Carolina Hurricanes: Alex Nedeljkovic Deserves the Backup Spot

In Petr Mrazek‘s absence, the Carolina Hurricanes have been rotating between Alex Nedeljkovic and James Reimer to varied levels of success. For the most part, though, both goaltenders have been incredibly solid during this stretch of the Canes bouncing back and forth between them.

Despite them both having a winning record, though, Alex Nedeljkovic has been far and away the better goaltender in just about every possible way.

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Now, this isn’t to say that James Reimer has been bad by any stretch of the word. Reimer has been solid enough to keep the Canes competitive, but that leads directly into something else I’ve noticed. The Carolina Hurricanes play a very, very different game in front of James Reimer than they do in front of Alex Nedeljkovic.

I wouldn’t say it’s directly due to lack of confidence in one or the other, but rather due to the fact that they both are very, very different goaltenders with even more dissimilar play styles. Reimer is very much a passive goaltender; he stays well back in his crease and tends to let plays come to him.

Nedeljkovic, on the other hand, is a much more agile, acrobatic, and active goaltender, mostly due to his size; in today’s game, that’s the goalie he needs to be in order to be successful, and it has allowed him to be one of the NHL’s up-and-coming netminders of late.

The Carolina Hurricanes play differently in front of the two goaltenders (at least in the defensive end) in anticipation of the differences in their play style.

This leads to several things, most notably the amount (on average) of high-danger chances Nedeljkovic faces as opposed to Reimer. With the exception of a few outlier games, Alex Nedeljkovic faces a much higher frequency of high-danger chances per game on average than James Reimer does.

This is evident by taking a look at xGA% (expected goals-against percentage) rates from the games each goaltender plays in, and from the general “eye test” as well. The past few goals that James Reimer has let in have mostly been softies; Nedeljkovic’s most recent goals-against have been from deflections/screens, or from high-danger areas.

Regardless of all of this, though, the two goalies have tremendously different stat lines this season.

Nedeljkovic, in 8 games played, sports a .926 SV%, 2.21 GAA, and a win/loss record of 5-2-1. Reimer, on the other hand, has a win/loss record of 12-3-0, a goals-against average of 2.71, and a .908 SV %.

While Reimer’s stats are on par with league-average goaltending, Nedeljkovic’s stats are much better. The disparity in the win/loss record between the two is more so a result of the Canes scoring a ludicrous amount of goals in Reimer’s first several starts this season, but I digress.

When Petr Mrazek returns, the choice for who should man the crease as the backup is clear; it should undoubtedly be Alex Nedeljkovic.

There is a bit of a kicker to this whole situation as well.

Alex Nedeljkovic is set to become an RFA after this season, but only if he plays in 13 of the Carolina Hurricanes’ remaining games in the regular season and postseason.

If he doesn’t meet this requirement, he loses his RFA status eligibility, and instead becomes a UFA, and will be free to sign anywhere in the offseason.

The Canes have a few options when it comes to making sure Ned retains his RFA status eligibility.

Depending on how long it takes Mrazek to come back, they could easily attain this goal by continuing to bounce back and forth between Ned and Reimer, but I don’t see this as being the most likely scenario.

If Mrazek comes back within the next couple weeks, the Carolina Hurricanes will have to essentially split time between he and Ned and remove Reimer out of the picture altogether in order to make enough room for Ned to get the starts he needs in the remainder of the regular season and postseason.

The Canes could also play Ned in a few games in the postseason, but if Mrazek is performing well going into and during the postseason, I’d rather start the goalie that’s hot instead of starting the goalie that needs to play a couple more games to attain RFA status a couple weeks down the road.

That whole thing is another story entirely, though. The point still stands that Alex Nedeljkovic has outplayed James Reimer in just about every possible way, and has proven that he deserves to backup Mrazek when he returns, whenever that may be.

For now, though, the Carolina Hurricanes are comfortable splitting time between Reimer and Ned, and they should be. If it isn’t broken, there’s no need to fix it. Reimer and Ned works right now, but a decision is looming for the Canes, and I don’t envy the decision maker a single bit.