Washington Capitals: Is It Too Early To Worry About The Goaltending?

Washington Capitals goalie Michal Neuvirth recorded his first career shutout on Wednesday.  His 29-save victory came against the Carolina Hurricanes in their first home game of the season. The shutout moved Neuvirth to 6-2 on the season, while the Capitals sit in second place in the Southeast Division with a record of 6-3.

There’s no doubt that Neuvirth is playing well early in the season. His goals against average of 2.18 puts him in the top 10, and his .929 save percentage has him at sixth. The numbers don’t lie, the 22-year-old Czech is having a solid season so far.

Neuvirth was expected to share goaltending duties with Semyon Varlamov this season, but Varlamov has been bothered by an ongoing groin injury and has only seen ice time in two games this season. Neuvirth has made the best of the situation, and it appears that he has secured the starting job even when Varlamov does return to the ice.

While Neuvirth is having a stellar start to the season, is he being used too much? Looking at his stats, he has not played a lot of games over the course of a single season. The most he has played in one season (if you remove his under-17 play and Czech Junior play) was in 2006-07 in the Ontario Hockey League, during that season he played in 41 games.  Last year, he played in 22 games for the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League, leading them to the Calder Cup.

The Caps are riding Neuvirth hard out of necessity, they do not have a true NHL back up netminder. Will Neuvirth be able to sustain the pace he is on, if he has to play 60-70 games this season?  His stamina is a big unknown for the Caps.

If Varlamov’s injuries linger past the 20-game mark of the season, I would not be surprised to see the Caps make a move for a solid veteran goaltender that will allow Neuvirth some games off. The team has a significant amount of space under the salary cap to make such a move, and in the long run it would be a safe investment in the health of Neuvirth.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/504303-washington-capitals-is-it-too-early-to-worry-about-the-goaltending

Autumn Reeser Avril Lavigne Bali Rodriguez Bar Refaeli Beyoncé