Jacob Markstrom helped Sweden win home-ice gold at the 2013 IIHF World Championship. Will he backstop the Vancouver Canucks to the 2020 Stanley Cup finals and face another European goalie?
photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images
It’s a good year to be a European goalie. For just the third time ever, we may well see two European goalies starting against each other in this year’s Stanley Cup final.
In 2002, Dominik Hasek (CZE) hoisted the Cup after his Detroit Red Wings defeated Arturs Irbe (LAT) and the Carolina Hurricanes in five games. “The Dominator” was the first European-born and trained starter ever to go all the way.
In 2002, Dominik Hasek (CZE) hoisted the Cup after his Detroit Red Wings defeated Arturs Irbe (LAT) and the Carolina Hurricanes in five games. “The Dominator” was the first European-born and trained starter ever to go all the way.
“He is one of the smartest goalies I have ever seen play the game,” Irbe told reporters at the time. “I read somewhere he likes to play chess, and that is how he plays goal.”
Then in 2004, Nikolai Khabibulin (RUS) of the Tampa Bay Lightning bested Miikka Kiprusoff (FIN) of the Calgary Flames for the Stanley Cup in seven games.
“If you’re going to be in the Stanley Cup finals, your goaltender better be your best player,” said then-Lightning coach John Tortorella. It was a year where both Khabibulin and Kiprusoff finished with five shutouts apiece.
Fast-forward to 2020, and there just aren’t many North American netminders left in the post-season.
In fact, unless second-year NHLer Carter Hart backstops the Philadelphia Flyers to the finals and either Ben Bishop of the Dallas Stars or Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights does the same after winning back his starting job, the Euro-on-Euro final scenario will almost certainly unfold.
The storylines are endless.
After back-to-back goose eggs versus the Washington Capitals and the Flyers, Semyon Varlamov (RUS) of the New York Islanders is 40 seconds away from eclipsing four-time Stanley Cup champion Billy Smith’s franchise shutout streak of 136:59. Smith’s record dates back to 1980, when the Islanders won their first Cup.
Then in 2004, Nikolai Khabibulin (RUS) of the Tampa Bay Lightning bested Miikka Kiprusoff (FIN) of the Calgary Flames for the Stanley Cup in seven games.
“If you’re going to be in the Stanley Cup finals, your goaltender better be your best player,” said then-Lightning coach John Tortorella. It was a year where both Khabibulin and Kiprusoff finished with five shutouts apiece.
Fast-forward to 2020, and there just aren’t many North American netminders left in the post-season.
In fact, unless second-year NHLer Carter Hart backstops the Philadelphia Flyers to the finals and either Ben Bishop of the Dallas Stars or Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights does the same after winning back his starting job, the Euro-on-Euro final scenario will almost certainly unfold.
The storylines are endless.
After back-to-back goose eggs versus the Washington Capitals and the Flyers, Semyon Varlamov (RUS) of the New York Islanders is 40 seconds away from eclipsing four-time Stanley Cup champion Billy Smith’s franchise shutout streak of 136:59. Smith’s record dates back to 1980, when the Islanders won their first Cup.
“Not that we expect it, but obviously he goes out there and performs every night and is a backbone for us,” Islanders centre Brock Nelson said of Varlamov. “So it’s nice knowing that we have him behind us. If there’s a breakdown or an error, he can bail us out.”
The 2019 Stanley Cup finalist Boston Bruins are surprisingly riding Jaroslav Halak (SVK), subbing for the out-of-the-bubble Tuukka Rask (FIN), who withdrew for family reasons.
In a series between two Cup favourites that’s tied 1-1, Halak, 35, is duelling with Andrei Vasilevski (RUS) of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the just-anointed franchise leader in playoff wins (22). And in the “It’s a Small World” category, the towering Vasilevski is up against Rask and Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck as he seeks his second straight Vezina Trophy.
Bruins sniper David Pastrnak, whose 48 regular-season goals tied Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin for the league lead before the shutdown, praised Halak: “He works hard every single practice. He’s been really good for us, and we just have to help him out a little more too.”
