The Washington Capitals will once again turn to Vitek Vanecek between the pipes for a big matchup against their rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Vanecek has long been the more consistent goaltender of the Capitals’ young duo but recently, while his team has struggled, Vitek Vanecek has been more than consistent, he’s been lights-out.
Since the middle of January, Vanecek is 4-2 with a goals against average of only 1.67. To top it off, he’s sporting a .941 save percentage. One of those losses came in a game where he gave up only a single goal. Put simply, Vanecek is quietly making a case for himself to be one of the NHL’s Stars of the Month for January. Head Coach Peter Laviolette had high-praise for Vanecek.
"“He seems really focused to me,” Peter Laviolette said, “His performance has kept him in the net. He’s done a good job. And so, through a month where we were struggling to get wins, I felt like he gave us a chance and an opportunity to do that. He’s played really well.”"
With a strong outing against the Penguins, he will certainly continue to be the team’s number one goaltender moving forward and could alleviate the team’s need for a veteran netminder at the trade deadline. While Vanecek has shined, his long-time teammate, Ilya Samsonov has continued to disappoint.
"“I’ve said it from the beginning of the year, that I’d like to get to a point where somebody grabs it [the starting goalie position],” Laviolette explained. “We have two good young goaltenders — both with opportunity this year. It’s not that anything is set in stone but we’re looking to push that needle and have somebody step up and earn those starts and put them back in there and have them do it again. Sammy had a spot earlier in the year but right now Vitek has been on a real steady run with his game.”"
Samsonov, on the other hand, has struggled. He has an 0-3-1 record, a save percentage of only .876 and his 3.84 goals against average for the month of January is far from passable in the NHL and with the Capitals fighting to remain near the top of the Metropolitan Division, I wouldn’t expect Samsonov to get back-to-back starts for the remainder of the year. I’ll go a step further and say that if the Capitals do make a move for a veteran netminder at the trade deadline, it’ll be Samsonov and not Vanecek that is moved.
Many believe that the Capitals are tied to Samsonov and the first-round selection they used to acquire him, but many forget that Vanecek himself was initially a second-round pick and the Capitals used another second-round pick to re-acquire him from the Seattle Kraken in the off-season.
Ilya Samsonov was signed to a one-year ‘prove it’ deal, and prove it he has not. Samsonov fans, cherish the next few starts Samsonov gets, they may be his last in a Capitals’ uniform.