroth to similarly priced backups who were signed this summer:
5-on-5 save percentage is the big number here. The league average hovers right around 0.920 most years, and the typical starter is going to be found in the 0.926 range. Enroth is solidly in 1A/1B territory, and he’s the only goalie on this list to come in north of the NHL average.
The other big number i ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
Jhonas Enroth Signing a Win for Him and for the Maple Leafs
August 25th, 2016 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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