Dave Lozo's Bag Skate: NHL Teams' Blueprint to Set Up Their Goalies for Success

Cory Schneider made his 15th start of the season Monday. It was also the New Jersey Devils' 15th game of the season. That puts Schneider on pace for (carry the one, subtract the exponent, first outer, inner last) 82 starts this season.

Schneider clearly won't start every game for the Devils this season (right?), but history shows this is no way to manage a goaltender's workload, and Schneider's numbers are reflective of that.

The 28-year-old amassed a .928 save percentage from 2009-10 to 2013-14, the second-best mark among goaltenders to appear in 100 games. Through 15 games with hardly a breather this season, Schneider is 6-6-2 with a 3.00/.901 split and has been yanked four times. He has allowed a lot of uncharacteristically bad goals—two have been scored as a result of bounces off the back boards—which is usually a sign of mental fatigue.

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Those numbers also have something to do with the Devils playing disastrous defense in front of Schneider and a penalty-killing unit that couldn't kill a zombie with a loaded shotgun from point-blank range, but Schneider looks as unfocused as ever.

Schneider will never admit he's tired, but in a career where he has consistently split the workload, he had never started more than 11 games in a row. Schneider will never admit there is added pressure replacing perhaps the greatest goaltender in NHL history, but there has to be a voice in the back of his head reminding him that he took Martin Brodeur's job. Schneider will never admit that a seven-year, $42 million contract is messing with his mind, but it could be.

If anyone needs a mental break, it's Schneider.

If anyone should know that goaltenders need mental breaks during the regular season, it's coaches.

The data supports avoiding riding goaltenders into the ground, yet some do it for various reasons, some understandable (the team won't make the playoffs otherwise), some not so much (¯\_(ツ)_/¯).

If there were ever a way to correct the playoff foibles of Marc-Andre Fleury, this could be it.

Here's a list of every Stanley Cup champion since the turn of the century, that team's goalie, the number of starts that goalie made in the regular season, that goalie's age on Feb. 1 of that season and his postseason save percentage. 

Year	Team	Goaltender	Starts	Age	Playoff Sv. Pct.
2014	Kings	Jon Quick	49	28	.912
2013	Blackhawks	Corey Crawford	28	28	.932
2012	Kings	Jon Quick	69	26	.946
2011	Bruins	Tim Thomas	55	36	.940
2010	Blackhawks	Antti Niemi	35	26	.910
2009	Penguins	Marc-Andre Fleury	61	24	.908
2008	Red Wings	Chris Osgood	40	35	.930
2007	Ducks	Jean-Sebastien Giguere	53	29	.922
2006	Hurricanes	Cam Ward	25	21	.920
2004	Lightning	Nikolai Khabibulin	51	31	.933
2003	Devils	Martin Brodeur	73	30	.934
2002	Red Wings	Dominik Hasek	64	37	.920
2001	Avalanche	Patrick Roy	60	35	.934
2000	Devils	Martin Brodeur	72	27	.927

There are a few themes that stand out.

• The time of goaltenders making 70 regular-season starts and winning a Cup are over. Sure, that era may have only applied to Brodeur, but it's most certainly over. Jonathan Quick's 69 starts in 2012 are eight more than any other non-Brodeur goalie on the list.

• The only goalie to win a Cup with a 70-game workload age 30 or older is Brodeur. The only goalies to win a Cup with a 60-game workload age 30 or older are Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek and Tim Thomas. That's three Hall of Fame goaltenders and a fourth that has a strong case for enshrinement.

• Seven of the last nine goalies to win the Cup made fewer than 55 starts, which includes Corey Crawford in the 2013 season, when every goaltender had fewer than 55 starts. Of those seven, only Chris Osgood in 2008 was north of 30, and he started 40 regular-season games and was in net for only 14 of the Wings' 16 playoff victories that year.

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

Fleury will be 30 years old in two weeks and is on pace to make 70 starts this season. At last check, he is not Brodeur, Roy, Hasek or Thomas. 

