Capitals Team Preview Part 1: Goaltending

The Capital's goaltending begins with Olaf Kolzig. "Olie the Goalie" has been a given on the starting roster since he emerged as the Caps' dominant net minder in the late 90s. With a career 2.96 GAA and .908 save percentage, Kolzig is one of the more dominant goalies in the league. But of late, Kolzig's numbers have slumped. His GAA since the lockout have been 3.00 or over both years and he's only had 1 shutout in 2 years. Kolzig has not had a winning season since the 02-03 campaign, and with expectations higher, Kolzig should be expected to carry most of the workload.
The man behind Kolzig, however, has changed in recent years. From Ouellet, to Stana, to Billington and now Johnson, Kolzig has never faced much pressure from his backup. This year will be no different with Brent Johnson. Johnson was superb earlier in his career with the St. Louis Blues, as a starter but with the Capital's he has been consistently terrible. Johnny gave up almost 100 goals on 900 shots last year and has only won 15 games in 56 appearances with the Capitals. In short, Johnson has become a stopgap goaltender, someone to bridge the gap between Kolzig and the next generation goalies (Neuvirth, Varlamov).

It was important that these two younger goaltenders to get a crack at making the team. Unfortunately, neither were mature enough to find a spot in the Caps' system and were both sent back to their respective Junior leagues. Thus, Kolzig will spend another year merely comfortable and secure in his spot as the starter. We will see if, this time, Johnson can provide even adequate support of if GM George McPhee will shop around and find another goalie who can challenge Kolzig for his starting job for the first time in years.