Best Bang for the Buck - Goaltending, Part 2

Continuing my Best Bang for the Buck - Goaltending series, part two is below.

Detroit Red Wings - $4.9M
Hasek held out for a full season with the Wings and helped lead them to the Western Conference finals with a steller 1.78 GAA and .923 save percentage. His regular season numbers, 2.05 and .913, were also exceptional and he has shown that he still has it. Sure, he was playing behind the team that gave up the least shots against per game but the goals to shots ratio was still in the top-half of the league. Chris Osgood was very capable in a backup role and could become an adequate starter should Hasek succumb to an injury.

Edmonton Oilers - $4.8M
The Oilers snagged Mathieu Garon to fill up the backup role behind their #1, Dwayne Roloson. Roloson played decently last season but is still saddled with inconsistency issues. He will come up with huge saves from time to time but then falls back to being an average goaltender shortly afterwords. If he can't shake off those troubles, the Oilers may lean on Garon to take some pressure off Roloson as he tends to play better under a 1a/1b situation.

Florida Panthers - $6.4M
After acquiring Tomas Vokoun on draft day, they signed Craig Anderson to back him up. With these two deals, they've again landed a solid #1 goaltender and a decent backup. It wasn't a long wait for Panthers fans after seeing their franchise netminder, Roberto Luongo, shipped out west. Vokoun carries a pretty hefty price tag of $5.7M per season which lands him up amongst the highest paid goaltenders in the league.

Los Angeles Kings - $3.9M
The Kings have an issue in the crease and Dan Cloutier is most definitely not the answer. When he's not injured, he's underperforming and putting up a near 4.00 GAA. Labarbera won the Best Goaltending award in the AHL last year - he also won it in 03/04 - and this could be his first full year in the NHL. It appears he has the potential but it's anyone's guess if he'll ever fully realize it.

Minnesota Wild - $3.8M
When Manny Fernandez went down with injury, Niklas Backstrom stepped up to the plate and eventually superceded Fernandez as the #1, posting a stellar 1.97 GAA and .929 save percentage. With Josh Harding primed for his first full season as a backup this duo, on paper, looks excellent.

Montreal Canadiens - $3.4M
Cristobal Huet was not the saviour that all Canadiens fans were hoping for. And when he went down to a hamstring injury, the supposed #1b David Aebischer couldn't hold on to the ball leading to Jaroslav Halak being called up. Halak played so well that many felt he was the saviour they were hoping for. Wrong again. With Huet healed up for this season, Halak is likely to back him up while the organization grooms their true saviour, Carey Price.

Nashville Predators - $1.8M
Chris Mason was only ever regarded as a minor-leaguer with potential to be a backup in the NHL. However when Tomas Vokoun went down to a thumb injury, he stepped in admirably posting a 2.38 GAA and .925 save percentage. Pekka Rinne will play the role of the unproven backup to back up the unproven #1. Rinne performed well in the AHL last season but management has to feel a tinge of fear with this duo. But they may be too caught up with other things to care.

New Jersey Devils - $5.9M
After turning in a standard Brodeur performance, a Vezina winning one at that, in the regular season, he seemed to falter a bit in the playoffs. His numbers were excellent but he seemed a bit lost on the ice. Could we be seeing the start of the downward slide of the pressure-loving Brodeur? I doubt it. With Weekes to back him up if he does falter, there isn't a big safety net.

New York Islanders - $5.0M
After signing a 15-year contract, Rick DiPietro put in a good performance in the 06/07 season as the Islanders had one of the best ratios of goals against to shots against. Wade Dubielwicz put up decent numbers but played in less than 10 games so it's tough to judge what he'll do as a backup who could play in up to 20 games. They've also got Mike Dunham and Joey McDonald in the fold which makes me go "Meh".

New York Rangers - $4.9M
Henrik Lundqvist re-signed to a one-year deal worth $4.25M. I'd get on my soapbox and say "That was exactly the number I predicted" but I won't. Or maybe I just did. Anyways, they've got their #1 back in the fold for the upcoming season and they're going to need him to step up as they don't have the greatest of lineups on defence. It's possible that Al Montoya could see some ice time this season but they'll likely use Valiquette as the backup. Lundqvist played 70 games last season and there's no reason to subject Montoya to sitting on the bench when he could continue to develop in the AHL.

Part 3 yet to come followed up by a finale naming the team with the Best Bang for the Buck in Goal. Stay tuned!