Making the case for a new goaltender on the Capitals

Goaltending was the biggest question mark facing the Washington Capitals before the season. Now that we’re in January, goaltending is still the question mark. This weekend’s results made the situation even more confusing.

Vitek Vanecek had a good start to the season, had a brief battle with sickness, and has been very good lately. On Saturday he stopped all 23 shots for a shutout. Ilya Samsonov kind of stole the spotlight in November after a slow start to the season. But he’s struggled lately and in Sunday’s 4-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks he stopped 28 of 31 shots but allowed three costly goals in the second period including two on the power play.

It makes things interesting for General Manger Brian MacLellan. He has a tough decision to make come the trade deadline. Do the Caps need to add a veteran net minder? Do we really trust having two young goalies backstop the Caps in a closing Stanley Cup window?

There are some interesting names and rumors of who could be available on the market including Marc-Andre Fleury and Jonathan Quick. But adding Fleury would make things awkward but then again the Caps also have Conor Sheary and Carl Hagelin.

Caps head coach Peter Laviolette said this about Vanecek and Samsonov, who while both talented have lacked the consistency to seal the number one starter’s job:

“There’s been games where they’ve been really good and games where you’re just looking for a little bit more consistency. They’re young players. I think that happens with young players.”

You can take “looking for consistency” as a Laviolette type thing of “working through things in the room.” Maybe a more normal schedule coming up with games every other day will make things easier on Samsonov and Vanecek. Only time will tell.

Samsonov is 13-3-3 with a 2.76 goals against average and a .903 save percentage. He was re-signed in the summer to a two million dollar contract that expires this summer. Vanecek was rightfully reacquired from the Seattle Kraken which further spiced up the goalie competition in Washington. Vanecek this season is 7-4-5 with a 2.46 goals against average and a .911 save percentage.

Should the Caps test the open market come the trade deadline and find a veteran goalie? We’ll learn the answer to that question in the coming weeks. I think they should do it as for who goes, that’s a very tough one to answer. Glad I’m not GMBM.