Waive Him Now

The player to the left shall not be named in today's article for any reason. He hasn't earned that respect by any measure after being acquitted for charges of sexual assault in the Hockey Canada trial. You all know his name so me repeating it here isn't necessary, but I want to make it clear that his name will never be used in any way since it became apparent that the Vegas Golden Knights are desperate for a goaltender regardless of past allegations and involvement in alleged crimes. As he plays with the AHL's Henderson Silver Knights, it's becoming more and more evident that his abilities to stop pucks at an NHL level has evaporated, leading me to ask the obvious question: for what reason would Vegas keep him on their depth chart if he's not good enough?

The goaltender in question has played in three games for the Henderson Silver Knights to date, logging a 1-2-0 record with a 3.07 GAA and an .839 save percentage. He allowed four goals on 16 shots yesterday against the Ontario Reign, losing the game 4-3, and I have to admit that I enjoyed watching him struggle to make saves and track pucks at the AHL level. Knowing he'll eventually be recalled by the Vegas Golden Knights only makes me enjoy this fall from grace even more because, as I've said repeatedly, playing professional hockey is a privilege. Someone wearing #79 should remember that.

If you don't believe me that NHL teams are going to feast on his poor goaltending, consider this power-play goal by Ontario's Andre Lee.
Either he has no periphreal vision or he simply doesn't read plays, but the Henderson stopper didn't even try to prevent the pass to Andre Lee who simply needed to redirect it home. Cole Gutman telegraphed the play from the face-off dot, and the netminder didn't even try to block the centering pass. Is this NHL level netminding?

In all three games he's played, the formerly-accused has struggled with traffic in front of him and deflected shots - two things of which he'll see a lot if Vegas promotes him. He's squarely up to shooters when facing them, but his angles are terrible and his fundamentals are mediocre at best. Here's an example of him not holding the post.
If he's going to cheat off his post on potential wrap-around attempts, NHL shooters will feast on that. It shows a lack of confidence in his lateral movement and not respecting the puck carrier enough to believe they can find holes in his goaltending. Again, that's hardly what you want to see in an NHL goalie, so why is Vegas even entertaining this option? He's not even good enough at the AHL level!

Look, Vegas can try to pretend that the acquitted is still an NHL-calibre netminder, but the reality is that he's simply not. They can do the right thing here, say they tried to give him a chance, but that his play simply wasn't good enough to warrant a NHL roster spot. They can play him in Henderson until there's some marked improvement, but they'd be better off just waiving him for the purposes of terminating his contract. At least they may save some face that way.

He's a terrible goaltender with abhorrent character and brutal statistics. Just waive him and wave good-bye to a problem, Vegas.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!