The Vegas Golden Knights have to let go of the inconsistent goaltending of Malcolm Subban in the offseason.
Every goaltender goes through good and bad stretches during the grind of an NHL season. Its almost uncommon a goalie will stay hot throughout the regular season. However, when you’re at a young age and trying to build a resume’ to become an NHL caliber netminder, you can’t afford to have long stretches of inconsistency.
The Vegas Golden Knights didn’t really have that problem all of last year. Every goalie that stepped up to the big club during the inaugural campaign exceeded expectations. Due to Marc-Andre Fleury’s concussion, he was sidelined for a considerable chunk of the season.
Vegas had to call upon Malcolm Subban, Max Lagace, and Oscar Dansk to help them through a critical tipping point of the year. And to everyone’s surprise, they all contributed in a big way in the team’s first year. Everything has since changed when the team turned the page to year two of their existence.
Aside from lately, Fleury has been healthy all season long and continues to be one of the top five best goaltenders in the game today. The problem lies at the Golden Knights backup goaltending position. Naturally, the team has played Subban more with a playoff spot locked up, as he has started eight games in a row. That’s usually an indicator that the team wants to get a feel of him before extending his contract that currently runs out after this season.
The Toronto, Ontario native put up great numbers and impressed during in his first season with Vegas, posting a 13-4-2 record with a 2.68 GAA and a .910 SV%. When his name was called to the crease last year, you felt reasonably confident that he would be solid in the net that night. However, that changed when he entered his sophomore season in 2018-19.
His second year in the NHL got off to a rocky start after going 0-5-0with a lowly SV% of .873 and 19 goals allowed in first five starts. He finally recovered and went on an incredible nine-game stretch where he went 7-2-0 with a .920 SV%, 23 goals allowed and his first NHL shutout. The 26-year old has since come back down to earth in his last five games going 0-3-2 with a .895 SV% and 17 goals allowed.
His overall numbers stand at 7-10-2 with a 3.03 GAA and a .901 SV%. It’s just not good enough coming from the backup position. Subban doesn’t pass the eye test either as he’s unwilling to battle through traffic and too slow going post to post. At some point, your team needs you to make the big save, and he has not done that at a consistent rate at all.
If the team is looking for the next goaltender after Fleury is done, they need to look elsewhere, because Subban is not the answer. Subban should be looking for a raise, but it shouldn’t come from the Golden Knights after the team has already signed their newest acquisition, Mark Stone.
And with players such as Deryk Engelland, William Karlsson, Brandon Pirri, Ryan Carpenter, Tomas Nosek, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare looking for new contracts as well, Subban’s chances of coming back seem slim. Whether it’s goaltending prospects in the system such as Dylan Ferguson or Jordan Kooy in the next three to six years or another free agent goalie to fill that gap, the backup position needs to be addressed this offseason.
Yes, the Vegas Golden Knights are back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Yes, Marc-Andre Fleury will return for the playoffs. But is Malcolm Subban’s days numbered in a Golden Knights jersey? Yes, I believe so.