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| An extremely bad Photoshop I made earlier in the season for Twitter (based on a billboard in Norfolk) |
If you’ve read any of my hockey stuff over the past year or
so, you know I’m a bit of a mark for Dustin Tokarski. Heck, he’s even one of the folks on my
Personal Collection list, so you know I’m a fan. Even back in 2010 I thought he’d be something
to look forward to.That means I’m super excited about the news out of
Channelside that he’s been promoted, right?
Not really.
The Tampa Bay Lightning organization hasn’t exactly been a
hot bed for goaltending prospects over its 20-year history. As a matter of fact, it’s been more like the
place where young goalies go to disappear.
Every regime that has come through the Tampa Bay Area has had their “Chosen
One” who would lead the team in net for the coming years. Names like Evgeny
Konstantinov, Gerald Coleman, Riku Helenius and Zack Bierk (aka Sebastian Bach’s
brother-in-law) have all been pitched to the fan base as a potential hot young
goalie in the system. The combined
number of NHL games for them in a Lightning uniform – 31. The number of wins –
5 (all of them by Bierk).
If you look at the Lightning’s history of goaltenders that
they’ve drafted, it’s not pretty. The
all-time games leader for Tampa Bay drafted goalies is Karri Ramo with 48, that
is barely over a half of a season’s worth of games. Even for a relatively young
franchise that’s pathetic.
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| Ramo did have one of the best masks in Lightning history - BRAINS! |
Most likely it is because the organization has never
concerned itself with using top picks to draft goaltenders. In the sixteen
drafts that the Lightning have used their first round pick (they traded away
their number one picks in 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2007), only once have they used
it for a goaltender. That was for
Helenius in 2006 when he went 15th overall (with Semyon Varlamov,
Michal Neuvirth and Jhonas Enroth still available). Only Tyler Moss (2nd
round 1993) and Konstatinov (3rd round 1999) have been drafted in
the top 3 rounds.
With that lack of top-end talents in the prospect pool it’s
no wonder that they’ve never developed an elite starting goaltender in the
NHL. They have also had a tendency to
rush whichever prospects they do have through their system and throw them into
the fire with horrendous teams in front of them. Ramo was 20 when he appeared
in his first game, Bierk was 21 and Coleman was 20 when he appeared in two
games before being shipped out to Anaheim in the Shane O’Brien deal.
Tokarski has been in the organization since 2008 when he was
drafted in the 5th round by the Bolts. There was a lot of excitement about him early
in his career as he dominated his last season in junior hockey, winning the
Memorial Cup MVP and the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy as the top goaltender. He was also the starting goaltender for Team
Canada at the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships where he led them to
their 5th straight goal medal (even if his play was uneven at best).
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| I have this card! Well not this exact one, but one just like it! |
He immediately made the jump to the AHL where he won 27
games in his first year at Norfolk while sharing playing time with Helenius and
Jaroslav Janus. Tokarski would win 21
games in 2010-11 and seem to take a step back on the prospect depth chart as
Janus and newcomer Cedrick Desjardins would look like they might have higher
potential.
This season, with Desjardins out of the system, the battle
for the future of the organization has come down to Tokarski and Janus. After
splitting time earlier in the season, Tokarski has wrestled his way to the
starting job and has matched his career best with 27 wins, 8 of which have come
in his last 8 starts. The Admirals are in the midst of the playoff hunt in the
AHL, mostly due to the outstanding play in net by their two keepers.
Before Tuesday night’s game it looked like the plan was
simple. Despite the uneven play of
Dwayne Roloson and Mathieu Garon, Tokarski would stay in Norfolk and wet his
teeth on AHL playoff pressure. Roloson will most likely be gone next season and
Tokarski could enter camp with the chance of battling for the number one
position with Garon or any other goalie brought in by Mr. Yzerman. The kid, he is still 23, wouldn’t be rushed
nor would he waste away on the bench.
Then, at about 7:47pm EST, Garon deflected an Erik Karlson
shot with his glove. In doing so he shredded his groin like our cat shreds a
newspaper. Immediate thoughts on the Twitter-verse were that Mr. Yzerman would
be putting a call into the league and swooping in to take Marty Turco off of
waivers. Alas, it wasn’t to be. They waited for the diagnosis and on
Wednesday morning, in the shadow of the news that Peyton Manning was being
released by the Colts, announced that Tokarski was getting the call up.
How much the young netminder plays in the next 3-4 weeks
hasn’t been determined yet. With the
Bolts only 4 points out of a playoff spot, one has to think that the team will
rely heavily on the veteran Roloson. There
are only two sets of back-to-back games left on their schedule (March 26,27 and
April 4,5) so they may try to ride him down the stretch. However, his play has been spotty at best
throughout this season so there is a slimmer of a chance that Coach Boucher
will give the younger goalie a shot.
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