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Ben Bishop

Poll: Is Ben Bishop A Hall Of Fame Goaltender?

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Dallas Stars goaltender Ben Bishop held a press conference today to discuss the end of his career. After trying to rehab and recover from a knee injury that has bothered him for more than two years, Bishop played a single game in the AHL before throwing in the towel. He explained just what he was dealing with all this time and how it didn’t allow him from continuing his career:

If I was a forward, I could be playing right now. But just with the butterfly, the torque you put on your knee, it just couldn’t really get better. 

Last week when we drained it, there was still some flecks in the fluid which means there was some cartilage wearing away. With all that, I still wanted to go down and give it a try because I wanted one last try to make sure. I was hoping I could go down and everything would be OK. But obviously after the game, it blew up. In talking to the doctors, it doesn’t make sense to just kind of be ripping your knee apart if you’re not going to get back to playing.

Bishop will not technically retire, as his contract extends through the 2022-23 season. He’s owed $3.5MM for this season and next, meaning he’ll be just moved to long-term injured reserve for now. His playing days are over though, which means fans can look back and dissect an outstanding playing career that was unfortunately cut short.

There is a real question that arises when considering Bishop’s excellent-but-limited NHL career. Should he be considered for the Hall of Fame?

At first thought the easy answer may be no, given he never won a major award, never won the Stanley Cup, and was really only a full-time NHL player for seven years. But that seven-year stretch was also some of the best goaltending the league has ever seen, as fans of the Lightning and Stars will attest.

In 2013-14, his first full season with Tampa Bay, Bishop started 64 games for the Lightning, going 37-14-7 with a .924 save percentage. He finished third in Vezina Trophy voting, behind the winner Tuukka Rask (36-15-6, .930) and runner-up Semyon Varlamov (41-14-6, .927). He actually finished ahead of Rask in the Hart Trophy voting though (but behind Varlamov) because of the view of Tampa at the time. After all, they’d missed the playoffs each of the previous two seasons and were under the guidance of a rookie head coach–some guy named Jon Cooper.

Not a bad start for a goaltender that was already on his third team.

In 2014-15, he took a slight step back in terms of save percentage, posting a .916 for the Lightning. The team was a lot better though, as Bishop secured 40 wins in 62 appearances during the regular season. He then started another 25 games in the playoffs, helping the Lightning all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, where they would fall to the Chicago Blackhawks. Bishop’s numbers that postseason? A .921 save percentage and playoff-leading three shutouts.

When 2015-16 rolled around there was no doubting his ability, and what would follow was an incredible goaltending season. In 61 appearances, Bishop went 35-21-4, posted a .926 save percentage, and league-leading 2.06 goals-against average. In the playoffs, he’d go 8-2 with a .939 save percentage and it looked like he was on his way to a potential Conn Smythe nomination, but ended up stretchered off the ice during the first period of game one of the Eastern Conference Finals. Young Andrei Vasilevskiy would play the next six games, ultimately losing in a heartbreaking game seven to the Pittsburgh Penguins. When the Vezina votes were tallied that year, Bishop would come close to another victory, but end up coming second to future teammate Braden Holtby’s 48-9-7 record, despite the Washington netminder’s worse numbers in other categories.

Injury had robbed him of a chance to further his legacy those playoffs, and the Vezina finish would be a sign of things to come. Bishop played just 39 games in 2016-17 as Vasilevskiy took over in Tampa Bay, forcing the Lightning to find a trade partner. Bishop was shipped to the Los Angeles Kings, where he served as a backup to Jonathan Quick down the stretch. He’d play just seven games with the Kings before an offseason trade and extension brought him to the Dallas Stars.

It’s in Dallas where perhaps his most compelling case for the Hall of Fame took place. In his first year, he was a strong starter for the Stars, putting up a 26-17-5 record with a .916 save percentage. It’s that 2018-19 season that could have changed his legacy though, had voters felt stronger about his case over that of his former protege. Andrei Vasilevskiy took home the Vezina as the Lightning posted a historic 62-16-4 record, but Bishop had outpaced him in nearly every goaltending metric. In fact, since they started tracking shot data, Bishop’s 2018-19 .934 save percentage is the fourth-best in history among goaltenders who appeared in at least 41 games. He’d finish second in the voting, a finalist for the third time in his career.

Overall, Bishop ranks 78th all-time in wins by a goaltender with 222. He’s even further down that list in terms of games played. His career was extremely short, there’s no getting around that. But it was also outstanding. His .921 career save percentage puts him fifth, behind only Dominik Hasek, Johnny Bower, Rask, and Ken Dryden. Three of those names are in the Hall of Fame, the fourth likely will be one day.

