Capitals goalie named rookie of the month
Capitals general manager George McPhee said from the start he would not have felt comfortable entering the 2010-11 season with just one promising young goaltender. Too much can go wrong as a player transitions to a full-time role in the NHL to pin the whole season on a 22-year-old’s inexperienced shoulders.
McPhee’s club had a different sort of problem, though: Two 22-year-old prospects who had each shown flashes of becoming fine NHL players. Semyon Varlamov has already been the primary goalie in three Stanley Cup playoff series. Michal Neuvirth, despite almost no national profile, had started 19 NHL games and led the AHL’s Hershey Bears to back-to-back Calder Cups.
No veteran mentor needed here, apparently. Washington decided to let Jose Theodore leave as a free agent over the summer and allow their young goalies to fight for the No. 1 job. Varlamov’s injury woes — nothing new early in his career — gave Neuvirth the opportunity to grab it. On Tuesday, he was named the NHL’s rookie of the month for October and took an early lead in the race for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the league’s rookie of the year.
“I knew [Neuvirth] was this good so there’s no revelation at all,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I expect this from him — and more. He’s a third-year pro and has won two championships. So he’s been in situations like this. But [because of] his calmness and his demeanor, and the fact he doesn’t get too excited about anything, you knew he was going to be a good goalie.”
Neuvirth is 7-3 with a 2.15 goals-against average and has started 10 of Washington’s 11 games so far. Varlamov has not played since Oct. 21 and remains on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. He is expected to skate on Wednesday morning for the first time in 10 days, but Boudreau guessed Varlamov is another “seven to 10 days” from playing in a game. So, for now at least, it is Neuvirth’s team.
“He was up here last year so we saw some spurts of it,” Caps forward Brooks Laich said. “But the consistency of it from [Neuvirth] is what’s impressed us the most. We knew he was a good goaltender. But this year he’s been able to play well through the first month of the season … Very steady, very impressive so far. Let’s hope that continues.”