Anton Khudobin (RUS) of the Stars, who has shone since joining the club in 2018-19, has won five straight games. That’s just one shy of Ed Belfour’s franchise record set in 1999, when Dallas captured its only Cup. With the Colorado Avalanche trailing Dallas 2-0 in this series, former KHL all-star Pavel Francouz (CZE) is under the gun with Philipp Grubauer (GER), a 2018 champion with Washington, out indefinitely.
The 2019 Stanley Cup finalist Boston Bruins are surprisingly riding Jaroslav Halak (SVK), subbing for the out-of-the-bubble Tuukka Rask (FIN), who withdrew for family reasons.
In a series between two Cup favourites that’s tied 1-1, Halak, 35, is duelling with Andrei Vasilevski (RUS) of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the just-anointed franchise leader in playoff wins (22). And in the “It’s a Small World” category, the towering Vasilevski is up against Rask and Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck as he seeks his second straight Vezina Trophy.
Bruins sniper David Pastrnak, whose 48 regular-season goals tied Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin for the league lead before the shutdown, praised Halak: “He works hard every single practice. He’s been really good for us, and we just have to help him out a little more too.”
Anton Khudobin (RUS) of the Stars, who has shone since joining the club in 2018-19, has won five straight games. That’s just one shy of Ed Belfour’s franchise record set in 1999, when Dallas captured its only Cup. With the Colorado Avalanche trailing Dallas 2-0 in this series, former KHL all-star Pavel Francouz (CZE) is under the gun with Philipp Grubauer (GER), a 2018 champion with Washington, out indefinitely.
Stars coach Rick Bowness appreciates Khudobin’s quirky personality: “He keeps the guys loose, and you never know what’s going to come out of his mouth next. With that Russian accent, he catches you off guard with his sense of humour. He’s been great on the ice for us – he’s been great off the ice for us. He’s a very popular teammate and has been a great signing for us.”
Meanwhile, Robin Lehner (SWE) of the Knights and Jacob Markstrom (SWE) of the Vancouver Canucks are pivotal figures in their second-round matchup. Lehner earned his first career playoff shutout with 26 saves in a 5-0 Game One victory. Markstrom, making his first playoff run at age 30 and blocking more high-danger chances than any other NHL goalie, struck back with 38 saves as the upstart Canucks won Game Two 5-2.
Meanwhile, Robin Lehner (SWE) of the Knights and Jacob Markstrom (SWE) of the Vancouver Canucks are pivotal figures in their second-round matchup. Lehner earned his first career playoff shutout with 26 saves in a 5-0 Game One victory. Markstrom, making his first playoff run at age 30 and blocking more high-danger chances than any other NHL goalie, struck back with 38 saves as the upstart Canucks won Game Two 5-2.
Markstrom, who faced 22 shots in the second period alone, credited his teammates for blocking 40 shots in Game Two: “It shows how unselfish we are as a team. Everybody is sticking together and doing the dirty work. I know it’s not fun, and you see the ice packs after games on people who blocked shots. Me as a goalie, I appreciate that.”
Counterintuitively, although most of these guys are showing they’re “money goalies,” they’re not actually the European goalies who pulled in the biggest bucks this year. Take a look at some pre-pandemic total USD salaries for 2019-20.
Sergei Bobrovsky (RUS, $11,500,000), the NHL’s highest-paid European goalie, struggled in his first playoffs with the Florida Panthers, who fell to the Islanders in four games in the best-of-five qualifiers. This two-time Vezina Trophy winner has only advanced beyond the first round once in seven career attempts (2019, with Columbus).
Henrik Lundqvist (SWE, $7,000,000) of the New York Rangers got swept in the qualifiers by the Carolina Hurricanes. The 38-year-old legend, who won Olympic gold in 2006 and Worlds gold in 2017, may have missed his last chance to join the IIHF’s Triple Gold Club.
Instead, it’s Varlamov ($5,000,000), Markstrom ($4,000,000), Khudobin ($2,500,000), and Lehner ($1,500,000) who are making headlines. Vasilevski ($4,000,000) isn’t slated to see his big payday until 2020-21 ($12,000,000), when his eight-year, $76,000,000 extension kicks in.
In any case, the fact that this Euro-friendly trend isn’t a bigger story is a reflection of how the demographics of goaltending have changed in the new millennium. Hockey people simply accept that it’s now the United Nations in the crease.
