Barons Complete Goaltending Duo, Sign LeNeveu to AHL Deal
by Eric Rodgers on Aug 11, 2011 6:30 AM MDT
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After receiving a tip that David LeNeveu had signed an AHL deal with the Barons, I made a quick search of Facebook, and on LeNeveu's account, he announced that he had officially signed with the team. LeNeveu looks to join Yann Danis as the Barons' duo, with Olivier Roy most likely going to Stockton to begin acclimating himself to the pro game.
The 2002 2nd round draft pick joins the Barons after spending last season with the Springfield Falcons. In 42 games last season, LeNeveu posted a 16-21-2 record with a 2.97 GAA and .896 SV%. Getting two call-ups to the Columbus Blue Jackets, LeNeveu would only see action in one game, stepping in for Mathieu Garon for the 3rd period, and letting in two goals on 12 shots against the St. Louis Blues.
For comparison's sake, Martin Gerber last season posted a 2.60 GAA and .911 SV% in 42 games, while Jeff Deslauriers posted a 2.81 GAA and .906 SV% in 35 games. LeNeveu's back-up, Gustaf Wesslau, would post a 3.17 GAA and .907 .897 SV% in 31 games.
While attending Cornell University, LeNeveu would go on to break Ken Dryden's shutout record of six, by posting a season with nine shutouts in the 2002-03 season. LeNeveu would opt for the pro game following that season.
LeNeveu returned to the AHL last season after spending the 2009-10 season with EC Salzburg of Austria, helping them to reach the playoffs and win the league's championship. This will mark LeNeveu's eighth season in the AHL, after spending time with the Falcons, San Antonio Rampage, Utah Grizzlies, Hartford Wolf Pack, and Iowa Chops.
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Why yuck?
Looking at his stats, he looks like an average AHL goalie. Given that Danis is probably an above average AHL goalie, it makes sense for LeNeveu to be his backup, and it makes a HELL of a lot of sense to put Roy in Stockton for at least part of the year. This gives vital development time to Roy, good goaltending to the Barons, and insurance options to the Oilers should Khabibulin or Dubnyk get injured. No quibble from me on this move.
His last 2 seasons in the AHL have been well below average.
I wonder what happened to him, he looked pretty solid his first AHL season but it seemed to go downhill from there.
In theory, there is little difference between practice and theory, but in practice there is!
Springfield…Where careers go to die.
Tending The Farm in OKC!
by Neal Livingston on Aug 11, 2011 7:57 AM MDT up reply actions 1 recs
I don’t think he is a good goalie. I would hope that a rookie Roy could post equivilent or better numbers than an .896 save percentage.
I don’t agree it automatically makes sense to put Roy in Stockton. I took at look at a list of all the ECHL goalies that have made it to the show and its generally second tier goalies (although Vokoun and Halak did play there).
Plus, with Bunz coming down the pipe on Roy’s heels I frankly would rather see what he has to offer at the AHL level sooner. A back up role gets him access to better coaching and better quality competition without too much pressure.
I would rather see LeNeveu in Stockton, available for call up if Danis gets called to the show. Maybe that’s the case. Can he be sent to Stockton on an AHL contract? If so, my ‘yuck’ gets downgraded to ‘whatever’.
It is possible for LeNeveu to be sent to Stockton, yes.. Like I said, I’d rather find out Roy is capable in the ECHL, before throwing him to the wolves in the AHL and ending up having to heavily rely on Danis.
Covering the Barons and the AHL on Twitter, @AHLBarons.
by Eric Rodgers on Aug 12, 2011 8:39 AM MDT up reply actions
Obviously not ideal, but they needed to find someone willing to sign an AHL-only contract, and LeNeveu has had some pretty good AHL seasons in the (not-so recent) past.
The biggest fanana of the Havana Bananas.
by Scott Reynolds on Aug 11, 2011 10:54 AM MDT up reply actions
Yeah, look at me! I’m a one year older version of Jeff Deslauriers. (minus the “he’s developing excuse”)
Tending The Farm in OKC!
by Neal Livingston on Aug 11, 2011 7:51 AM MDT reply actions
Is any other team in the AHL going to use two non-prospects as their goaltenders? This is a strange way to use your developmental team.
Why couldn’t Roy start the year in the AHL? San Jose has 5 non-NHL goalies under contract so it’s no guarantee he’ll get more playing time in Stockton.
I personally, would rather have Roy start out in Stockton and find out he’s capable, than to have him start in OKC and find out he needs more time.
Covering the Barons and the AHL on Twitter, @AHLBarons.
by Eric Rodgers on Aug 11, 2011 12:22 PM MDT up reply actions
Colorado has done that for years in Lake Erie (Last year was Grahame and Bacachiua). Still, that’s not something of Colorado’s that you want to emulate since their home-grown goaltending has consisted of David Aebischer and Peter Budaj.
If we don't get our sauce, we ain't watching the game!
With 273 AHL GP, LeNeveu will be one of the five allotted veterans on the club. Eric, how does adding a vet in the crease change the picture for the older skaters?
Writer for The Cult of Hockey, The Copper & Blue, and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
Goalies don’t count against that particular cap, so he won’t have any impact.
The biggest fanana of the Havana Bananas.
by Scott Reynolds on Aug 11, 2011 12:44 PM MDT up reply actions
Skaters only, eh? Thanks, that’s a new one. (Of course the idea that goalies are “different” isn’t new at all.)
Writer for The Cult of Hockey, The Copper & Blue, and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Aug 11, 2011 5:54 PM MDT up reply actions
Like Scott said, goalies don’t count towards the number. And it’s technically six vets, five can be over the 320 game mark, one over 260 but under 320. Based on Scott’s projected opening roster, the Barons would have room for one more vet.
Covering the Barons and the AHL on Twitter, @AHLBarons.
by Eric Rodgers on Aug 11, 2011 6:43 PM MDT up reply actions
I think hockeydb has Wesslau with a .897 sv% rather than the .907 you have above.
Looks like the Springfield D last year for the most part was an inexperienced and rookie laden bunch. Not sure if that had any affect on the save percentage, but that jumped out at me a little bit.
Ah, you’re right. I messed that one up. Thank you.
Covering the Barons and the AHL on Twitter, @AHLBarons.
by Eric Rodgers on Aug 12, 2011 8:34 AM MDT up reply actions
Goalies have especially bad statistical seasons if you use hockey-reference.com rather than hockeydb.com. I just found a systematic error in H-R’s recording of AHL save percentages for both 2008-09 and 2010-11, where they used “Saves” in the “Shots” column. Thus LeNeveu for example shows as just .883 for both seasons rather than the correct .895 and .896 as recorded by both hockeydb and theahl.com.
I reported the error – and made an edit on my own post at Cult of Hockey which cited the incorrect values, grrrr – but it’s worth keeping in mind for those who may be researching AHL goalies in future.
Writer for The Cult of Hockey, The Copper & Blue, and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Aug 12, 2011 12:05 PM MDT up reply actions
Wow. Thanks for the heads-up Bruce!
The biggest fanana of the Havana Bananas.
by Scott Reynolds on Aug 12, 2011 12:54 PM MDT up reply actions
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