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Dallas Stars Goaltending Depth Takes A Hit With Jack Campbell Demotion

The Dallas Stars two-headed goalie monster is doing about what should have been expected of them. They’re giving the Stars average goaltending, and with as much talent as they have up front they don’t really need much more than average goaltending to have a good team.

Recently there have been some complaints about how the goalie rotation has been handled, but anyone complaining is wasting a lot of energy on something that doesn’t really matter. Antti Niemi has a save percentage lead on Kari Lehtonen of .005. We’re talking five goals for every 1000 shots against. The difference is minuscule in general, but it seems more problematic given Lehtonen’s tendency to blow a tire. Essentially though they’ve performed equally average.

The real area of concern is hiding out in Austin. Former first round pick Jack Campbell was demoted to the ECHL after a 12 game run for the Texas Stars in the AHL. His 4.27 GAA and .868 save percentage in those 12 games aren’t very inspiring for the Campbell-to-the-NHL fanbus. We aren’t here to dump on Campbell though. The real concern now is what happens if either Niemi or Lehtonen succumb to injury?

With the two splitting games the Stars have climbed to the top of the standings. If one guy or the other is under the weather or struggling Lindy Ruff has been able to easily go to the other. if one gets hurt Ruff and company likely will end up riding one for the duration of the injury. It has to make you at least a little bit tense.

What of the backup? Campbell was the easy call up to fill in on the bench, but with his demotion to the ECHL the goalie depth down the charts takes a hit. He isn’t likely going to be called up from the ECHL to be the warm body. Texas goaltenders John Muse and Maxime Lagace make much more sense than Campbell, but with equal save percentages of .907 in the AHL expecting them to provide more than a warm body might be a bit much.

The other in-house alternative is 20 year old Philippe Desrosiers, but you would have to think that the Stars would like for him to play and get as much seasoning as possible before turning to him. In his first 20 professional games in the ECHL he hasn’t exactly set the world on fire either. His .907 save percentage in a lower league suggests you’d be better off just going with Muse or Lagace unless, of course, the idea is to bring him up to sit on the bench and soak in the NHL environment.

So really, when you look at it a bit closer, you do have to wonder what would happen in the event of an injury. The in-house candidates to replace an injured goalie aren’t great. You can’t have every position covered with seven guys across numerous levels, but the failure of Campbell to progress opens the Stars up to trouble should one of the NHL guys get bitten with the injury bug.

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