Few Canadian Goalies To Go Round

Ken Warren of Canwest News Service today wrote a feature about Team Canada's current third goaltender for the 2009 IIHF World Championships: Fred Braithwaite.

Maybe it's just because I grew up a London Knights watcher in Southwestern Ontario that I've always liked this guy: at 5'7" and 185 lbs, he's about my size, too, a typical underdog who has, in 16 professional seasons, amassed just over 250 NHL games.

He's 36 years old, which in the wake of stalwarts like Curtis Joseph, Ed Belfour or Dominik Hasek, isn't so bad, and his recent form—MVP and goaltender of the year in the German Elite League with the Mannheim Eagles—suggests that there is still some gas left in his tank.

Not a great goalie by NHL standards, but certainly not lacking in the character it takes to bounce around this long and keep playing professionally.

His surprise inclusion on this earliest incarnation of the WHC team makes for a great story, and I don't write the following as a knock against him in any way, but (as Warren conceded as well), the whole situation must be considered here.

The inclusion of Braithwaite comes more from convenience than anything: He’s coming in as a third goalie, he was already in Europe and has played against a lot of the guys the rest of the world will dress, and he won't play (or even dress) behind Dwayne Roloson or Josh Harding anyway.

The part of the story that interested me, though, is what his inclusion does suggest about the other goalies who couldn't (or wouldn't) play.

Dallas's Marty Turco is at the top of my list, as a goalie who's been here (and to the Olympics) before, but he had a tough season and could likely use the time off. Curtis Joseph isn't far behind, but as he's preparing to return for a second "last season", it's understandable if he decides that he'd best not tempt fate.

This leaves Team Canada with a crop of a few passable goaltenders who are at least deserving of the third chair: Nashville's Dan Ellis leads the group, but equally viable would be Mike Smith of Tampa Bay (were he not still recovering from a concussion) or Pascale Leclaire (who is apparently recovering well from an ankle injury, and could probably use the practice or even an easy first round game just to get a bit more in before the offseason).

The rest of the list of Canadian-born goalies who didn't make the playoffs provides slim pickings, with an effectively equal balance of career backups and "could-bes": Patrick Lalime (BUF); Andrew Raycroft (COL); Dany Sabourin and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers (EDM); Yann Danis and Joey MacDonald (NYI); Alex Auld and Brian Elliott (OTT).

Braithwaite, in his interview with Warren, revealed that he has at the very least accepted his role on the team, saying that he doesn't really even know if another goalie is on his way across the pond to replace him and that he is primarily here to practice.

Should another goalie's phone ring, though, the options aren't as good as one might think - non-playoff teams aside, there aren't too many NHL-calibre Canadian goalies left. 

For starters, the Masons (no relation) may be available shortly: Chris, now that St. Louis is out, and hot rookie Steve once Detroit dusts Columbus. The ill-fated Carey Price’s phone may ring in the morning as well, so it's not exactly gloom-and-doom.

And while I will admit that I still like Don Cherry—when he talks about hockey and only about things on the ice at that—I think the unfavourable observation that follows about Canadian goalies in the NHL would upset him. When you break it down, it suddenly looks like there aren’t too many world-class Canadian goalies in the NHL.

Among the five who are likely to remain starters in the 2009 playoffs, two are great (Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur), and three are very good (Cam Ward, Marc-Andre Fleury and the always steady Chris Osgood).

In Anaheim, Jonas Hiller (SUI) has replaced Jean-Sebastien Giguere; Tim Thomas (USA) has supplanted Manny Fernandez in Boston; Washington's Simeon Varlamov (RUS) is running José Theodore out of the league as we speak, and Martin Biron has landed the Flyers' top job for now, after platooning with Antero Nittymaki (FIN) all year.

The aforementioned Price should be replaced by the Slovakian sensation Jaroslav Halak, but Bob Gainey has evidently decided to stake his own job on his fifth-overall gamble.

The rest of the starters in the playoffs hail from Europe: Calgary's Miikka Kipprusoff (FIN), Chicago's Nikolai Khabibulin (RUS), "King" Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers (SWE), and San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov (born in Kazakhstan but now able to play for Russia).

So what could be on the horizon for Team Canada should they desperately require goaltending help? Not much.

If their teams get eliminated and their starters decline, we could also watch for these guys, I guess: Mathieu Garon (PIT), Curtis McElhinney (CGY), Michael Leighton (CAR), Wade Dubliewicz (CBJ), Kevin Weekes (NJD), or Stephen Valliquette (NYR).

Put it another way: does anyone know if Ed Belfour stayed in Sweden after his season with Leksands IF? Should he be as conveniently placed as Braithwaite, his phone seems as likely to ring as anyone else's.