Washington Caps Goalie Wars

Now that Semyon Varlamov is playing regularly at the NHL level, who is the Caps #1 goalie prospect: 

2009 Calder Cup MVP Michal Neuvirth?

20 year old rookie Braden Holtby?  

AHL journeyman Jason Bacashihua? ... Jason who? 

With a 4-0 record at Hershey so far this season, 1.0 goals-against-average, and 0.966 save percentage, Capitals fans may want to learn how to pronounce Bacashihua (buh-KASH'-uh-wuh) sooner rather than later

In a little noticed signing last summer, the Caps’ AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, inked Jason “Cash” Bacashihua to a one year contract. For a team as deep in young goal-tending talent as the Caps, it seemed a curious move at the time.

However, Bacashihua is already something of an AHL veteran (7 seasons). Perhaps management expected he would bring stability and help mentor its younger talent in front of the net over the course of the season—shades of Crash Davis from the movie Bull Durham.

Instead, it now seems that the Capitals may have found themselves another goaltender who’s ready for prime time. Bacashihua definitely has ratcheted up the goalie competition. When it rains, it pours.  But who’s complaining.

Stepping in for an injured Neuvirth, Cash has won three straight for Hershey, after the Bears had lost four of five. This past weekend included wins in back to back games. On Friday night (10/30) he had his first shutout as a Bear (20th in his AHL career), a 26 save effort against Hartford. 24 hours later (10/31) he stopped Albany on 23 of 24 shots for a 4-1 victory. A week earlier, Sunday (10/25), Cash started against Portland after sitting on the bench for two weeks, and won a tight 3-2 victory. His first win for the Bears came on the third game of the season (10/10) when he stopped 32 of 33 shots against Binghamton.

Bacashihua, a horror movie fan, has been downright scary to opposition shooters this season. In four starts the 5'11" tall butterfly goalie has stopped 112 of 116 shots.  Maybe his mask—decorated with an image of Jason from Friday the 13th—is what’s psyching them out. The Bears’ Jason is currently the second best AHL goalie in three main statistical categories: won-lost record, goals against average, and save percentage. He is playing the best hockey of his career.

Is it possible that after seven modest years of professional hockey, Bacashihua is another late bloomer just like an earlier Caps goaltender named Kolzig? Olie the Goalie spent about as much time bouncing around the minors before his breakout season.  Bacashihua is not that old by NHL standards—he just turned 27 at the end of September—the same age as Kolzig was when he took over as the Caps number one goalie.

Originally the Dallas Stars first round selection in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft (26th overall), Bacashihua was the third net minder drafted in a year that has proven rich in goal. Current NHL goalies from the class of 2001 include Pascal LeClaire (8th), Peter Budaj (63rd), Craig Anderson (73rd), Ray Emery (99th), and Cristobal Huet (214th). 

As a first rounder, Bacashihua was clearly thought to have the potential to be a number one NHL net minder. Maybe there is still room at the top for one more goalie from the 2001 draft.

Cash spent a year in major juniors followed by two decent seasons with the Utah Grizzlies, the Stars’ AHL affiliate. He then moved to the St. Louis Blues organization in trade for defenseman Shawn Belle, their 2003 first round pick. This led to his best season yet in 2004-05 playing for the Worcester Ice Cats, then the Blues AHL affiliate. 

In 2005 Bacashihua was called up to the Blues and made his NHL debut. Unfortunately, Cash did not really impress. He bounced back and forth between St. Louis and Peoria (their relocated AHL team). He totaled 38 NHL games over two seasons.

After not making the Blues roster for the 2007-08 season, Bacashihua was traded to the Colorado Avalanche and assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters.  Ironically, the Monsters were the exact same organization as the Utah Grizzlies franchise where Bucashihua started his career, albeit with a new name, location, and NHL affiliation. 

With the Monsters, Cash increasingly found himself backing up Avalanche goalie prospect Tyler Weiman. Consequently, on becoming a free agent in July 2009, he took the opportunity to seek a change of scenery and signed his current one-year contract with the Hershey Bears.

What does Cash’s current success in the Hershey net mean for the Caps? For one, if Bacashihua stays this hot, he stands a good chance of supplanting last years Calder Cup MVP, Michal Neuvirth, as the Bears number one goalie. Although Michal looked sharp during the Caps training camp and an NHL pre-season game, he sustained a hip injury that continues to nag him. Since returning to Hershey, Neuvirth has experienced a bit of a slump and missed quite a bit of time. His record in four games this season with the Bears is 1-3 with 3.26 GAA and 0.882.

Of course, it’s premature to be rearranging the depth chart just yet. Hershey’s season is barely 11 games old. Neuvirth is officially still an AHL rookie—he played just 17 regular season games for the Bears last year—and he is, after all, only 21 years old. 

There’s one other factor in the Caps goalie wars—Braden Holtby, who has just been recalled to the Bears from the South Carolina Stingrays, the Caps ECHL affiliate. In his initial stint at Hershey this year, he put up equally impressive numbers: a 2‑1 record, 1 shutout, with 87 saves on 90 shots for a 1.01 GAA and 0.967 save percentage. 

Holtby has not been quite as sharp in three starts for the Stingrays: a 1-1-1 record with 3.6 GAA and 0.891 save percentage, but expectations for his performance remain high.

The good news for the Capitals is that their riches in goalie prospects will give them a lot of options as this season progresses.  It may well be that the Caps will call up Bacashihua sometime this season if either Theodore or Varlamov is injured. Other NHL teams in the market for goal tending help will likely be calling on GM George McPhee—so there could be some interesting trade possibilities later this year.

Anyhow, the Hershey Bears next game is scheduled for Wed, Nov. 4 against the Lowell Devils, the New Jersey affiliate. Don’t know who’s going to start in goal just yet—since Holtby has been recalled, it probably means that Neuvirth’s hip is not 100% ready.  But no one should be surprised if Bacashihua keeps winning and pushing for an opportunity to get back to the show.