Niittymaki has earned the starting job

by Travis Hughes on Feb 11, 2009 7:58 PM EST in Commentary

AP photo by Gregory Smith via cache.daylife.com

Martin Biron's days with the Philadelphia Flyers may be numbered. His days as the club's starting goaltender appear to be over. Biron, whose contract (at $3.5 million per season) expires at season's end, had lost four straight games before starting Saturday against Boston at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. In that game, Biron looked shaky, allowing the Bruins to jump ahead 3-1 on 15 shots. He was pulled for backup Antero Niittymaki, who stopped all 22 shots he faced in a 4-3 come-from-behind win for the Flyers. The word is, the Flyers are going to now try to ship Biron out before the trade deadline.

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If this report can be believed, the Flyers certainly soured on Marty Biron pretty quickly, didn't they? Well, it's not all that farfetched when you look closely at the situation.

The stats show that Antero Niittymaki has been the better goaltender since the start of 2009. He's only lost four games in regulation all season, and his 13-4-4 record completely trumps Biron's 15-11-4 mark.

Niittymaki has not lost two games in regulation back to back all season long. Among his most impressive performances this season include 48 saves and one goal against versus Washington and 45 saves in an OT loss against San Jose, the best team in the NHL.

But his success this season has been virtually overlooked by the concern that Niittymaki has always been inconsistent. He's always been a guy that could get hot for stretches, but would eventually come back to earth. The Flyers have seemingly been waiting for him to come back to earth all season long, but that hasn't happened, and there are no signs that it will happen.

People forget that Niittymaki was the MVP of the 2004 Olympic games and that he led the Phantoms to the Calder Cup in 2005. He has the experience to carry this team -- it just hasn't come at the NHL level yet because he hasn't been given -- or earned, perhaps -- the opportunity.

Meanwhile, Martin Biron hasn't won a game in six starts. He's been the inconsistent one this season. He had his chance and simply hasn't been the better of the two goalies. He's not bad, and we know from last season that he has the capability to take this team deep in the playoffs, but he hasn't earned the chance to do that this season. He hasn't outperformed Niittymaki.

John Stevens has said that both goalies will get their chances, but Niittymaki will get the nod on Thursday against Ottawa. Biron will play against the Islanders Saturday, while Niittymaki will start Sunday in the most important game of the week against the Rangers.

It's Niittymaki's job to lose, now. He's put in his dues and he's earned that right.

Could the Flyers trade Biron? While Niittymaki has earned the right to be the starter, I don't believe that they have enough confidence in him to get rid of Biron at the trade deadline. If Niittymaki performs down the stretch as he has all season and earns the playoff starter role, what happens if he gets hurt in the playoffs? A Biron-less team means that Scott Munroe is the playoff goaltender, and that just isn't okay.

Besides, what could the Flyers get in return for an inconsistent goalie that is an unrestricted free agent in July? Probably not much. The Flyers would be silly to ship Biron out before the summer.

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Comments

Wow

Man, what an interesting up-and-down career this guy (Biron) has had. The “is he NHL-caliber or not, is he No.1 or not, is he money or not?” sequence dating back to those years in Buffalo/Rochester … pretty crazy.

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by Dominik on Feb 11, 2009 9:42 PM EST reply actions

It is pretty darn interesting. It sucks because I love Marty — I like Niittymaki too, but how could you not love Marty, honestly? But looking at it objectively, Niittymaki deserves the job right now. It’s a hard truth for Biron and his fans, and I do think he is a number one, NHL-caliber goalie, but he just hasn’t performed that way this season.

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by Travis Hughes on Feb 11, 2009 9:52 PM EST up reply actions

This is what worries me.

That goaltenders like Biron and Ilya Bryzgalov out in Phoenix hit jackpot and struck oil the previous year and right now are going bankrupt, if you know what I mean. And the thing is, I had high hopes for both of these guys. It’s because of them that I show concern for guys like Clemmensen and Jon Quick in LA, even though Quick has age and time on his side. I worry for them.

by R_Adragna on Feb 11, 2009 10:07 PM EST reply actions

Yeah, and you wonder what the X factors are. I mean Biron has been strong enough for long enough where he’s clearly not just a flash in the pan. So … just a rough year? The weight of needing to earn a new contract? Heck, Giguere has gone through this a few times in Anaheim (and most recently, right after his dad passed away).

With goalies, the pressure to be consistent is so much higher. A 30-goal scorer has a bad year, people still believe he can get it back; with goalies, there’s the whole team’s confidence riding on him being able to keep up constant form.

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by Dominik on Feb 11, 2009 11:50 PM EST up reply actions

And it doesn’t help that Philadelphia has this whole complex with goalies that is kind of unspoken, but we never give a goalie much when it comes to benefit of the doubt. We’ve been let down by so many guys who only had one good season. Boucher, Cechmanek, and Esche in recent years led us into the playoffs and then sucked the next season…

I like that comparison to Giguere, and I do think that there is a lot of pressure on Marty this season especially with his contract situation. But then again, Niittymaki is in the same situation since he’s a UFA too in July, so there’s just another reason he’s earned the job. If that’s a legit reason for Biron’s inconsistency, you’ve gotta give Niitty his props for being able to focus under that same pressure.

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by Travis Hughes on Feb 12, 2009 12:00 AM EST up reply actions

Briere factor

We ship out Biron, we can bring Briere back up without having to trade off a guy like Lupul or Knuble, no? If we could send him out for a lesser-but-cheaper backup and a middling pick or okay prospect, then it’s still addition by virtue of not having to lose anything and gaining Danny Briere. As is, I think we’re devoting too many dollars to the goalie position, given how close we are to the cap.

by Alon on Feb 12, 2009 1:48 AM EST reply actions

As of now, the Flyers could send down Glen Metropolit and Ossi Vaananen (who seems to be the odd man out on D with the emergence of Ryan Parent) and be fine under the cap once Briere comes back, if my math is correct. There’s no need for a major trade.

That doesn’t mean someone won’t go, and I do believe someone is out before the deadline, but they don’t have to do it.

I’d much rather see Lupul or Jones go because the return you’d get for them would be so much better than what you’d get for Biron.

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by Travis Hughes on Feb 12, 2009 7:59 AM EST up reply actions