Tough Choices

Gotta go with the kid.

Bruce Boudreau might disagree, and he gets to make the choice. But after watching Jose Theodore be awfully hard to hit Wednesday night in Washington's series opening loss to the New York Rangers, you've got to believe the man they call Gabby is at the very least considering giving rookie Simeon Varlamov the start for Game 2 on Saturday.

Now, Boudreau has two days off to fully digest Wednesday night's 4-3 defeat, and he's going to see some things other than Theodore's iffy goalkeeping he won't like. Like Jeff Schultz getting undressed on the winning goal by Brandon Dubinsky. He was already justifiably upset over the non-interference call on Sean Avery that set up Scott Gomez's second period goal.

But here's the tricky part of the goaltending decision, and it goes beyond the fact Varlamov, aged 20, has never played an NHL playoff game and only dressed as Theodore's backup because regular No. 2 man Brent Johnson is out recovering slowly from hip surgery.

Let's say Boudreau sticks with Theodore, who now has four wins in his last 15 playoff starts, for Game 2, and the veteran netminder plays poorly and the Caps lose.

Then, you have to stick with Theodore probably because it would be difficult to put Varlamov in for a do-or-die Game 3 in Madison Square Garden.

But if you go with Varlamov for Game 2, he might steal one and even the series, or if he loses, you can go back to the more seasoned Theodore for Game 3.

Now, understand Varlamov is no Justin Pogge. He has played for the Russian national team and he played extensively for Yaroslavl in the Russian league playoffs last year. He was Washington's first-round pick in 2006, so there's some pedigree here.

(Ed. Note: Pogge delivered the goods for the AHL Marlies Wednesday night, stopping 27 shots en route to a 3-2 OT win over Manitoba in Game 1 of their first round series.)

In six appearances this season for the Capitals, Varlamov was 4-0-1 with good numbers. He probably can't outplay New York's Henrik Lundqvist, but the Caps don't need that. They just need solid netminding, something Theodore, 40th in NHL save percentage, isn't likely to supply. Even when he made stops Wednesday night, he was coughing up unreasonable rebounds. Theodore gave up four goals on just 20 shots, and afterwards Boudreau made it clear he felt his club's defensive coverage was more than solid in front of his goaltender.

The Rangers got a huge boost by winning the game despite being without Chris Drury due to injury, despite surrendering 13 shots to Alex Ovechkin and despite three dumb penalties by veteran forward Markus Naslund.

They're probably licking their chops with either Washington goaltending choice, either getting another shot at Theodore or testing a raw rookie.

It wasn't just winning Game 1 that was huge for the Rangers. It was the way the Caps lost it.

Comments

[Matt B]

Bang on Damien. I'm surprised the Caps went as far as they did this season with Theodore. I suspect they will go do or die with him since there is no real alternative — it seems hard to jusify throwing in the backup after one game when they finished 2nd in the conference.

[Chris Hunt]

Damien - if you ever wondered why people have a problem with the way you do things you need to look no further then this quote:

"Now, understand Varlamov is no Justin Pogge."

Did this really need saying? Could you have not made the point without dragging Pogge into it, or making some sort of snide, anti-Leaf remark? If you're going to write about the Capitals, write about the Capitals. Don't drag a Leafs prospect into the conversation in a disparaging way when he has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

Maybe you could do some actual research and find out if a situation similar to the one you've proposed has ever gone down, then compare it to this, providing us with some sort of apples to apples comparison. Don't you think that might give your analysis some actual depth?

I guess not.

[DamienCox]

Damien here. . .responding to Chris Hunt. . .no, I don't ever wonder why people "have a problem with the way I do things." Some like my style, some don't. I'm okay either way. I believe in the ability of people to think for themselves, and not for me to figure out how they'd like me to write.
Regarding the reference to Pogge, let me spell it out for you. I work for the Toronto Star. Most of my readers either in the paper on the web are GTA-based. So I used Leaf references often because it makes sense in the market in which I work. That's just common sense.
It's not my fault Pogge hasn't yet proven he can play in the NHL, or really even in the AHL. The point was to make it clear Varlamov is a much brighter NHL prospect. Sorry if that upsets your Leaf sensibilities.

[Dante]

Gotta say I totally agree with what Chris Hunt has to say. I'm a hockey fan as well as a Leafs' fan, and I don't expect that every hockey story has to have a Leafs' angle. I'm not surprised that Damien Cox can't seem to write a story without slamming some irrelevent Leafs' player -- it's taken him years to manage to write a column without dragging Tie Domi into it.

