Devils should give Cory Schneider a break

For all 20 games this season for the Devils, Cory Schneider has been in net.  Devils Head Coach Peter DeBoer has opted not to give his franchise goalie a rest.  Why?  The main reason may be DeBoer feels he has the best chance to win with Schneider in net.  Since the Devils missed making the playoffs last year by 5 points, DeBoer doesn’t want a game in October or November being the difference in whether his team gets to the playoffs.  His job might be on the line if the Devils miss the playoffs again.

Schneider has been fine so far this year with a .914 SV%, 2.58 GAA, and a 9-8-2 record.  There is no question he gives the Devils the best chance to win.  The problem is he’s on pace to start well over 70 games.  Playing him beyond 70 games may hurt their chances to advance if they were to make the playoffs and maybe to even get into the playoffs.

Since the 2004-2005 lockout, only Jonathan Quick has won the Stanley Cup playing in 65+ games(69 GP in 2011-2012).  Every other goalie who played in the Stanley Cup during that time period played in 63 games or less.  There were a few goalies who reached the conference finals who played 65+ games.  Most notably, Evgeni Nabokov played 71 games in 2009-2010 for San Jose.  He was the only goalie since the 2004-2005 lockout to reach the conference finals after playing in 70+ regular season games.

So you might be saying, well the Devils aren’t going to go to the Stanley Cup anyways or even the Conference Finals.  You may be right, but the chances of even getting out of the first round of the playoffs are slim when a goalie has played 70+ games.  Only 5 goalies since 2005-2006 have gotten out of the first round after playing 70+ games in the regular season:  Brodeur(2006 and 2007), Rinne(2012), Nabokov(2008 and 2010), Lundqvist(2007 and 2008), and Luongo(2007).  Every other goalie who played 70+ games in the regular season since that time either lost in the first round or didn’t make the playoffs.

There has only been 30 instances were a goalie played 70+ games for a team in the regular season since 2005-2006.  18 times that team has made the playoffs.  That’s hardly enough certainty to warrant playing a goalie for that many games.  And given that 128 teams have made the playoffs in the last 8 full seasons, 110 of those teams played their starting goalie in less than 70 games.

In looking at a smaller sample size, only 2 goalies who played 70+ games have made the playoffs in the last 3 full seasons.

Obviously there are other factors in why a team makes the playoffs and advances but there doesn’t seem to be many good cases for playing a goalie past 70 games unless he is on track to be a hall of fame player.  Having a capable backup who can play in at least 12 games seems like the best move for any team.  The Devils should’ve picked up a backup they were comfortable playing to ease the load for Schneider.

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