So is Bishop a candidate for the Hall of Fame? Or is he just another member of the Hall of Very Good, with a career cut short by injury, overlooked by voters, and ultimately, unsuccessful in reaching the pinnacle of the sport–the Stanley Cup.

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Stars Recall Ben Bishop From Conditioning Loan, Playing Career To End

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Ben Bishop’s attempt to return to the crease for the Stars has come to an end.  The team announced this morning that they’ve recalled the netminder from his conditioning assignment with AHL Texas but that he will remain on Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) due to his current knee injury.  Later in the day, Stars GM Jim Nill told Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News that Bishop’s playing days are over:

“It’s no secret, he has a degenerative knee injury, and he went down there, he wanted to be a big part of this. He wanted to do everything he could to get back. In the end, by going through the process, going down there and playing, he found out that it’s the end of his career.”

The 35-year-old missed all of last season due to the injury plus the first couple of months of 2021-22.  He made one appearance with Texas and it didn’t go well as he allowed eight goals on 26 shots and clearly, something didn’t go right with his knee with Bishop asking Dallas to end the conditioning loan early and shut him down.  The netminder is scheduled to speak to the media on Tuesday.

His playing days come to an end with 413 games played for five different teams. He was a three-time Vezina Trophy finalist and posted a 2.32 GAA along with a save percentage of .921 along with 33 shutouts.  He is signed through next season with a $4.916MM AAV and will remain on LTIR during that stretch.

From a cap perspective, this lessens their need to try to move veteran goaltender Anton Khudobin.  While he’s clearly the odd man out in their goaltending trio at the moment, they would have needed to clear his contract off the books outright plus free up a bit more room in order to activate Bishop.  With that not happening anymore, they can now afford to be more patient in looking for the right return and will be able to take a player back instead of needing to clear his entire $3.33MM AAV off the books.  Dallas made Khudobin available earlier this month after Jake Oettinger came up from the minors and has been quite dominant in his first seven appearances, posting a 1.52 GAA with a .951 SV%.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Goalie Notes: Lehner, Bishop, Rask

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Jacob Markstrom is a likely candidate for the starting goaltender position for Sweden at the upcoming Olympics, but another promising option was Robin Lehner. That isn’t the case anymore, as Lehner tweeted last night that he will not be attending the Olympics.

Lehner, who has been very open about his struggles with mental health over the years, notes that this is a decision that puts that health ahead of his desire to compete for his country in what he calls a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” The uncertainty around what would happen if an athlete tests positive for COVID-19 while in China is part of why he made the decision.

  • The Dallas Stars are expected to send Ben Bishop to the minor leagues on a conditioning stint this week, according to Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News. Bishop hasn’t played since the 2020 bubble playoffs, but is finally getting close to being healthy enough to play again. The 35-year-old netminder is still signed through 2022-23 and carries a $4.92MM cap hit. He’ll become the fourth NHL-level goaltender for the Stars once he’s cleared to return to action, joining Anton Khudobin (who has been on the trade block in recent weeks), Braden Holtby, and Jake Oettinger.
  • There was a pretty impressive emergency backup goaltender at Boston Bruins practice today, as Tuukka Rask joined his former teammates despite still not having an NHL contract. Rask is still working his way back from offseason surgery, and has previously expressed that he would only return to the NHL for the Bruins. For now, he remains unsigned, but that could change at some point in the near future if he shows he’s healthy enough to help the team.

Dallas Stars Shopping Anton Khudobin

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The Dallas Stars have a goaltending tandem they trust – and it doesn’t include veteran Anton Khudobin. Free agent addition Braden Holtby leads the team with ten appearances and has looked like his old self, posting a .927 save percentage and 2.30 GAA. Yet it is young Jake Oettinger who has been making headlines, recording a stunning .951 save percentage and 1.41 GAA in six games. In contrast, Khudobin is playing the worst hockey of his NHL career with an .837 save percentage and 3.73 GAA in seven appearances. While the Stars have been hot of late, currently riding a six-game winning streak, Khudobin has not played since November 18.

With Holtby and Oettinger having earned the NHL jobs and (though easy to forget) former starter Ben Bishop still trying to work his way back from a long-term knee injury, Khudobin has become expendable. However, despite his struggles, the Stars will not simply just waive the respected veteran, at least not yet. Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reports that the team is actively shopping Khudobin in hopes of finding a trade partner.

