Joe Dumas over at Off Wing Opinion took some time out to talk about Fredrik Norrena taking the reigns over in net for the Columbus Blue Jackets as Pascal Leclaire is out after knee surgery.
For those scoring at home, this is the same Fredrik Norrena that was traded along with Freddie Modin during the summer to Columbus for the services of Marc Denis. The trade has sparked a lot more disgust as the season has progressed. Let me quote some of Dumas’ post though:
Norrena is somewhat of a surprise, posting a 10-9-1 record in his first season in the NHL. His record would be a little better, but Columbus has so far posted the 26th ranked offense in the league. He has posted decent stats, with a SV% of .896 and a GAA of 3.02, including 2 consecutive shutouts. Against the Ducks on Jan. 5 Norrena stopped a Teemu Selanne penalty shot with 21 seconds left to preserve a 4-3, come-from-behind victory.
If you’re pondering the what-could-have-been over this one, you’re not alone. Though Feaster was arguably correct not allowing the team to go into the season with 2 first-year-NHL (though seasoned Euro veteran) goalies as his 1 and 2, it’s very interesting to think of how the Lightning would have played in front of Norrena and Holmqvist. It’s very interesting to think of how much of an impact retaining Freddie Modin would have had on the Lightning (as noted with the defense of defensive forward post). Would the PK unit be more apt? Would Brad Richards be producing on par to previous numbers instead of suffering a fall off?
…or would the Lightning have been hurt with an unproven NHL tandem and a suspect defense in front of them? It all comes down to “woulda’, coulda’, shoulda'” and leaves you to wonder what Jay Feaster is going to do to fill in pieces of the puzzle he helped create.
