Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a subscriber-only article this morning which discusses Ville Husso and Alex Nedeljkovic’s similar situation’s as somewhat unproven goaltenders looking to prove something in the Red Wings’ crease this upcoming season. Duff notes that both goalies need to find a more consistent game:
Both Husso and Nedeljkovic have established beyond a shadow of a doubt that when on top of their game, they can perform on par with the elite of NHL netminders. The next step for both goalies is to prove they’re capable of doing it on a night to night basis.
Last season, Nedeljkovic was turning in a 46-save shutout against the Hurricanes and a 43-save shutout at Vancouver. However, the season also saw him enduring a stretch from Dec. 7-March 19 in which he went 8-16-3. In 14 of those games, Nedeljkovic was posting a save percentage below .900. Five of the games saw his save percentage dip below .800.
From Nedeljkovic’s point of view, his job as a netminder is to keep his team in the game, no matter the level of the play taking place in front of him.
“For me it’s finding ways to bail us out on nights that we’re not ready to play, we’re not feeling it as good as we can,” Nedeljkovic said. “It’s my job to stop the puck, it’s my job to keep us in games and help us win games every single night. I understand that.
“If you want to be a great goalie in this league, you have to do that every single night. You can’t allow those kind of games to happen.”
Continued (paywall)
