The Era of the Cheap Goalie
Evgeni Nabokov (Dave Nelson/wikimedia)
There was a time when the guy between the pipes was the most important position in hockey, when goalie stars like Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, Eddie Belfour and Ron Hextall stole games and playoff series, and earned hefty paychecks. Teams would dish out a good portion of money to secure a quality netminder. Even in the early years of the salary cap era, goalies like Roberto Luongo, Marc-Andre Fleury, Cristobal Huet and Evgeni Nabokov made north of $5 million a season. But in the past year or so, and specifically in the 2010 off-season, teams are investing sufficiently less in the netminders. The recent Stanley Cup finals saw two unknown and unlikely goaltenders squaring off, and the Stanley Cup winner (Antii Niemi) earned less than one million dollars. Goalies like Marty Turco, Jose Theodore and the aforementioned Nabokov were found without work, and Nabby recently left North America for the KHL. His former team, the San Jose Sharks, now have a goalie tandem that make less than half of Nabokov’s salary alone last season. The Stanley Cup runners-up Philadelphia Flyers re-signed journeyman Michael Leighton and he looks to be their number one goalie going into the season. He’ll be making $1.55 mil a year. Tampa Bay signed Dan Ellis, and he will be earning $1.5 mil a year. Is this just a passing trend, or are teams deciding to upgrade the team in front of the goalie, rather than the goalies themselves?
With players salaries rising, General Managers are much less eager to tie up large amounts of money in their goaltenders. Unless a goalie is already under contract, teams appear to be signing bargain netminders to try and save space for other positions. Will this be the new trend for the coming years? In 2009-10, the top 10 highest paid goalies in the NHL (annual salary for that season) were as follows:
- Roberto Luongo ($7.500 mil)
- Mikka Kiprusoff ($7 mil)
- Henrik Lundqvist ($6.875 mil)
- Ryan Miller ($6.250 mil)
- J-S Giguere ($6 mil)
- Tim Thomas ($6 mil)
- Niklas Backstrom ($6 mil)
- Tomas Vokoun ($5.7 mil)
- Cristobal Huet ($5.625 mil)
- Martin Brodeur ($5.2 mil)
Only two starting goalies on that list (Martin Brodeur and J-S Giguere) have won the Stanley Cup. Of the 21 goalies who made more than $2 mil a season in 2009-10, six of them are Stanley Cup champions (Brodeur, Giguere, Marc-Andre Fleury, Nikolai Khabibulin, Cam Ward and Cristobal Huet, although Huet was not a starter). Do these stats mean that a team doesn’t need an expensive goaltender to win the Stanley Cup? Perhaps, but winning is all about putting the right pieces together, having a bit of luck and a lot of hard work and sometimes a young goalie can carry a team all the way. Is the cheap goalie era here to stay, or will expensive big name netminders take over again?
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The Era of the Cheap Goalie
Evgeni Nabokov (Dave Nelson/wikimedia)
There was a time when the guy between the pipes was the most important position in hockey, when goalie stars like Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, Eddie Belfour and Ron Hextall stole games and playoff series, and earned hefty paychecks. Teams would dish out a good portion of money to secure a quality netminder. Even in the early years of the salary cap era, goalies like Roberto Luongo, Marc-Andre Fleury, Cristobal Huet and Evgeni Nabokov made north of $5 million a season. But in the past year or so, and specifically in the 2010 off-season, teams are investing sufficiently less in the netminders. The recent Stanley Cup finals saw two unknown and unlikely goaltenders squaring off, and the Stanley Cup winner (Antii Niemi) earned less than one million dollars. Goalies like Marty Turco, Jose Theodore and the aforementioned Nabokov were found without work, and Nabby recently left North America for the KHL. His former team, the San Jose Sharks, now have a goalie tandem that make less than half of Nabokov’s salary alone last season. The Stanley Cup runners-up Philadelphia Flyers re-signed journeyman Michael Leighton and he looks to be their number one goalie going into the season. He’ll be making $1.55 mil a year. Tampa Bay signed Dan Ellis, and he will be earning $1.5 mil a year. Is this just a passing trend, or are teams deciding to upgrade the team in front of the goalie, rather than the goalies themselves?
With players salaries rising, General Managers are much less eager to tie up large amounts of money in their goaltenders. Unless a goalie is already under contract, teams appear to be signing bargain netminders to try and save space for other positions. Will this be the new trend for the coming years? In 2009-10, the top 10 highest paid goalies in the NHL (annual salary for that season) were as follows:
Only two starting goalies on that list (Martin Brodeur and J-S Giguere) have won the Stanley Cup. Of the 21 goalies who made more than $2 mil a season in 2009-10, six of them are Stanley Cup champions (Brodeur, Giguere, Marc-Andre Fleury, Nikolai Khabibulin, Cam Ward and Cristobal Huet, although Huet was not a starter). Do these stats mean that a team doesn’t need an expensive goaltender to win the Stanley Cup? Perhaps, but winning is all about putting the right pieces together, having a bit of luck and a lot of hard work and sometimes a young goalie can carry a team all the way. Is the cheap goalie era here to stay, or will expensive big name netminders take over again?
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