Carolina Hurricanes: Is Scott Darling Really a Starting Goalie?

He says he is ready to be a starter, but is newly acquired Carolina Hurricanes goalie Scott Darling ready to be the go to guy?

Yesterday, the Carolina Hurricanes traded one of their 3rd round picks in this year’s draft to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for their backup goaltender Scott Darling. A pending unrestricted free agent come July 1st, Darling now has a few months to sign a new deal with his new team.

Assuming that happens, Scott Darling looks poised to be the day one starter for the Canes come October. It would be the first time he’d be the main man in the NHL. For Darling, it is about time. He made it clear that he wanted to go somewhere where he was the guy. He arrived in the right spot.

Is he ready for that responsibility though? Especially on a team without the goal support of the Chicago Blackhawks. Well, let’s look at some history.

“That’s the next step for me, something everybody wants is to be a starter.” – Scott Darling

A Canes player already wins in strangest road to the NHL department (Derek Ryan), but Darling gives him a run for his money. Drafted in 2007 by the Coyotes, Darling played college hockey and then played a few seasons in the SPHL, the league that is home to the local Fayetteville FireAntz (honestly best team name ever).

He worked his way from the SPHL, to the ECHL, to the AHL, all the way to a Stanley Cup with Chicago in 2015. Along the way, Darling’s numbers improved, even when jumping up a division. Once he made it into the NHL, he established himself as one the premier backups in the league. Among all goalies playing more than 20 games this season, he was 8th in save percentage with .924.

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In terms of numbers, Darling has earned at least the chance to become a starter. Three seasons of save percentages above .915 makes it more than deserved. The bigger question is whether or not Darling will stay just as effective with the Canes in front of him compared to the Hawks.

Workload is the biggest change. Going from 32 games to 50 or 60 is a big jump. However, Carolina’s team might be equipped to help out. Although they might not have the run support Chicago possesses, the Canes have a far better shot suppressing defense. The Hawks were 21st in shots against, the Canes were 5th. That’s about 3 less saves a game.

Similarly, Carolina’s knack for never committing penalties will help too. Even though Chicago committed the 2nd fewest penalty minutes per game, Carolina still averaged a whole minute less than that. Plus, Carolina recorded the fewest goals against when shorthanded. Darling was actually equatable to Cam Ward in terms of shorthanded save percentage, but the Hawks had a dreadful penalty kill. That implies he was hung out to dry more times than not. All of that combined together should indicate that Darling in net behind the Canes defense should be successful.

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If that logic holds up, Carolina will have less leaky goals than last season. That, hopefully with a revamped and consistent offense, should be enough to get Carolina over the hump. Darling might just be the piece the Hurricanes were looking for. Now they just got to sign him.

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