The Dallas Stars made waves when they signed goaltender Antti Niemi to a three-year, $13.5 million contract. This move led to speculation that the team might move Kari Lehtonen, but ultimately the Stars have stated they plan to keep both goalies on the roster and roll with two #1 goaltenders.
Stars GM Jim Nill recently commented on the situation and spoke about the fact he has two goalies on the roster who could hold down the starting roll if given the opportunity.
Via the Dallas Morning News:
“We think it’s going to be a split job. Now someone might get it and run with it for a while. We’ll play it by ear. There’s always the unknown. There’s injuries. So many things can happen. Somebody can get sick. You don’t know what’s going to happen. There was a lot of games last year, people don’t know this part of it, where Kari Lehtonen was pretty banged up and we didn’t have a choice but to ride him. Now he knows that he can get four or five days off and get re-energized. Same thing for Niemi. He knows that he can get some time off when he’s not 100 percent. In the end, I think it’s going to be a split situation. I think it’s going to work well. Like I said, we’re fortunate because of our cap situation that we can do it. I know that if other teams had the cap room, they’d do it. You can’t get any better than having two No. 1 goalies in your lineup.”
Nill also commented about the healthy competition he expects to come out of having both Lehtonen and Niemi on the roster as well as the fact that having two strong goalies is necessary in a highly competitive Conference. Should one go through a slump, the Stars have a more than competent option to call on.
The Stars have invested a ton of money into their two goaltenders (an average cap hit of $10.4 million each season) and are taking a risk by sinking so much into one area of the roster. Goaltending is a critical component and the Stars probably worked Lehtonen too hard in 2014-15 (65 games), but that’s a lot of money dedicated to two starting goaltenders.
