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Simeon Varlamov's long trip from Hershey, PA meant he didn't arrive in time to back up Brent Johnson when the puck dropped Friday against the Ottawa Senators. Instead, the Caps had to rely on team Web Producer and former Division III goalie Brett Leonhardt as their backup goalie for ten minutes of nail-biting NHL action. The Senators took every possible opportunity to try to hurt Johnson and get to Leonhardt, the only Division III goalie in the NHL this year. But once Varlamov got his pads on and joined the bench, the Sens stopped crashing the crease, as though Johnson had taken on the powers of Obi Wan Kenobi. Last night in Montreal, Varlamov showed exactly why.
Last night marked the first of hopefully many NHL wins for Varlamov, the goalie the Caps hope will stabilize their future and one day help them challenge for the Stanley Cup. Varlamov earned backhanded praise from Canadiens fans, and sincere praise from the Montreal Gazette. The Gazette said that Varlamov -- more than injuries, bad luck or the rest of the Washington Capitals -- beat the Canadiens 2-1 last night in Montreal.
Photos by Eli Resnick.
The Gazette emphasized injuries as a secondary factor in the loss, listing five players missing from the Canadiens' roster including their own promising goalie, Cary Price. This indicates a rare failure of research in a city known for some of the best hockey reporting on the planet. The Caps won without former MVP goaltender Jose Theodore, aging former MVP center Sergei Fedorov, last year's rookie of the year runner-up Nicklas Backstrom, wingers Thomas Fleischmann, Eric Fehr and Chris Clark and defensemen John Erskine, Tyler Sloan, Brian Pothier and Jeff Schultz. We'd think the Montreal papers would have been up on most of these facts, given that Theodore won the Hart and Vezina trophies for the hometown team and that Fedorov, Backstrom and Sloan were all injured during the course of last night's game.
But back to the phenom: Varlamov's dominance in the NHL shouldn't surprise anybody. Alex Ovechkin said Varlamov was ready to start for the Capitals back in August of 2007. Varlamov then helped Russia retain a small shred of respectability against a stacked Canadian team in that summer's Summit Series. The Caps picked the young goalie in the first round of the 2006 NHL draft, but until this weekend fans just hoped he'd be ready to take over the Caps' backup spot from Brent Johnson next season -- and perhaps, if that went well, become the team's starter after Theodore's contract expires in 2010. With a road win last night against this year's Eastern Conference leader, Varlamov seems to have accelerated those timetables.
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Varlamov looks so thirlled! psychums. I don't really know what that expression is. Anyway, i say dump theodore and bring him up.
I'm sure Varlamov will be honored to learn he has such a fan.
I'm not sure, however, that dumping Theodore is a desirable move, let alone a contractual possibility within the NHL/NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Still, hip injuries can be tricky. We should get a good look at Varlamov now, and hopefully a great taste of things to come.
Yeah, Eli, I'm a fan of the sport not the business side. Could you do an article or respond to this comment about what dumping Theodore would mean to the team financially. He is a really sorry sack and I would love to see him go. We got rid of swiss cheese (Kolzig) for more swiss cheese while Huet got away. I think BJ, and I never thought I'd say this the past couple of years, should be the number 1.
I hope he keeps developing well and dominates at the pro level for us just so I can call him the Iron Curtain.