Return-to-Play: Goalie Plan May Need Adjustment

One of the trickiest aspects of NHL teams getting ready to resume games in the fourth and final phase of the return-to-play plan will be the management of their goalie rotations. The Flyers will be in the same boat as every other team.

The Flyers, like all teams, must try to balance the need to have both of their goalies game-ready against the immediacy of playing a three-game round robin for playoff seeding before the start of a best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal round.

Last summer, Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault told the Flyers official website that he anticipated giving plenty of regular season work to both halves of the tandem of Carter Hart and Brian Elliott. Then, as the playoff approached, the plan could change to identify an exclusive starter.

"I think the days were you see one goalie play 65 games -- or 70 to 75 with a guy like Martin Brodeur -- are done. You need two guys who play for you with some frequency during the regular season. More and more, I think teams are using a model like the one Boston had this season. They split the time between Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak pretty evenly, and then went with Rask during the playoffs. With all the back-to-back, three-in-four, four-in-six games on the schedule these days, I think you have to do it that way or you will wear your goalie down. I anticipate that we'll get a lot of work for both Carter and Brian Elliott and then, in the playoffs, the model may change," Vigneault said in July 2019.

Vigneault's handling of the Flyers goaltenders matched up closely to the plan he described. Second-year pro Hart appeared in 43 games (24-13-3 record, 2.42 GAA, .914 SV%, 1 SO), while Elliott got into 31 games (16-7-4, 2.87 GAA, .899 SV%, 2 shutouts). Alex Lyon made two starts and one relief appearance (1-1-0, 3.55 GAA, .890 SV%) while Hart missed time due to a midseason injury.

Part of this pattern was by proactive design, such as the head coach looking for opportunities to split the work during stretches of back-to-back games and three games in four nights. It was also partially performance driven. Hart, for example, was utterly dominant on home ice. His 20-3-2 record, 1.63 GAA, and .943 save percentage statistically ranked among the top three single seasons in Flyers franchise (minimum 15 home games played). Actually, his home save percentage stands alone as the best in team history for one season.

Conversely, Hart struggled on the road, especially in the first half of the regular season. Thus, Vigneault gave preference to Elliott as his primary road starter for the much of the season. Elliott responded with a 12-5-2 record on the road (3.08 GAA and .896 save percentage). His road victories include two wins in Washington, two in Columbus, one in St. Louis, one in Carolina, one in Toronto, and one in Montreal in addition to earning a regulation point for the team in Pittsburgh.

As the season moved toward the stretch drive, Vigneault began to use Hart more frequently on the road, in addition to continuing to receive the bulk of the work on home ice. Overall at the time of the NHL pause, Hart was 10-2-0 over his last 12 starts with a 2.17 goals against average and .926 save percentage.

When the NHL reaches Phase 4 of the return-to-plan plan, home/road issues will go out the window. All games will be played in one of two "hub" cities with no fans in the stands, at least in the first few rounds of the playoffs (and quite possibly for the duration). There may or may not be be an exhibition game or two played ahead of the round robin/ qualification series phase.

There is only so much that game conditions can be simulated in a practice setting. Given the need to keep both goalies on the roster sharp -- and the potential for needing to switch goalies either due to an injury or an effort to swing the momentum of a game or a series -- it may be hard at the outset for teams to go exclusively with one goalie.

On April 29, shortly before the NHL laid out the basic parameters for Phases 2, 3 and 4 of the return-to-play plan, Vigneault said he would take his time to figure out how the Flyers will adjust their goaltending plan. There were simply too many unknowns to speculate.

"What I will say is that I have a lot of confidence in both of our goalies. More important than that, their teammates have a lot of faith in both guys," Vigneault said.

"Coming into this season, it was Carter's first full season in the NHL. I would say that we were looking for continual improvement from him. With his talent and his work ethic and his smarts, he's met or exceeded expectations in terms of the pace of his improvement. He's still continuing that process, too. With Brian, he's been healthy this season and he's won some big games for our team. We were happy with our goalies before the stoppage, and we're confident that goaltending will continue to be a strength of our team when we get back to playing."

At this point, the NHL is two weeks into Phase 2 of the return-to-play plan. Tentatively, phase 3 (formal training camp) is slated to take effect on July 10. This is dependent on the NHL and NHLPA coming to a final agreement still yet-to-be determined formal timetable for Phase 4. It also depends on conditions being favorable to hold games in the two hub cities.