Simeon Varlamov's Success Not Surprising To Those In the Know

Simeon is also proving another one of my observations correct. Theodore has never been the victim of the Capitals' bad defense. Rather the Capitals' defense has been the victim of Theodore. Jose's defenders (like Olie Kolzig's defenders last year) kept finding every excuse in the book and blaming the defense. 

I've always held that any good goalie would have very good stats playing for this team just by virtue of the Capitals spending most of their time in the offensive zone. Their defense is already better than that of most teams.

By virtue of a goalie not letting in soft goals or controlling shots—by either catching them or sending hard rebounds to the boards—it's even better because they're not under constant barrage of second chances for the opposition. 

Cristobal Huet already proved this fact last year, and any goalie other than Theodore that's been in this year (Brent Johnson, Michal Neuvirth and Simeon Varlamov) was proving it also, yet some people were not convinced. Maybe now they will finally see the light. 

Like a well behaved Rangers guest to Tarik's blog has said, the Capitals are absolutely scary with a stud goalie in net. Knowing that the Capitals had a great young goalie yet were playing a washed up old night stand instead has been the most frustrating thing about the Capitals to me this season. 

Goaltending was our No. 1 problem all year, and we had a solution to it either sitting on the bench or playing in the minors.

After all, even before the season started, I was adamant that the Capitals did not need to sign Theodore at all because I believed Varlamov was ready. I pretty much got laughed at by some of the people who consider themselves experts.

Now that Varlamov has given the Capitals what they've been missing all year it seems that nobody is laughing anymore.

Now, if only there was a way for the Capitals to buy out the second year of Theodore's contract. Otherwise, they will have a backup with a $4.5 million cap hit because once this year's playoffs are over, Varlamov will establish himself as the Capitals starter, ideally, with a cheap Brent Johnson as the veteran cover.

Lastly, if the Capitals were one of the top teams in the NHL this season not because, but despite Theodore, now that they have a real No. 1 goalie, how good are they?

The obvious answer is that they're much better than before, and that should be a scary thought for their opposition. 

Before game two of the series, I predicted that if Varlamov starts in place of Theodore, he will give the Capitals every chance to dispose of the Rangers and go deep in the playoffs.

He has done exactly that by allowing just a single goal in his first two NHL playoffs starts. Unfortunately, his teammates could not provide any goal support for him in game two, but now that the Capitals offense seems to be back to firing on all cylinders, they should not have too much trouble overturning what is now just a 2-1 series deficit.

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