Vitek Vanecek
Like I said earlier, I’m not sure there have been any Capitals who have gotten off to bad starts. I’m also not sure there have been many guys who have gotten off to blazing starts. At least except for the previous two guys we’ve talked about. When talking about Vitek Vanecek, the reason I would put him on this list is because the job of number one goalie was up for grabs coming into this season. I’m not sure it is anymore.
When you look at his stats, it’s not anything that will blow you away. He’s played in 7 of the 10 games so far, he has a 2.49 goals against average and a .902 save percentage. The goals against average is average, and the save percentage is borderline.
When you look at his 5v5 stats, his numbers are excellent. His GAA drops to 1.26 and his save percentage jumps up to .946%.
When you’re choosing a starting goalie for the Washington Capitals right now, who do you feel safer with guarding the cage? It has to be Vanecek. Before training camp, the Capitals goaltending situation was 1A, 1B, with Samsonov the likely 1A. Ten games into the season I think we’ve returned to the traditional starter and backup.
As it stands right now, Vanecek is the starter, Samsonov is the backup. With Vanecek winning the starters job, at least in my opinion, I think he should be named one of the top three Capitals to start the season.