Workhorse goalies, U.S. blues, and Green's pastures

Phantom of the goalmouth: Dimitri Patzold. Christian Petersen/Getty Images

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With everyone in the hockey-related dotcom world handing out mid-season awards, it is time to celebrate the hands-down winner -- or, in this case, the idle-hands winner -- of the NHL's Maytag Repairman Award: Dimitri Patzold.

As you know, he beats Curtis McElhinney for the honor.

(If you can name the respective teams of these backup goalies, give yourself extra credit.)

For NHL goaltenders, history is beginning to repeat itself. Not that anyone is about to approach Eddie Johnston's standard with the 1962-63 Boston Bruins. Johnston is the last goalie to play every minute of every game, but the growing trend in the NHL is to have a genuine No. 1 goalie and ride him hard.

"Everybody said we were crazy to play Marty (Brodeur) so much," said Devils president Lou Lamoriello with what sounded like just a hint of satisfaction in his voice. "Now look."

The evergreen Brodeur, who has played at least 70 games 10 times in his career, has more company than ever. Roberto Luongo has played in at least 72 games in each of the past three seasons. Miikka Kiprusoff has appeared in 74 in each of the past two. Evgeni Nabokov appears poised to crack the 70-game barrier while Ryan Miller, Henrik Lundqvist, Tomas Vokoun, Rick DiPietro (health permitting) and Olaf Kolzig, especially with backup Brent Johnson gone for several more weeks, all are on or close to a 70-game pace.

One factor driving the return of the workhorse goalie is the salary cap. If you are going to invest something in the neighborhood of $7 million on goaltending, it makes sense to lavish most of it on a genuine No. 1 such as Luongo rather than adopt the approach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are wildly overpaying backup Andrew Raycroft after taking San Jose's erstwhile backup, Vesa Toskala, off the Sharks hands. Of course, overpaying is better than overplaying. Raycroft appeared is 72 games last season, but he had a save percentage below .900 as Toronto missed the playoffs.

But the overtime/shootout loser points that have helped create what passes for parity -- Detroit and Ottawa, you're exempt here -- also have influenced the way coaches structure their goaltending.

"It's important to get out of the gate," said the 37-year-old Kolzig, who has played 70 or more games three times in his career, the last being 2001-02. "Maybe the last month, when the playoff picture kinda settles itself, San Jose might be in a spot where they can rest Nabokov a little. Or New Jersey with the way they're playing right now, by the time March comes around (Kevin Weekes) can go in and relieve Marty a little more before playoff time, when he'll need the rest. It's the most important position in sports. They say baseball pitchers, but those guys pitch once every five days. So why not go with your best? Guys take such good care of themselves and are in such good shape."

In case you were wondering, Patzold, a Russian who started his pro career in Germany, has played 44 minutes in three of his team's 40 games, allowing four goals. He plays for, yes, San Jose. McElhinney, a one-time standout at Colorado College, is a veritable worker bee by comparison, having allowed five goals in four appearances spanning 131 minutes. He is Kiprusoff's handmaid in Calgary.

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