New Jersey Devils have Failed to Bring up Young Goalies

After suffering their sixth straight loss, the New Jersey Devils are in panic mode. They’re only two points ahead of the ninth place Philadelphia Flyers, and they seem to have lost all their confidence. To make matters worse the Devils will continue to play without Brodeur, who will at least be out for another two weeks.  The Devils have turned to the goaltending of venerable backup Johan Hedberg and have gotten little out of him.

Now it’s not entirely Hedberg’s fault that his team is playing so poorly. In fact, a lot of the goals against him are because the Devils have been outhustled, or have misplayed the puck. As in the case of Patrik Elias who handed over the puck to the Toronto Maple Leafs Jay McClement Monday night. But the fact remains that confidence starts from the net out and Hedberg hasn’t made enough crucial saves.

It would seem logical after four straight losses to throw a different goalie in net, even if it was a minor league goalie, just to wake the team up but Head Coach Peter DeBoer’s stubbornness to stick with Hedberg has cost them a crucial four points that could have at least given them a little room to breathe in the standings. Peter’s refusal to put a younger goalie in net is representative of the Devils thinking who over the last eight years have failed to bring up and develop young goaltending talent.

For too long the Devils have been satisfied with just playing Brodeur, and not since the days of Mike Dunham have they tried to bring up someone who could challenge him. It was alright when Martin was younger but since 2009 New Jersey should have been trying to bring up new goalies.

The odd thing is that the New Jersey Devils have drafted a decent crop of young, talented goalies over the years such as Mike Dunham, Jean-Francoise Damphousse, Ari Ahonen, and Scott Clemmensen. But for some reason they were given little opportunity to play for the Devils (with the exception of Mike Dunham).

Jean-Francoise Damphousse was given six games in the NHL before the Devils gave up on him, Ari Ahonen was never even brought up, and Scott Clemmensen only got to play because Brodeur was injured- and he played phenomenal. So it’s a wonder why the Devils haven’t started Frazee or Kinkaid yet because either of them could potentially be the next Scott Clemmensen. The only difference would be that they would stick around because Brodeur’s leaving the game soon.

Jeff Frazee is now 27, which is alright considering goalies like Corey Crawford and Corey Schneider spent due time in the minors, but at least they were given some NHL experience over the course of their development. Jeff hasn’t even made his NHL debut yet and he was drafted all the way back in 2005. Statistically speaking, Frazee is more experienced then Keith Kinkaid, the goalie the Devils called up, and is having a better season in the AHL. In twenty-one games this year Jeff has a .920 save percentage and 2.33 goals against average as opposed to Keith’s .905 save percentage and 2.69 GAA.  But Keith might be the guy of the future as Frazee is approaching his thirties.

If New Jersey doesn’t start playing one of these guys soon this six game winless streak will just be an indication of things to come. They won’t always have Brodeur and it’s about time they addressed that issue. 2015 shouldn't be a year where they take a chance on a youngster but instead a year where they make a healthy transition from the Brodeur era and move on forward with an experienced and capable goalie.