Panthers could’ve traded Chris Driedger at deadline. Instead, he will be key to playoff run
Of course, Chris Driedger heard the trade chatter around his names in the days and weeks leading up to Monday. He could put all the pieces together himself — his expiring contract, Sergei Bobrovsky’s long-term deal, Spencer Knight’s arrival after a standout college hockey career — and he also saw his name in actual trade rumors and speculation ahead of the deadline. He tried to ignore it as best he could while the Florida Panthers made their final playoff push.
They’ve improbably become one of the best teams in the NHL this season and Driedger has been much more than just a backup goaltender for them, splitting starts with Bobrovsky and anchoring victory after victory for the Panthers. He was helping them win, but his trade value had also never been higher. He played in every other game, participated in every practice and, otherwise, he waited until Monday to find out whether he would be a part of the ending.
“There was a little bit of buzz a couple weeks ago, maybe a week ago,” Driedger said Tuesday, “but we made a couple trades I wasn’t involved in.”
Monday came and went, and Driedger remained in Florida. The Panthers opted not to move their stalwart goaltender at the trade deadline, fulfilling general manager Bill Zito’s promise to improve the roster, while being “careful not to interfere” with what has made Florida so good this season.
With the trade deadline behind him, Driedger rewarded the Panthers with perhaps his signature performance of the 2020-21 NHL season Tuesday. The 26-year-old Canadian made 24 saves on 26 shots, including maybe the save of the year in the third period of Florida’s 3-2, overtime win against the Dallas Stars.
With less than 10 minutes to go and the score knotted at 2-2, Driedger dove backward after a loose puck bounced off defenseman Anton Stralman’s right skate and drifted toward the goal line, and used the blade of his stick to swipe it back into play when it was more than halfway across the line. Coach Joel Quenneville called it “a miraculous save” and the Panthers snapped a three-game winning streak in Dallas.
For the past 10 games, Quenneville has alternated between Driedger and Bobrovsky in net, and the two-goalie system has worked. Florida entered Wednesday tied for first place in the Central Division, with two goaltenders ranked among the top 30 in the NHL in save percentage and Driedger, ostensibly the backup, ranking in the top five in both save percentage and goals against average.
The Panthers are 7-3 in their past 10 and now stare down maybe their biggest series of the year — a two-game set against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Tampa. If Quenneville’s trend holds, Bobrovsky will start against the Lightning (28-12-2) on Thursday at 7 p.m., while Driedger will close out the series at Amalie Arena on Saturday.
“They both make it hard for us changing things,” Quenneville said Tuesday. “They’ve both been good. Driegs is coming to a real good stretch himself.”
Given Bobrovsky’s struggles last year and Florida’s desire to win a series in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 1996, Driedger is important insurance to have.
While Bobrovsky has started more than Driedger this year, Driedger’s .930 save percentage ranks behind only Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy — the clear front-runner for the Vezina Trophy — and his 2.04 goals against average is fourth best in the league.
Their timeshare has prevented either goalie from delivering a true dud performance — they have combined for only three starts with a save percentage worse than .900 in the last month — and neither has dealt with a serious injury, even in this massively condensed schedule.
“It’s really, really jam-packed. We’re playing every second game, but we’re still playing two games a week basically, so in a normal season that’s kind of what you’d play as a starter,” Driedger said. “It’s a lot of hockey, but that alternating is really keeping us fresh. I’ve felt great every time that I’ve gone in net there. I think it’s doing our bodies some favors, so it’s been really positive for both of us.”
The Panthers know they likely won’t be able to keep Driedger beyond this season, with Bobrovsky and Knight both under contract, and Driedger likely to fetch substantial money from a team hoping to make him a starter.
For now, he’s happy to be part of a historic season in South Florida and the Panthers know they will need.
“That being behind us, it’s great,” Driedger said. “Now I can just look forward to continuing a great season.”
This story was originally published April 14, 2021 at 11:24 AM.