[Dr.Z]

I have no idea how Washington thinks they can win a series with Theodore in goal.Having said that, I doubt they'll make a change now. Best they can hope for is that Theodore somehow rebounds from that poor game.
As for the Pogge comparison, it probably wasn't necessary but is no big deal.
Now that real hockey has begun, and the leafs aren't around(as usual), it's probablty better not to remind us about them.....lol

[greg]

Avery is a big reason why fighting might have to stay in NHL hockey, if the refs and league let him get away with his garbage, then the players have to deal with it. Of course Avery turtles if a real fightet gets involved so he is hard to hit, but I do hope someone lays a real beating on him.

[Lockstock93]

No Maple Leafs references when you did the Awards discussions, but I guess even a passing reference to them would have been wrong considering the topic(it would have). No, I'd say that you didn't decide to mention Justin Pogge because people from the GTA don't understand what a goalie prospect is and you wanted some easy point of reference, you just made a joke that you wanted us to get. Nice one. Haha. IF...haha, only, hahahaha, there were some, hhhaaaa, better point of reference for a goalie coming in for a team in the playoffs than Justin Pogge, who has never really been in a position like that.

It is also kind of funny that you regularly critique Cliff Fletcher's actions when his were hardly as damaging as those by John Fergusen Jr., whom you seem to think did a better job. Despite the fact that you feel that Fletcher was a "caretaker" designated to sit on his hands when not clearing out the muskoka five and John Fergusen was supposed to win a cup...which of these gentlemen did their job more effectively? I'm not sure...not a hockey expert. (To quell any questions, a, i reintroduced the JFJ/Cliff Fletcher discussion because this is a blog that regularly features discussion about Leafs and GTA issues and obviously everything from that avenue of discussion is suitable for reference all of the time, b, Pogge is or isn't good, but Cox, how do you think they should improve him? are you conviced that corey hirsch isn't a good enough goalie coach or something?, and c, i know M. Cox isn't a hockey expert, heck he's a journalist(think curling)).

[frank]

Living in Hershey, We have seen many games with Varly and it would not shock anyone here to see him start. He can handle it and this is exactly the kind of coach that Gabby is. He loves the emotion of the kid. Simeon is awesome and he will certainly get a start over Theo-bore. This is not a stretch prediction. Also, Varlamove is way better than Pogge. The Hershey Bears could beat the Leafs. Please.

[John Richardson]

Damien's a big boy and can stand up for himself, but please folks, lighten up.

There was nothing wrong with the Pogge reference, particularly for a lot of Leafs fans whose very narrow hockey universe begins and ends with this team.

Cox's point that Pogge has proven that he's barely an AHL goalie isn't bashing the kid but merely pointing out the obvious.

Whether it's too late to fish or cut bait on him is an entirely different issue but let's remember he was a third round draft pick, chosen 90th overall by the Leafs.

He isn't and never will be the Toronto version of Steve Mason or Carey Price and the fact that people are talking about him as the next Leafs goalie in waiting is kinda pathetic.

Oh, and he's a professional hockey player, not some guy who plays in a Friday night beer league. He's not exempt from criticism.

[drew]

Hey Chris Hunt,
like so many Leaf's fans you seem to both "hate" Damien and his opinions, yet long for his approval of your beloved Leafs?!?! Grow up with an older brother or sister who picked on you??? Maybe you should just not read Damian's columns ... stick to watching and listening to Joe Bowen and Jim Ralph ... they will always provide you with the approval you seem to need.

[Down Goes Brown]

"Now, understand Varlamov is no Justin Pogge."

Does this mean Greg Gilbert would actually consider starting Varlamov in a playoff game?

[Sanj]

I guess people like Chris are still having a hard time dealing with the fact that a few years ago everyone was hyping the situation where the Leafs had two of the best young goalie prospects in Rask and Pogge. A lot of debating was going on who was the Leafs goalie of the future and one of them had to be traded to strengthen the Leafs in other areas.
Well history has shown that you guys traded the wrong dude! Worse yet was that all u got was Andrew RayCroft!!

HA!! HA!! HA!! HA!!

[Brian]

By the way, just to correct Damian, Pogge actually made 37 saves in that game. He stole it for the Marlies who were outchanced something like 22-8 in the game.