It would seem the best person to ask for an opinion on a goaltender rotation would be an actual former NHL goalie.
The Vegas Golden Knights will begin training camp this month, and the main question surrounding the team right now is who will come out as the No. 1 goaltender to begin the 2022-23 season.
Just weeks ago, general manager Kelly McCrimmon declared that the team would rely on a tandem of Laurent Brossoit and Logan Thompson. Now that Vegas has added goaltender Adin Hill, the room in the competition has grown.
Devan Dubnyk, a former longtime NHL goaltender, gave his answer when he joined “NHL Tonight” on Tuesday.
“I think if Brossoit’s healthy, I think he should be given the opportunity,” Dubnyk said. “It would be a great opportunity for him to take the reins, being part of a great hockey team that’s expected to make the playoffs. If he’s not, it’s got to go to Logan Thompson. He played great last year [while being] thrown into a difficult situation, and he ran with it.
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” … It sounds silly, coming from Vegas, but he’s playing with Hell’s money. He kind of got thrown in there … Well all of a sudden, when you have the whole summer to think about it and you come back, and he doesn’t really have a guy behind him as a security blanket, it changes the way you approach the game, regardless of whether you want it to or not. There’s going to be a much bigger pressure load on Logan Thompson.”
Dubnyk said new Golden Knights goaltending coach Sean Burke had a “massive” impact on his career when he was a part of the Arizona Coyotes for part of the 2014-15 season, and he expects the coach to do the same for the young Thompson.
“He just instills confidence in goalies and is exactly what I needed, so that’s going to be huge for Logan Thompson,” Dubnyk said. “It’s going to be fun to see. I’m not talking about it like he’s going to fail or all this pressure is going on.” [to get to him]; this is just an incredible opportunity for him and if he takes it and runs with it, that’s a free ticket to be a full-timer in the NHL.”
Dubnyk is still classified as an unrestricted free agent, but he labeled himself a “former” goaltender on Tuesday’s show.
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