The time might have come for the Colorado Avalanche to be concerned about Scott Wedgewood. Or is it really fair to dump the blame on the Avs' netminder?
The Avs’ backup goalie was lights-out last season, keeping the team afloat during a tough period. But this season has been a completely different story.
Wedgewood had a couple of tough outings earlier this season, but nothing like Tuesday night’s loss in Columbus. The four goals on nine shots were an awful showing. And while the knee-jerk reaction has been to throw Wedgewood under the bus, the bottom line is that Jared Bednar is right about one thing: The poor outings aren’t entirely on Wedgewood’s shoulders.
On the surface, Wedgewood’s numbers look pretty bad. In five games this season, the veteran netminder has a 4.02 GAA and an .867 SV%. Those are pretty bad, even for a backup goalie only seeing action about once a week.
But the underlying numbers paint a different story.
Wedgewood has done his job, stopping low-danger chances. His .962 SV% on low-danger chances is slightly below his expected percentage.
So far, so good.
Things change, however, when scoring chances get complicated. Wedgewood’s SV% drops to .811 on medium-danger chances and plummets to .571 on high-danger chances.
The answer is simple, then: The Avalanche are giving up too many high-danger chances, so they just need to tighten up. Well, that’s only part of the story. While the Avs do need to tighten up, it’s not just about playing better defense.
The one number that stands out is how many shots are getting through on net. Wedgewood is fifth in the league with 52.94% of unblocked shot attempts hitting the net. And while the team is blocking about 20.31% of shot attempts, a few too many are getting through, leading to additional medium- and high-danger chances.
Avalanche should play Wedgewood in first game of back-to-back sets
One of the evident issues this season is that Scott Wedgewood has gotten the second leg of back-to-back setups this season. And as was clear in Columbus, the Avalanche just aren’t showing up for those games.
So, it might be a good idea, moving forward, to deploy Wedgewood on the first leg. Perhaps getting MacKenzie Blackwood on the back half, who’s been the beneficiary of better defense in front of him, might solve some of the Avs’ woes.
Considering the Avs play on Thursday night at home against the Nashville Predators, getting Wedgewood back in the saddle might end up boding well for the team and his confidence.
The bottom line is that everyone needs to play better. There’s really no other way around it.
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