When the Coyotes opened up the 2011-12 season, their goaltending position was an area that begged a number of questions.
Ilya Bryzgalov, the goaltender for the previous four seasons, had his rights traded from the Coyotes to the Philadelphia Flyers after the Coyotes refused to meet his contract terms for an extension. Bryzgalov went on to sign a lucrative contract (nine years, $51 million) that the Coyotes would never have been able to match.
During his four years in Phoenix, Bryzgalov averaged 33 wins and had made the playoffs in the final two seasons of his tenure in Phoenix.
In July of 2011, the Coyotes signed journeyman goaltender Mike Smith to a two-year deal worth $2 million per season. Many questions were asked of Smith going into last season. He couldn't beat out Marty Turco for the starting job with the Dallas Stars and he couldn't hold onto the starting job with the Tampa Bay Lightning, so why would anything be different in Phoenix?
This was a goalie that averaged just over 11 victories a year in his six NHL seasons. His career goals-against average was a 2.68 and his save percentage was a respectable .904. Would this guy be goo ...
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Article written by Michael Jenkins
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September 28th, 2012 by Michael Jenkins Leave a reply »
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