We really need to get back to the days of having those elite goalies again. If you go back to 1972 and go even up until the late 2010s we always had those elite goalies on our team but also the good ones who were left at home. 1972 Dryden and Esposito make it and Eddie Johnston fresh of sharing a Cup victory with Cheevers was the third stringer. But there was also Cheevers, Vachon, Giacomin, even Parent at the time. Lots to choose from. 1976 Dryden and Parent are hurt so Vachon is in there with Cheevers and Resch as back ups. But Esposito was available, a younger Billy Smith, Bouchard, Gilbert, etc. Even into the 1980s you have Roy, Vernon, Lemelin, Moog, Peeters, Liut as goalies who didn't make the 1987 team. 1998 Belfour, Fuhr, Potvin, Burke, even Chris Osgood didn't make the cut. Roy backs out in 2002 and we still have Brodeur, Joseph and Belfour. Burke, Luongo, Theodore, Giguere, Osgood, Potvin, Turco, etc. are all goalies that would have made fine 3rd stringers. Even 2016 Price, Holtby and Crawford was a good trio. All three did something significant to make the team. Price wins the Hart/Vezina in 2015 and Olympic gold in 2014. Holtby wins the Vezina in 2016. Crawford won the Cup in 2013 and 2015. None were bad choices. 8 years later it is shakier.
Look, I am okay with Binnington, Hill and Skinner in net. None of them will screw up where we lose. The team in front of them is epic. Stacked at forward and there should be some elite two-way defenseman there too. They don't have to steal a game. And two of them have won a Cup and the other almost did. That's loads of experience. The thing that bothers me is that other countries have at least one goalie who is better than either three and also the lack of depth we have with goalies. Those three I am comfortable with, but it isn't as if there are 6-7 other capable goalies that can take their spot. We have to do something about goaltending because if we are lacking anywhere it is there and I don't know of any that are going to take their spots.
Right now with young goalies you might have Sebastian Cossa, who is still in the minors and can't crack Detroit, and Devon Levi who may as well be in Siberia over Buffalo. Gabriel D'Aigle was once thought to be a promising goalie for the 2025 draft, but is he now?
Has he said as much? Haven't heard one way or another.
Yeah I am thinking that as well. Has the left shot, was playing well enough to make the team last year too. Could be a safe pick right now. I just figure the 4 teammates on the Avs and Knights are probably penciled in. I have a hard time seeing Bouchard left off the team. Dobson is among those types too. Power is pretty good himself and is definitely on the upward trend. That leaves Morrissey. Heck, why don't we just take 8 defensemen?
I wasn't worried about it either so much. I never understood how our defense wasn't the best or arguably the best out of anyone. And young too. Pietrangelo will be the only greybeard at 35 by the Olympics. That's fine. Everyone else is 30 or under. Toews will be 31 actually. But that's it.
When did Canada in a best on best not have a good defense? 1976 was the best ever. 1996 was certainly sketchy and that was mostly because Bourque and MacInnis weren't there. That made the D thinner. Even then, it was Coffey, Stevens, Niedermayer, Blake, Desjardins, Foote. The mobility could have been better on the back end, but that's it. 2004 and 2006 might come to mind, but there were some injury issues. 2004 Blake and Pronger missed out, then Redden and Jovanovski got hurt. So basically we had Niedermayer, Bouwmeester, Regehr, Foote, Brewer, Hannan. That would be a defense that was at best solid. They did the job but thankfully the forwards and goaltending were elite. 2006 had some injuries too but that team as a whole did not play as a unit. Just ugly.
So I like the 2026 prospects. Not just who is on the team, but who we are likely to leave off. Rielly, Doughty, Hamilton, maybe even Power. So I like that depth because it shows we have plenty of back ups.
