The New York Rangers had a revolving door of backup goaltenders this season, making it the first time since before the lockout that the team used five goalies in a single season.
Coming into this season, Steve Valiquette was the set backup goalie, but after his play faltered, the Rangers kept promoting and demoting a combination of their two top goaltending prospects Chad Johnson and Matt Zaba.
Johnson was solid in his appearances, going 1-2-1 with a GAA of 2.35. When he was down to log more starts, it was Zaba who was up, and he ended up only appearing in one game, which he gave up two goals in a little more than thirty minutes of playing time.
When John Tortorella had enough of this, the Rangers went out and claimed Alex Auld off of waivers, which I thought was an excellent move, considering Auld had always played well against the Rangers and could be counted on to give Lundqvist a rest down the stretch in very important games. In the season in which the head coach promised he would not play Lundqvist as much as in years past, he ended up having him play more than ever before, in seventy-three games.
Auld would end u ...
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Article written by Greg Caggiano
New York Rangers Backup Goalie Situation Heading Into Next Year
April 15th, 2010 by Greg Caggiano Leave a reply »
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