We’re finally getting around to reviewing the 2022-23 season. Instead of assigning grades or any of that nonsense, we’ll start by looking at the player’s best goal save from the season and go from there. We can’t forget the goalies!
Player
Brian Elliott
Stat Line
22 games played, 12 wins, 8 losses 1 shoutout loss, 1 overtime loss, .891 SV%, 3.40 GAA, -3.60 GSAx, -0.38 dFS%
Save of the Year Video
Save of the year description
If you think I’m going to sit here and watch all 614 saves he made this year, well:
Instead, I’m going to go with his best overall performance of the season. Oddly enough, it came in a loss. Even odder, it was a loss where Elliott was credited with a shutout and wasn’t even the best goaltender on the ice that night. On February 15 the Lightning played the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena and walked out of there with what Hardev adroitly referred to as a “dumb loss” in his recap.
Elliott stopped all 26 shots he faced in regulation and overtime before allowing successful attempts by Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller in the skills competition as the Lightning lost 1-0 to Connor Ingram and the Coyotes.
The Lightning back-up backstop had games with more saves and he also had games where he posted a higher goals saved above expected. Not to mention he had games where he was credited with the win. However, in my opinion this was his best performance.
The Coyotes managed just 26 shots against him while the Lightning pummeled Ingram with 41. So why was this his best performance? First off, it was his first start in eight days and just his second game in just under a month. Then, just 10 seconds into the game Lawton Crouse has a prime chance against him. Nothing like getting thrown right into the fire, eh?
He would then go another 7 minutes before having to make another save. It’s not easy for goaltenders, especially those that aren’t playing regularly, to stay sharp when most of the action is happening at the other end of the ice. For the first two periods, he had to make just 13 saves as the Coyotes generated just 30 total shot attempts.
Things flipped in the third where the home team had 22 shot attempts, 10 scoring chances, and 13 shots on net. Elliott turned them all aside. Along the way the Coyotes had 9 high-danger chances and 5 rush attempts that the then 37 year-old was undaunted. Natural Stat Trick credited the Coyotes with an expected goals of 2.59 throughout regulation and overtime, however the scoreboard read “0” in the goals column.
Meanwhile, at the other end, Ingram was blitzed with shots all night long as the Lightning posted an expected goals mark of 5.0, but couldn’t get anything past their former prospect. Ingram may have stolen the win, but Elliott stole a point for the Bolts.
How did 2022-23 go for them?
It’s always tough judging the performance of back-up goaltenders in the NHL. They often go weeks between starts and are playing in either the front-end or back-end of back-to-back games for the team. While most of what we know about goaltenders relies on witchcraft, one thing we do know is that the vast majority crave routine, and that is one thing back-ups rarely get.
So, at first blush the numbers were a bit rough, but for the most part, Elliott did what the Lightning needed him to do, especially over the first half of the season, give them a chance to win. After losing his first start of the season 6-2 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Elliott ripped off seven straight victories, not tasting defeat again until late December. Unfortunately, his winning ways would not hold and he went 5-7-2 the rest of the way. As you would assume, he did not see any ice time in the playoffs.
If you accept that the role of the back-up goaltender is to give the team a chance to win, Elliott did that for the most part. He won just over half of the games he started (12 out of 22) and in 6 of the 10 that he didn’t win, the Lightning were either leading, tied, or within two goals after two periods.
In exactly half of his games he posted a Goals Saved Above Expected number on the positive side, including the 6-2 season opening loss where he posted a 1.44 GSAx despite allowing 5 goals (the 6th was an empty-netter). In fact, there were four games where he allowed at least 3 goals yet still outperformed his expected goals against. The defense in front of him wasn’t always clicking.
At 5v5 Elliott was pretty much an average goalie as he posted a .906 SV% and a -1.29 GSAx. Again, he gave the Lightning a chance to win at even strength. Short-handed he struggled to a tune of a .786 SV% and -3.63 GSAx, allowing 18 goals in 92:30 of ice time. While he did a solid job of giving the chance to win, he didn’t steal too many games for them.
Could he have played better at times? Yes. Would it have made that much of a difference in the end? Probably not. Another couple of wins wouldn’t have been enough to make up the gap between the Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs in the final standings.
Despite his struggles down the stretch, his last start as a member of the Lightning was one to remember as he posted a 32-save shutout against the Detroit Red Wings. He even picked up the win, the 279th of his career, in the outing.
2023-24 Contract Status
Elliott is an unrestricted free agent and the Lightning seemed to have moved on by signing Jonas Johansson as their back-up for next season. For the veteran Elliott, there was some rumored interest early in the summer from the Toronto Maple Leafs, but chances are, if he were to sign with someone, it’ll be closer to the start of training camp.
Do we expect them to stop more pucks next season?
It’s tough to say with Elliott. He hasn’t given any indication that he is ready to retire just yet, but he’ll start the season as a 38 year-old netminder with average stats over the last two seasons. If he was to sign a deal with a team he would be the second oldest goaltender in the league behind Marc-Andre Fleury. Teams are always looking to add veterans, especially ones with young starters in net. It’s quite possible that a team like the Sabres could add him on a league-minimum deal to help out Devon Levi and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen?
Unfortunately for Elliott, his future could depend on what happens with some other goaltenders first. There have been summer-long rumors that Connor Hellebuyck and John Gibson (also Carter Hart to a lesser degree) have been on the trading block. If anyone of those goalies get moved, then there could be a scramble around the league to fill in the holes left behind, and honestly, Elliott is as good of an option on the market as there is.
Elliott showed last year that he can still get the job done between the pipes, and while he might not be a number one netminder at this stage, he gives a team a chance to win. That’s all a team really needs from their number two goaltender.
It was a solid, if not spectacular, run over two seasons with Brian Elliott. Personally, I hope he does find a home for another season and keeps going. If not, it was a pretty solid career for ninth round pick (a round that doesn’t even exist these days).
