BY CORY WRIGHT
DAN CLOUTIER HAS been invited to the Detroit Red Wings’ training camp to the sounds of groans and laughter around the NHL.
Cloutier, the former Canucks netminder, will be in competition with Jimmy Howard for the backup role on the Central Division behemoth, not Chris Osgood’s starting spot.
Howard has been toiling in the AHL with the Wings’ affiliate, as he waited for an opening and believed that this year would go uncontested after the release of Ty Conklin to free agency.
The Red Wings’ roster has been known for buffing rubble into gold, although Howard hasn’t dealt with the scrap hurled at his current training camp rival in the earlier stages of the decade.
As cynical Vancouverites will be quick to say – those who have completely dismissed Cloutier’s latest effort as fast as Leafs fans have scoffed at Jason Allison’s comeback bid – there’s nothing but an empty hope to salvage a blighted career.
Searching through Cloutier’s almanac, however, some facts still remain crooked. On the list of things to straighten out:
1. Cloutier posted 30-plus wins in three consecutive seasons, at a time when ties were still a reality, while the only other goalie to do so at the time was Martin Brodeur;
2. Cloutier rebounded from Lidstrom’s infamous goal from centre ice in the 2002 playoffs by backstopping the Canucks to a 3-1 series comeback against the St. Louis Blues the following year;
3. A healthy Cloutier can make a team grittier and upgrade the backup position on more than a few teams; and
4. Cloutier took the Canucks further than Roberto Luongo has so far.
That said, Cloutier is still bound to criticism.
He’s fallen on rough times since being run out of Vancouver – and who knows where his confidence is at. His injury problems have plagued him in the past, but some time away from the wear and tear of NHL play may have him fully healed and ready to go.
But he’ll be wildly knocked for that crucial miscue on Lidstrom’s fortuitous clincher. That moment did change the momentum of the series, though nonetheless Cloutier did bounce back – equally, too, he should be forgiven, seeing as how that occurred a remote seven years ago.
Then Vancouver, in a strange turn of nature, hastily exonerated Luongo for his porous play after a 7-5 loss in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinal last spring.
GM Mike Gillis has indeed rewarded him with a hefty 12-year, $64 million contract in the wake of that debacle.
So in other words: a second chance was granted, without much time for the whip to leave its mark on the Canucks’ captain. For the former Canuck, though, it seems the reprinting of his name has only given a reason to pick at his scabs.
Yet the Red Wings have afforded Cloutier the same opportunity – albeit three years removed from his last competitive game.
And let us not forget that the man who once filled the role of backup, one Conklin, made due with his own farce, blowing Game 1 of the 2005 finals in the last 30 seconds.
Searching through Cloutier’s almanac, however, some facts still remain crooked. On the list of things to straighten out:
1. Cloutier posted 30-plus wins in three consecutive seasons, at a time when ties were still a reality, while the only other goalie to do so at the time was Martin Brodeur;
2. Cloutier rebounded from Lidstrom’s infamous goal from centre ice in the 2002 playoffs by backstopping the Canucks to a 3-1 series comeback against the St. Louis Blues the following year;
3. A healthy Cloutier can make a team grittier and upgrade the backup position on more than a few teams; and
4. Cloutier took the Canucks further than Roberto Luongo has so far.
That said, Cloutier is still bound to criticism.
He’s fallen on rough times since being run out of Vancouver – and who knows where his confidence is at. His injury problems have plagued him in the past, but some time away from the wear and tear of NHL play may have him fully healed and ready to go.
But he’ll be wildly knocked for that crucial miscue on Lidstrom’s fortuitous clincher. That moment did change the momentum of the series, though nonetheless Cloutier did bounce back – equally, too, he should be forgiven, seeing as how that occurred a remote seven years ago.
Then Vancouver, in a strange turn of nature, hastily exonerated Luongo for his porous play after a 7-5 loss in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinal last spring.
GM Mike Gillis has indeed rewarded him with a hefty 12-year, $64 million contract in the wake of that debacle.
So in other words: a second chance was granted, without much time for the whip to leave its mark on the Canucks’ captain. For the former Canuck, though, it seems the reprinting of his name has only given a reason to pick at his scabs.
Yet the Red Wings have afforded Cloutier the same opportunity – albeit three years removed from his last competitive game.
And let us not forget that the man who once filled the role of backup, one Conklin, made due with his own farce, blowing Game 1 of the 2005 finals in the last 30 seconds.
0 comments:
Post a Comment