Boston Bruins: Too much invested in Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak?
The Goals Against column last season certainly looked impressive for the Boston Bruins, but are they over-paying the tandem of Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak for that result?
There is a lot to be said for how the tandem of Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak pushed each other to perform at their individual bests last season. The Boston Bruins had the fourth-best Goals Against record for the whole league last year, conceding just 215 goals. The question is though; what is reasonable value for such a return?
Now granted, we’re going to look ahead at the cap hits of teams this season and the cost of their goaltending for the upcoming 2019-20 season; this might skew the figures slightly:
New York Islanders
Take for example the team that had the best goaltending in the league, at least in terms of conceding goals, the New York Islanders. It’s almost unfair to look at their cap cost this coming season, given Robin Lehner has departed, replaced by Seymon Varlamov. It’s impossible, of course, to predict whether the pairing of Varlamov and Thomas Greiss is as successful as last year’s duo.
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Ignoring that though; the New York Islanders pairing, whether last season’s or this season’s, still does less damage in terms of salary cap space. The Islanders have Greiss and Varlamov tied up for a combined $8.333 million; almost $1.5 million cheaper than the Boston Bruins’ pairing of Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak.
Given the value placed on cap space, especially at a time where there are restricted free agents that still need renewals, the Boston Bruins, I’m sure, wouldn’t be complaining about an extra $1.5 million to spend. The New York Islanders are possibly a bad example though, given their clear number one last season departed to the Chicago Blackhawks this summer.
Dallas Stars
Second best in the entire league were the Dallas Stars, conceding just six more goals than the Islanders with a total of 202 Goals Against last season. They ran with a pairing that looks to be staying the same heading into the 2019-20 NHL season; Ben Bishop and former Boston Bruins backup, Anton Khudobin.
This duo were perhaps the best value pairing in the entire league. Both posting save percentages above 0.920 and essentially sharing the net the whole campaign; they did for Dallas what Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak did for the Boston Bruins; provided a steady and reliable setup that wasn’t so much starter/backup as it was starter/starter.
Difference between Boston and Dallas though was almost $2.5 million in cap space. This would be nice to have this summer with the renewals of Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo due.
Nashville Predators
Nashville have been bold in allowing Juuse Saros to develop on the fly. Having the security of one of the league’s best defensive cohorts (even now, despite the departure of PK Subban) has allowed them to run a now 36 year-old, Pekka Rinne a little less and rely on the 24 year-old, who is still two years away from restricted free agency (with arbitration rights) eligibility.
Their goaltending last season saw them concede just the one less goal than the Boston Bruins, but they were paying the duo $3.25 million less. Not bad, huh?
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning are a very lucky team. Very luck that Andrei Vasilevsky took a bet on himself when he initially hit free agency. At that time, he settled for a bridge deal worth just $3.5 million per season.
Since then, he’s gone on to post save percentages of 0.917 or above every single season, posting at least 50 games at the same time. Again, much like the Predators, this is a team blessed with defensive strength. They also seem to be blessed with status of being a tax-free state that means players are willing to take a little less, knowing that they lose less in tax.
Most impressive last season was the fact that they were able to ride a goalie earning just $1.15 million as Vasilevsky’s backup. In posting a 2.88 goals against average, Louis Domingue‘s salary meant the team were getting at least decent goaltending throughout the season at an absolute bargain $4.5 million.
Florida Panthers
Sergei Bobrovsky‘s big-money deal is the obvious talking point. With a cap hit of $10 million and under contract until he’s 37 years-old, he could be a poor decision on the part of the Florida Panthers. People already question a $7 million deal that takes Tuukka Rask to age 34, after all.
Couple that with the fact that the team don’t yet have a backup signed and it’s safe to say they’ll be spending almost $11 million per season on goaltending for the next seven years. They sure as heck better hope they get some solid net-minding out of Bobrovsky!
If they don’t, the Boston Bruins can vouch that having such a significant percentage of salary against the cap (regardless of the fact it’s been increasing year-on-year), is a place that starts leading to hard decisions having to be made across the roster.
Montreal Canadiens
Perhaps even scarier is the sum the Boston Bruins’ long-time rival, the Montreal Canadiens have tied up in goaltending. Despite having a team that has missed the play-offs in recent years and don’t look likely to be a contender this season at least, they spent $10.75 million a year for the next seven years on Carey Price.
On his day, he’s truly one of the best goaltenders around; we get that. However, you only need look at the fact that without Tuukka Rask, the Boston Bruins weren’t even in the Stanley Cup Final this year. Has Carey Price ever single-handedly led the Canadiens to a Cup Final?
Couple that with the fact; most teams making the Final also need a steady back-up goaltender and they’re likely going to continue to be in a world of cap pain, long-term.
Conclusion
The sheer fact there are only four teams in the entire league with as much salary (or more) tied up on goaltending as the Boston Bruins says something for how expensive it is to have stability between the pipes. Of those teams, both the Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers have changed their look in net this free agency.
Whilst Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak are costing significant money; their performances last year reflected good value. Other teams like the Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightining and New York Islanders did get better value, sure, but fact was the Boston Bruins got their value all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
Cehlarik ready to stake his claim at a roster spot. dark. Next
Only one other team can say that; unfortunately it’s the one that rode a hot rookie goaltender all the way to the Stanley Cup. I’m sure the Boston Bruins would’ve loved their own Jordan Binnington to take them to the Cup, but I’m happy to settle with Tuukka Rask and Jarsolav Halak as a pair too!