Passport Stamps

It's likely been a minute or two since anyone in the hockey world referenced goaltender Antoine Bibeau, so I might as well be the guy who reminds everyone that he's still playing. Bibeau looked like he had the moxie to potentially step into an NHL role at some point after posting a 2-1-0 record in four games split between Toronto and Colorado, and his 2.52 GAA and .907 save percentage were reflections on his ability to stop pucks at the NHL level. This might be why I'm not an NHL scout, though, because he bounced around the AHL before landing in Sweden and Finland in the last two seasons, and he's on the move again after another NHL team released him from his PTO contract.

Bibeau played in the SM-Liiga last season in Finland with KooKoo Kouvola where he helped them reach sixth-place in the sixteen-team league before they fell in the opening round of the Finnish league playoffs to Sport Vaasa. Clearly, it wasn't how Kouvola wanted to finish the season, but Bibeau had a solid season where he posted a 20-13-0 record in 35 games on the strength of a 2.60 GAA and a .905 save percentage. As we saw with most of his career, those would be solid AHL numbers, but should have teams looking at him as a potential option as an inexpensive, veteran, backup netminder.

One team did take a flyer on this netminder as the Dallas Stars invited Antoine Bibeau to training camp on a professional tryout contract, and Bibeau was't sure if he'd be with the Dallas Stars, the AHL Texas Stars, or with another team once training camp ended. He told Robert Tiffin of StarsThoughts.com about his invitation to camp,

"I just thought it was a good opportunity for me. My wife's pregnant, I'm getting older, and I was more patient this season as far as where I was going to play next season. I thought it was a good opportunity to just give myself a shot at coming back.

"I always said that if something came up in North America that I thought made sense, and that I was excited about, I was open to coming back. When Dallas came up with the PTO, I thought it was a great opportunity for me."

Fast forward to September 28 where Bibeau was released from his PTO contract, making him a free agent again. With a number of leagues in Europe already preparing to start their seasons, the options for Bibeau to return to one of those leagues may have been limited. For a 31 year-old netminder with an expanding family, he and his agent needed to find a place where he could land quickly!

Well, wonder no more as to where Antoine Bibeau will land because he has accepted a deal to join EHC Red Bull Munich in the Penny DEL in Germany! Bibeau will be one of four goaltenders on Munich's roster as he joins Mathias Niederberger, Simon Wolf, and Matthias Bittner in the blue paint, and he might be needed as Munich currently sits with a 4-5-0-0 record in eighth-place of the fourteen-team DEL. They have also surrendered the second-most goals-against to this point, so it seems clear that they need some help keeping pucks out of the net.

Mathias Niederberger has logged the most ice time of the three current Munich netminders, but he and Simon Wolf share the same inflated numbers. Through six games, Niederberger has a 3.71 GAA and an .848 save percentage while Simon, in three games, has a 3.71 GAA and an .851 save percentage. Simon sits 24th-overall in save percentage while Niederberger is 25th-overall, so Munich is looking for someone who can stop pucks with regularity.

In his defence, Bibeau's AHL numbers have him at a 2.79 GAA and a .906 save percentage in 225 games, and it seems Munich is looking for that kind of puck-stopping ability when he finally suits up for Team Red Bull. That .906 save percentage would put Bibeau at eleventh-overall in the DEL while his 2.79 GAA would have him at twelfth-overall. Clearly, that's a big increase from Niederberger and Wolf.

Bibeau's passport is starting to look like a stamp book as he moves to his fifth country and league in the last five years to stop pucks. He obviously has the skill to be a solid netminder on a number of teams, but he'll take his talents to Germany for the foreseeable future as he looks to help Munich climb the Penny DEL standings this season.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!