Based on available data, that's probably about 10-12 starts too many for Fleury to have success in the playoffs. Of all the goalies to win a Cup since the rule changes that transformed the game following the 2004-05 lockout, Fleury has the second-most regular-season starts and the worst postseason save percentage in a Cup year.

Consider this: Fleury's best postseason by a country mile was 2008, when he had a .933 save percentage in 20 starts as the Penguins fell two wins short of a Stanley Cup. During the regular season, Fleury made just 33 starts, as an ankle injury kept him shelved for nearly one-third of the season.

Sure, Fleury was a vigorous 23-year-old then, but that regular-season injury was a blessing in disguise. With Ty Conklin (...seriously, Ty Conklin...) handling the bulk of the work with Fleury out, the Penguins finished with 102 points, fourth most in the NHL, and didn't miss a beat.

This year's Penguins have a backup in Thomas Greiss who is plenty capable of starting enough games to give Fleury a rest without hurting the team. Greiss has a career .915 save percentage, and in 20 starts last season with the Coyotes, he delivered a .920 save percentage.

Considering Greiss is at .923 in his two starts this season, he's given coach Mike Johnston no reason to doubt his ability, yet he is riding Fleury hard out of the gate when it's not necessary for regular-season success and probably detrimental to playoff success.

Think about some of the goals Fleury has allowed in recent postseasons that make you laugh, cry or do both. How many were the result of mental gaffes on simple shots, much like the ones Schneider has been missing more frequently this season?

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Henrik Lundqvist's two deepest runs in the playoffs came in 2012 and 2014, seasons in which he started 62 games, nearly 10 fewer than he had on average in previous 82-game seasons. In the playoffs, Lundqvist had a .931 save percentage in 2012 and .927 in 2014.

When Lundqvist was younger and theoretically more durable in 2008 and 2009, he had .908 and .909 postseason save percentages following regular seasons in which he made 72 and 70 starts, respectively. In 2008, Lundqvist was a Vezina Trophy finalist and was equally good the following season, so it's not as if Lundqvist was having a subpar regular season before the postseason.

A fresher Lundqvist was a better Lundqvist in the postseason.

Despite all this evidence, there are three goaltenders besides Fleury and Schneider on pace to make at least 70 starts this season—Quick, Pekka Rinne and Ondrej Pavelec—and several others who aren't far off that pace, including Carey Price, Jimmy Howard, Ryan Miller and Kari Lehtonen.

The criticism of Fleury's four-year extension was his penchant for blowing it in the playoffs. The Penguins clearly believe they have the goalie that can win Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin a second Cup.

And the Penguins may be right, but as long as they insist on starting a 30-year-old Fleury 65-70 times, history shows the odds of a championship coming this season are extremely slim.

Quote of the Week: Jon Cooper vs. Darryl Sutter

Lightning coach Jon Cooper and Kings coach Darryl Sutter are the two most quotable coaches in the NHL. Each week, we will let you decide who had the best quote.

We always lead off with Sutter, but let's allow Cooper the honors this week.

After his most disappointing showing in this game last week, Cooper had a great line when asked about center Cedric Paquette's call-up from the AHL to the Lightning.

It's funny because it's true. According to CapGeek, Paquette has an AHL salary of $75,000 and an NHL salary of $625,000 with another $300,000 in potential bonuses.

But does anyone go to the bank in 2014? Isn't everything wireless?

Sutter, in my estimation, had a weak week of quotes. He was a superstar in October but didn't knock anything out of the park in the past seven days. But this one is pretty good.

I am currently looking into creating a television show called, Do What You Want for Two Minutes with Darryl Sutter. I'll be printing money in no time.

Gambling on the NHL

The NHL sends out a lot of press releases that get auto-deleted with extreme prejudice. Any time you find the words "engagement" and "brand" in a press release, you know it's always promotional garbage not worth writing about it.