No longer do you get cases like coach Don Cherry lambasting Hardy Astrom for his struggles with the early 1980’s Colorado Rockies or Canucks GM Brian Burke spurning Irbe in favor of more pugnacious puck-stoppers such as Garth Snow and Dan Cloutier.
Compared to the first wave that came over, European-trained goalies have caught up in terms of their puckhandling skills. (Remember how Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators became the first NHL netminder to score a goal since 2013 against Chicago in January?)
And whereas Europeans used to get criticized for not coming out to challenge shooters enough, the position has evolved, and virtually every NHL goalie plays deeper in his crease today than his 1980’s or 1990’s counterparts.
Everything is in place for 2020 to be the year of the European goalie. Here are three more fun facts.
1) The still-active European goalies have combined for four IIHF World Championship gold medals.
Semyon Varlamov (2012)
Jacob Markstrom (2013)
Anton Khudobin (2014, DNP)
Andrei Vasilevski (2014)
2) The only still-active European goalie who has played in the Stanley Cup finals is Andrei Vasilevski. In 2015, the Lightning rookie relieved Ben Bishop in Game Two and started in Game Four as Chicago defeated Tampa Bay in six games.
3) France (Cristobal Huet, Chicago, 2010) and Switzerland (David Aebischer, 2001, Colorado; Martin Gerber, 2006, Carolina) have produced Stanley Cup-winning goalies. So far, Sweden and Slovakia have not.
Counterintuitively, although most of these guys are showing they’re “money goalies,” they’re not actually the European goalies who pulled in the biggest bucks this year. Take a look at some pre-pandemic total USD salaries for 2019-20.
Sergei Bobrovsky (RUS, $11,500,000), the NHL’s highest-paid European goalie, struggled in his first playoffs with the Florida Panthers, who fell to the Islanders in four games in the best-of-five qualifiers. This two-time Vezina Trophy winner has only advanced beyond the first round once in seven career attempts (2019, with Columbus).
Henrik Lundqvist (SWE, $7,000,000) of the New York Rangers got swept in the qualifiers by the Carolina Hurricanes. The 38-year-old legend, who won Olympic gold in 2006 and Worlds gold in 2017, may have missed his last chance to join the IIHF’s Triple Gold Club.
Instead, it’s Varlamov ($5,000,000), Markstrom ($4,000,000), Khudobin ($2,500,000), and Lehner ($1,500,000) who are making headlines. Vasilevski ($4,000,000) isn’t slated to see his big payday until 2020-21 ($12,000,000), when his eight-year, $76,000,000 extension kicks in.
In any case, the fact that this Euro-friendly trend isn’t a bigger story is a reflection of how the demographics of goaltending have changed in the new millennium. Hockey people simply accept that it’s now the United Nations in the crease.
No longer do you get cases like coach Don Cherry lambasting Hardy Astrom for his struggles with the early 1980’s Colorado Rockies or Canucks GM Brian Burke spurning Irbe in favor of more pugnacious puck-stoppers such as Garth Snow and Dan Cloutier.
Compared to the first wave that came over, European-trained goalies have caught up in terms of their puckhandling skills. (Remember how Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators became the first NHL netminder to score a goal since 2013 against Chicago in January?)
And whereas Europeans used to get criticized for not coming out to challenge shooters enough, the position has evolved, and virtually every NHL goalie plays deeper in his crease today than his 1980’s or 1990’s counterparts.
Everything is in place for 2020 to be the year of the European goalie. Here are three more fun facts.
1) The still-active European goalies have combined for four IIHF World Championship gold medals.
Semyon Varlamov (2012)
Jacob Markstrom (2013)
Anton Khudobin (2014, DNP)
Andrei Vasilevski (2014)
2) The only still-active European goalie who has played in the Stanley Cup finals is Andrei Vasilevski. In 2015, the Lightning rookie relieved Ben Bishop in Game Two and started in Game Four as Chicago defeated Tampa Bay in six games.
3) France (Cristobal Huet, Chicago, 2010) and Switzerland (David Aebischer, 2001, Colorado; Martin Gerber, 2006, Carolina) have produced Stanley Cup-winning goalies. So far, Sweden and Slovakia have not.