The prodigal son returns tonight in Washington.
Olaf Kolzig gets the start tonight in the city in which he spent the first 16 years of his career. Kolzig's career peaked beginning in the 1998 season when as an injury replacement for Bill Ranford he backstopped an underdog Capitals team to the Stanley Cup Finals. He was no St. Patrick though as the Red Wings dispatched the Capitals in four straight.
Kolzig enjoyed a monster 2000 season which put him on the fantasy radar. He won the Vezina trophy and went 41-20-11 with 5 shutouts. But with a Vezina and a Stanley Cup Finals experience under his belt, Kolzig's name always carried more weight than his actual performance. When one looks back on his career he is marginally over .500 at 302-294-63-24 and if you factor in shootout losses he has gone to the dressing room a loser more often than a winner.
Kolzig casts a large shadow for his replacement, but it is more based on his work of a decade ago, then of anything he has been able to muster over the recent past. Here is hoping that he can go in and recapture the form that the Capitals faithful remember him for tonight.
Once again with thanks to the Goalie Post, on to tonight's games.
Edmonton Oilers @ New York Rangers
D. Roloson (vs NY Rangers, 1-3-2, 2.25 GAA, .909 SV%) probable
H. Lundqvist (vs Panthers, 1-0-1, 2.90 GAA, .891 SV%) probable
The goaltending carousel in Edmonton continues. How much confidence can you have in your goaltenders when you can't choose between three?
One wonders why you would invest 4.5M a year in a goalie who is putting up numbers no better than the 38 year old who owns the all-time win record for the franchise? You think George McPhee hands out business cards that say GM, Stanley Cup Finalist 1998. That Stanley Cup Finals appearance was so long ago that I had a 33.3 modem to connect to the internet and I had no idea what an MP3 was. What is the expiration date on receiving credit for taking a team to a four game sweep?
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