Inside the NHL

Jeepers, Keepers!  

Teams are too impatient to wait for their first-round goaltending picks to develop

By Daniel G. Habib

Moments after the Thrashers selected him with the second pick in last Saturday's draft, Kari Lehtonen, an 18-year-old goaltender for Jokerit Helsinki in Finland's Division 1, was asked to evaluate his chances of cracking Atlanta's roster next fall. "I think I have a chance," Lehtonen said. "That's my goal, to play next year in the NHL." Rosy views of the future are de rigueur for high draftees. However, if history is a guide, not only will Lehtonen not become an NHL regular next season, but he also won't be with the Thrashers when (and if) he ever does.

Lehtonen was drafted No. 2 by Atlanta, but will he ever be a Thrashers regular? Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Even as netminders' draft-day prominence has increased recently -- over the last six drafts four times goalies have been among the first six selections; the only other time a goalie had been picked that high was in 1983 -- the likelihood of a keeper's standing in the crease for the club that chose him has declined. The combination of a goalie's lengthy developmental process and teams' win-now approach has made homegrown netminders rare. Last season only seven of the league's 32 starters (two teams had goalies share the No. 1 job) had been a regular with the club that drafted them, and goalies playing for their draft teams accounted for just 29% of all minutes in net.

"If you don't come around fast, general managers grow impatient because they're not sure if they're going to be around themselves," says Canucks G.M. Brian Burke, whose four goalies last season -- Dan Cloutier, Peter Skudra, Alexander Auld and Martin Brochu -- were acquired from other teams. "It becomes, 'We've got to win today.' Everybody talks about rebuilding and giving guys a chance, but most teams [don't have the time] to rebuild."

Because the NHL readiness of keepers depends largely on technical mastery, their development is slow. Raw attributes such as size and speed, which can provide shortcuts for position players, aren't as helpful to netminders, who need exposure to different shots and shooters and to work with pro goalie coaches. What's more, because players are rarely eligible to join NHL-affiliated minor league teams until they're 20, the two years following the draft are usually spent in junior leagues, where honing keepers' skills is not a priority.

The average age at which last season's NHL starters in goal became regular roster members (that is, played at least 25 games in a season) was 23 years, eight months. Typically, only teams that already possess goaltending depth can wait those five-plus years for a netminder to mature. If Atlanta can wait, the highly touted Lehtonen may evolve into an All-Star, but circumstances could force the Thrashers (19-47-11-5 last season) to move their prize. As with many teams trying to develop goalies, time isn't on their side.

Issue date: July 1, 2002

For more Inside the NHL see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, June 26. Click here to subscribe to SI.

 

Related information

Stories

Inside Baseball Scorecard: Wimble-done? July 1, 2002 Life of Reilly: Wishful Thinking SI Online: Current Issue and Archives

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video