WASHINGTON — There is some awkward poetry to the fact Ron Hextall and Garth Snow find themselves in these Stanley Cup playoffs running NHL clubs unable to have the goalie they want between the pipes.
For Hextall, Steve Mason faltered, or was perceived to have faltered, and Hextall and his coach, Dave Hakstol, are going with Michal Neuvirth, winner of nothing important ever, for Game 5 tonight. Snow, meanwhile, would love to have Jaroslav Halak in the blue paint for his New York Islanders against the Florida Panthers, but because of injury, is hoping against hope the recycled Thomas Greiss can do the job.
STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS:
First Round Series Previews | Broadcast Schedule
Stanley Cup Playoffs Fantasy Hockey
Hextall and Snow, of course, are former goalies. Others from that profession who have similarly ascended to NHL general manager jobs, specifically Jim Rutherford and Ken Holland, have also grappled with goaltending issues in the ’16 post-season, which is weird. Well, Holland was grappling until Thursday, when his Red Wings found their 25th consecutive playoff appearance to have been a very brief one.
Hextall and Snow were, together, the perplexing pair that kept taking turns for the Flyers back in the ’97 playoffs, and neither could get it done in a sweep at the hands of Detroit in the Cup final. Such has it been for the Flyers between the pipes ever since, which means Neuvirth’s rise to temporary masked saviour is, really, just a rite of spring in Philly.
It’s been that way since, well, Hextall was the star of the 1987 Cup final, a constant search by the Flyers for someone to depend on, someone to be their Jonathan Quick, their Carey Price.
They’ve drafted and drafted some more in an attempt to find their No. 1 man, starting with Dale Roehl (251st in ’87) and continuing through the years with Dominic Roussel and Scott LaGrand, Tommy Soderstrom, Neil Little, Kirk Daubenspeck, Aaron Israel, Tripp Tracy, Johan Hedberg, Brian Boucher, Per-Ragnar Bergqvist, Jean-Marc Pelletier, Antero Niittymakki, Cam Ondrik and Roman Cechmanek.
They took Maxime Ouellet 22nd overall in ’99. He played 12 NHL games. In ’03, the Flyers drafted three goalies – David Tremblay, Rejean Beauchemin, Ville Hostikka – none of whom panned out.
They drafted Bernd Bruckler, Roman Malek, Dov Grumet-Morris, Martin Houle, Michael Dupont, Jakub Kovar, Brad Phillips, Joacim Eriksson and Adam Morrison.
Swing and a miss on all of them. Anthony Stolarz was selected 45th overall in ’12, and they still have high hopes for the former London Knight.
The thing is, Philly’s been a very good drafting team for forwards and defencemen over the years. But they haven’t been able to draft and develop a foundation goalie, nor have they invested in one through trade or free agency that’s put them over the top.
Then again, they once picked John Vanbiesbrouck over Curtis Joseph and traded away Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky. Those are self-inflicted wounds.
So, to be honest, it would be strange if, going into Game 5 tonight, it was any different for the Flyers, if they were instead the team going in with a goalie with impeccable credentials.
Neuvirth, 28, sure played well on Wednesday in a 2-1 triumph in Game 4, which at least ensured Flyer players wouldn’t have to attend Ed Snider’s memorial service on Thursday having been swept out of the post-season by the Washington Capitals.
It was only Neuvirth’s second start in 35 days and first NHL playoff start in five years, which put him in a difficult spot, but he responded with a calm assurance that, combined with Philly’s determination to stay out of the penalty box so penalty killer Nick Schultz didn’t have to spend his night blocking a blizzard of Alex Ovechkin one-timers again, helped them survive that elimination game to face another tonight.
“I mean, it’s just the playoffs,” said Neuvirth. “I love playing in the playoffs. I’ve had good playoffs in the past. I believe in myself and I like it.”
Interestingly, Neuvirth and Caps starter Braden Holtby were once teammates jousting for time in the same crease in Washington’s minor league system. Holtby was ultimately seen as the netminder with greater promise, and Neuvirth moved on to Buffalo, then the Islanders, and now the Flyers.
He doesn’t look like the goalie of the future in Philly, just of the now. Unquestioned starters are a luxury in general these days in the NHL, with less than half of the 30 teams able to say they can send out such a goalkeeper on a regular basis.
But with the Flyers, it just seems to be the same story year after year after year. They love to show the fight scenes from the Broad Street Bully days at Wells Fargo Center as a means of motivating the players and fans, but a more accurate and helpful portrayal of those championship days would undoubtedly feature more footage of netminder Bernie Parent.
The Flyers used brawn to win. But Parent was very much the difference in those days, something that seems to have been forgotten when it comes to prioritizing positional needs in Philly.
Instead, we get the guessing in net every spring, or at least the springs when the Flyers make it. They’ll give Ray Emery a whirl. Or sign Ilya Bryzgalov. Or give Martin Biron a chance to be the man.
Hextall has amassed five picks in the first three rounds at the NHL Draft in June, and perhaps he’ll use one of them to select a promising netminder like Carter Hart, Filip Gustavsson or Colton Point. He’s lived this Philly goalie experience as a player and as an executive, and you can bet he’d like to change the storyline if he can.
For now, it’s Neuvirth or bust.
