The Carolina Hurricanes’ Organizational Goaltending Carousel

Charlotte’s Carousel

Losing both of their goalies to call ups, the Checkers were forced to dig deep into the organization’s depth and call up prospects Jeremy Helvig and Callum Booth.

Playing in ECHL Greenville, Helvig had appeared in 30 games for the Swamp Rabbits. Making his first professional start with Charlotte February 25th against Hersey, Helvig didn’t have the best of games. Giving up six goals on 30 shots, the Checkers brass opted to send him back down that night.

In a corresponding move, the Checkers would receive veteran goalie Mike Condon on loan from Tampa Bay. Although he has 129 NHL games to his name, Condon has been dealing with a fair share of injuries over the past couple of seasons, limiting him to only a handful of games.

Splitting the year with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch and ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears, Mike was looking to get back on track after a rough start to the year. With a save percentage sub .877 in both the AHL and ECHL, expectations going in were rather low. Only appearing in one contest with Charlotte, where he gave up four goals on 19 shots, Condon would be recalled by Tampa.

On the 29th, Callum Booth would make his lone appearance for the Checkers this season, marking the fifth goalie used by Charlotte in their past five games. Unlike Helvig and Condon, Booth went on to make 21 saves on 23 shots in a 4-2 bounce back win.

With Condon now gone, Charlotte would receive another NHL experienced goaltender via loan in Keith Kinkaid from the Montreal Canadians. With 157 NHL games to his name, Kinkaid is another guy looking to get back on track after a rough start to the year.

Signing a one year deal with the Habs this past July, Kinkaid was expected to be the backup to Carey Price. Appearing in six NHL games this year, he boasts a GAA of 4.24 and a save percentage of .875. After being placed on waivers in early December, Keith was assigned to Laval of the AHL.

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Appearing in 13 games with the Rockets, his stats haven’t seen much of an improvement. With a GAA of 3.44 and a save percentage of .876, it is safe to say he’s looking to get himself back on the radar of NHL scouts as a pending UFA. Splitting his two starts with Charlotte so far, it remains to be seen how long his tenure will be with the Checkers.

As the sixth goalie for Charlotte in the past two weeks, it would be nice for them to get some stability for their stretch run. Injuries tend to test an organizations’ depth, but to use nine goaltenders within two weeks is really testing the limits, and that doesn’t even include the impact it’s had on Greenville.

Both Nedeljkovic and Forsberg have seen some time with the Canes this week and will look to split the starts going forward until Petr returns with the amount of back to backs coming up. Although neither of them have yet to earn a win, the losses are more of a result of the terrible play of the team in front of them rather than anything they’re doing.

Hopefully, Mrazek returning to practice this weekend is a sign that he’s close to returning. The Canes’ playoff hopes are quickly slipping away. They need to start stringing together a series of wins and that requires solid play from the backend out.

Once he returns, not only will Carolina get a much needed boost, but the Checkers will also benefit from getting one of their two goaltenders back in the fold.

Question for CC readers: What are your thoughts are the organization’s recent goalie carousel?