But Monday's release about the NHL's partnership with DraftKings, a website that allows people to draft daily fantasy teams in an attempt to win cash prizes, caused me to relax my clicking finger.

From the NHL's release:

"

“We are pleased to partner with DraftKings, a leader in daily fantasy sports,” said Keith Wachtel, NHL Executive Vice President of Global Partnerships. “Recognizing the direct correlation between fantasy sports and fan engagement, we look forward to providing our fans with a new opportunity to extend and enhance their NHL experience each and every day of the season."

"

Pro sports leagues, for obvious reasons, don't want to be seen as in cahoots with gambling sites, so this was a bit of an eyebrow-raiser. The NHL is partners with a website that takes fans' money and, if the fan correctly picks the most productive players on a given night, he/she wins money based on those players' performances, which include NHL games.

But don't worry, that's not gambling in the eyes of most law enforcement officials. From the DraftKings web site:

"

The US Government and 45 of the 50 states consider fantasy sports a game of skill. We do not allow residents of Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Washington or the Canadian province of Quebec to participate in our contests due to state-specific regulation against cash prize awards.

"

First off, enjoy that partnership, Coyotes and Canadiens fans.

Secondly, since when are fantasy sports not gambling?

I give you money. I make educated guesses about the outcomes of games. If I am correct, you give me money. If I am incorrect, you keep my money. Gambling.

Or...

I give you money. I make educated guesses about the outcomes of individual performances of players participating in games. If I am correct, you give me money. If I am incorrect, you keep my money. Not gambling?

You may not find hairs split this fine anywhere else.

It's also especially odd, since the NHL was among four sports leagues trying to prevent gambling on games in New Jersey last month.

"Don't bet on our games, but bet on our players!"

Legally, the NHL is clearly on solid footing. If 45 states consider placing money on how many assists Joe Thornton will have on Thursday to be a legal act despite the fact those 45 states consider placing money on whether the San Jose Sharks will win that same game to be illegal, that's the law and that's that.

Morally, this is some shady territory for the NHL. Just because it's not legally observed as gambling, it can still be a money-losing addiction. ABC News had a story on a man who lost $70,000 in fantasy- and gambling-related losses. The New York Times in 2012 spoke to a psychologist who dealt with patients suffering from fantasy addiction.

It sounds funny, the idea of a man in a gutter, penniless, a fantasy hockey draft cheat sheet crumpled in his hand, screaming about how Patrick Kane missing an empty net cost him $5,000. But it's not like it's impossible with these types of fantasy games.

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

Sites like DraftKings and FanDuel are relatively new, offering daily fantasy games for people who I assume lack real-life friends and can't handle the patience required for a season-long fantasy league. On DraftKings, there are games with entry fees as little as $1 with the biggest entry fee sitting at $5,300.

The site itself looks very much like an online poker site, which, you guessed it, is illegal in the United States.

DraftKings looks like gambling and smells like gambling, but thanks to a loophole (this is why you vote in mid-term elections), the NHL has itself a questionable partner for the coming years.

When expansion eventually comes to the NHL, maybe one of the new teams will be called the Las Vegas DraftKings.

KHL Thing of the Week

Clive Mason/Getty Images

There is some quality hockey that is played overseas that we rarely hear about in North America. This section will highlight that or something else from our friends playing hockey in the KHL.

NHL abandoner Ilya Kovalchuk has 17 goals in 26 games for SKA St. Petersburg this season. That's not a thing of the week, sure, but a thing I did this week is look up the goaltenders who have allowed Kovalchuk's goals this season.

They are: Jan Laco, Stanislav Galimov, Riku Helenius, Atte Engren, Ville Kolppanen, Mikhail Biryukov, Vladislav Fokin, Ilya Ezhov, Dmitri Milchakov and Curtis Sanford.

Prove I didn't make up every name on that list except for Sanford. 

Who Is Connor McDavid-ing This Week?

The tank battle for Connor McDavid will be quite the scene this season as teams stumble over each other to finish last in the standings, thus guaranteeing either McDavid or future American hero Jack Eichel.

