Are goalie tandems the wave of the future for NHL teams during the Stanley Cup playoffs?
It’s a great question. And one that I’ve been thinking about quite a bit since Minnesota gave a start to both Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury in the opening two games of the Wild’s first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Dallas Stars.
Gustavsson was incredible in Game 1. He stopped 51 of 53 Dallas shots en route to a double-overtime victory for Minnesota. But in Game 2, Wild coach Dean Evason elected to play three-time Stanley Cup champion Marc-Andre Fleury.
The move backfired. Fleury allowed seven goals on 31 shots and Minnesota was forced to fly back to the Twin Cities aching from a 7-3 drubbing. With the series now tied 1-1, the Wild are expected to start Gustavsson for Game 3. But what happens in Game 4 remains a mystery.
Evason had talked about using the tandem during the playoffs. But I wasn’t really sure how it would play out. Sometimes that type of talk is just lip service. Coaches have previously hinted at doing so, but rarely does it happen.
I posed the same question to a half dozen NHL goalie coaches, along with several current and former netminders. I also asked a few NHL assistant coaches for their take. Are we going to see more tandems in the playoffs in the weeks, months and seasons to come?
The responses were interesting: some had differing opinions on whether a true tandem was capable of winning a Stanley Cup. But there was also a lot of common ground.
“I definitely feel tandem usage will become more and more common,” said one NHL development goalie coach. “I see it more with teams who have less of a gap of talent between their goalies, or teams that are analytic-based.”
It’s a stance I tend to agree with. To me, there are very few teams with true No.1 goaltenders. And the position has become extremely optimized in recent years. There are countless good goalies. But great ones? There might be a half dozen currently in the NHL.
“I think tandems will be used more because there aren’t a lot of elite No. 1 guys anymore,” explained a Western Conference goalie coach. “It’s so much easier when you have a top guy that you can ride (in the Stanley Cup playoffs). This year there might be only five out of 16 teams that wouldn’t switch goalies.”
There’s definitely been a change of thinking on my end. I used to think only one goalie – barring injury – could hold the keys to a Stanley Cup championship. But honestly, as well as some NHL teams have performed during the regular season alternating netminders, why wouldn’t it work in the postseason?
One veteran NHL goalie coach believed it could, but there were requisites.
“Did the team vet it successfully in the regular season?” he questioned. “And is the relationship between the two goalies supportive?”
That last part about relationships really sticks out. He talked about how important it was for a team to have proof that the two personalities would work in tandem. And how the coaching staff would need to believe that the “sum is greater than the parts.”
I think that’s been the case in Minnesota this year. There’s been lots of talk about how well Gustavsson and Fleury have gotten along. And no surprise there. Gustavsson and I were teammates in the Ottawa Senators organization, and I got to know Fleury while working for the Vegas Golden Knights broadcast team. They’re both awesome dudes. I’m zero percent surprised they work well together.
But will they continue to split time in the cage during the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs? Not everyone I spoke to was a fan of the strategy.
“I don’t like it in the playoffs unless you’re such an elite team that it doesn’t matter who you have in net,” opined another NHL goalie coach. But when asked about Minnesota specifically, he understood why Evason might have been inclined to start Fleury in Game 2.
He felt that the Wild were expecting a big push from Dallas. And that going with a veteran like Fleury – someone who’s been through just about every situation imaginable – might help Minnesota steal Game 2. Worst case – which is exactly what happened – the Wild return home 1-1 in the series with a rested Gustavsson.
I don’t mind that line of thinking. Fleury’s performance toward the end of the season was right there with Gustavsson’s. But one NHL assistant coach asked me a great question: “If Minnesota wins (Game 3), do you think they go back with Flower for Game 4?”
Nope. I don’t. I think the Gus Bus rolls if the Wild go up 2-1 in the series. But stranger things have happened. Maybe Evason had a schedule all along. But one current NHL netminder didn’t like how the Wild bench boss handled the situation.
“I saw ‘Flower’ said he just found out the day before Game 2 that he was starting,” the long-time NHLer said. He felt that Minnesota should have told Fleury and Gustavsson what games they were going to play before the series began.
I completely agree. Letting the goalies know which game is theirs, in advance, gives such a strong peace of mind to the athlete. The coaches should do everything possible to calm the nerves of their goalkeeper.
For the most part, the people I spoke with seemed to agree that tandems will be increasingly utilized. And I think this quote from an Eastern Conference goalie coach sums up what a lot of people in hockey believe.
“My personal opinion has changed over the years,” he said. I see it that if your team’s situation needed two goalies to get through the regular season, it can also work in the Stanley Cup playoffs.”