Here's how it's looking entering Tuesday:

Bill Wippert/Getty Images

1. Buffalo Sabres (3-11-2, 8 pts)

If tanking is an art, the Sabres are the offspring of Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock. They earned one of six possible points last week, but consider the virtuoso performance they’ve been delivering this season.

They have a minus-35 goal differential, worst in the league; there are 11 teams that have allowed fewer than 35 goals, period, this season. They are on pace to have a minus-189 goal differential, the worst since the 1993-1994 Ottawa Senators were minus-196.

2. Columbus Blue Jackets (4-9-1, 9 pts)

The effort is there, but pulling ahead of Buffalo seems impossible. The Blue Jackets have lost eight straight, seven in regulation. They are 2-9-1 since starting 2-0, showing great commitment to a tank job that is related heavily to injury. It’s commendable, smart and should be hailed as the wisest tanking of our time.

However, the Blue Jackets are L.A. Confidential and the Sabres are Titanic, and despite L.A. Confidential's obvious merits, it could not beat Titanic at the Oscars. The Sabres are a deep ocean, bottomless in fact, and it seems impossible to out-tank them this season. 

3. Dallas Stars (4-6-4, 12 pts) 

Perhaps the Stars realized that, with their weak defense corps, the time was now to do some Connor McDavid-ing. They've lost an impressive seven straight, five in regulation. Could general manager Jim Nill be whimsically dreaming of having Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza and McDavid as his centers next season?

While Stars fans may want to believe this tanking is for real, the Stars lost nine of 10 last year before stepping on the gas and making the playoffs. That's why it's hard to believe this inspiring run of seven straight losses can be sustained much longer.

Goal of the Week

I didn't really love anything this week, so if you've got better options, I'm all for it. I went with this goal just as much for the passing as I did for Capitals defenseman Mike Green seemingly falling asleep and drifting toward the neutral zone. Fun.

Boston's Seth Griffith scored a between-the-legs goal against the Devils on Monday, but when the only reason the puck hits the back of the net is because the goaltender didn't have his leg flat on the ice, it's more lucky than good. 

Questions and Answers

Got a question? Tweet me @davelozo or email me at [e-mail], but please don't call before 9 a.m. I will answer any of your questions about hockey or whatever if it's a good question.

Dave,

As the NHL is still awaiting a pair of brothers to grace the same rink, it got me to thinking about great movies with “Brother” in the title. Which out of these would win in a double-elimination, round-robin format? As always, your attention to these highly important questions is world-renowned and inspires me to live life to the fullest every day.

1. Step Brothers

Miguel Villagran/Associated Press

2. The Blues Brothers

3. Brothers (featuring Tobey Maguire not being Spiderman)

4. O Brother, Where Art Thou?

5. Our Idiot Brother

6. Undercover Brother

7. Brother Bear 2

8. Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience

Signed,

Tom, a Lozo fan at heart

The first four eliminated are The Blues Brothers, Our Idiot Brother, Brother Bear 2 and Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience. The first two are bad movies, and I can't be entirely sure the last two are real, so they are out.

Next to go is Brothers, because unless Tobey Maguire is being Spiderman (or running an orphanage), I'm not interested.

That leaves Step Brothers, Undercover Brother and O Brother, Where Art Thou? battling for supremacy.

As much as I enjoy Undercover Brother, it gets demolished by O Brother, Where Art Thou? and loses by the slimmest of margins to Step Brothers for the Will Ferrell-Adam Scott hug scene.

In the championship, O Brother defeats Step Brothers. I'm a sucker for Joel and Ethan Coen, who are brothers.

(See how I brought that home at the end?)

Hopefully, one day in the NHL, two brothers on separate teams will play each other and it will be a big story for everyone to read and embrace.

That's the only question I got this week, and it was insane. So this is where we say goodbye. 

All statistics via NHL.com.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @DaveLozo.