While the Stars surely will not receive nearly the package they might have commanded for Khudobin just a couple years ago when he led the NHL with a .930 save percentage, the Stars still have incentive to search for a trade rather than keeping him for depth. The first is obvious; Khudobin may still have some value around the league. In fact, Marek states definitively that the Buffalo Sabres have expressed interest in the experienced netminder and there are certainly other teams that could also use help in net. With confidence in their current options, there is no reason for Dallas to pass up potential trade capital. However, Khudobin’s contract is another factor that the Stars need to manage. Simply waiving and demoting Khudobin only saves the team $1.075MM of the goaltender’s $3.33MM cap hit. That contract also carries an additional year. Dallas needs the space that could be opened up from moving Khudobin’s contract in its entirety, which means they will work to find a team with enough need in net to trade for the veteran. The next step would be to waive Khudobin and hope he is claimed; even if he is unclaimed the Stars will continue to shop Khudobin, who will have some extra transactional versatility should he clear.

One way or another, it seems like the Stars have come to the conclusion that they can benefit more from being rid of Khudobin than continuing to keep him around. At some point, it is likely that the veteran keeper will find a new home this season.

 

Several Players Placed On Long-Term Injured Reserve

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This afternoon, teams were required to submit a cap-compliant opening day roster to the league. This roster is not fixed and can be changed before a team actually takes the ice for their first game, meaning many players who would otherwise be considered on the team were included in a loan to the minor leagues. That “paper transaction” will not have the player actually report to the minor leagues, as he’ll be back up with the NHL team quickly.

The merit behind these transactions in many cases is to maximize long-term injured reserve relief. If necessary, a team attempts to get as close to the $81.5MM salary cap upper limit before placing a player on LTIR in order to receive the maximum benefit. This year has quite a few players hit the board already, which means they will miss a minimum of ten games and 24 days, though some are expected to miss the entire season.

Here are the players who have been placed on LTIR so far today:

D Jake Gardiner (CAR)
D Caleb Jones (CHI)
G Ben Bishop (DAL)
D Oscar Klefbom (EDM)
G Alex Stalock (EDM)
G Carey Price (MTL)
F Gemel Smith (TBL)
D Brent Seabrook (TBL)
F Bryan Little (WPG)

This post will be updated as more season-opening rosters are announced.

Stars Notes: Bishop, Offseason Targets, L’Esperance

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Dallas goaltender Ben Bishop is participating in training camp but don’t expect him to be ready for the season opener.  Instead, his goal is much simpler as he told Mike Heika of the Stars’ team website is that he’s hoping to simply be able to play at some point during the year.  The 34-year-old has dealt with lingering knee issues that have seen him undergo two surgeries and the uncertainty surrounding his availability for the season led them to sign Braden Holtby to join holdovers Anton Khudobin and Jake Oettinger.  As Heika notes, the Stars will need to free up cap space in order to have Bishop on the active roster so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them be very cautious in bringing Bishop back to the point where he maybe starts on LTIR for a few weeks to buy them some more time to evaluate him.

More from Dallas:

  • In a separate piece from Heika, he reports that the Stars showed interest in trading for defenseman Seth Jones and signing winger Blake Coleman this summer. However, those discussions didn’t last too long as the price tag got too high for their liking.  Dallas was still able to add to their back end this summer, inking veteran Ryan Suter to take Jamie Oleksiak’s spot on the roster.  They weren’t able to make a big splash up front – veteran center Luke Glendening was their biggest UFA forward signing but the returns to health of Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov effectively give them two significant additions compared to what they had for most of last season.
  • Winger Joel L’Esperance confirmed to Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News that he has not been vaccinated nor does he intend to be. The 26-year-old scored twice in a dozen games for the Stars last season but is likely ticketed to play in the AHL for most of the season.  Dallas’ affiliate in Texas has six games in Canada this season and under new protocols for 2021-22, the team will be able to suspend L’Esperance without pay for those missed games while it may affect his chances of getting recalled knowing there may be a seven-day quarantine to be served following any promotion from the minors.

Snapshots: Tkachuk, Stars, Garland

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With Drake Batherson now signed, the Senators can squarely turn their focus to getting a new deal done with RFA winger Brady Tkachuk.  Speaking with reporters, including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, GM Pierre Dorion declined to comment on the status of negotiations, only stating that “We’ve had productive, positive discussions with Brady’s camp” which would contrast a recent report from TSN1200’s Shawn Simpson who relayed (Twitter link) that there is some frustration setting in with Tkachuk’s camp.

The 21-year-old could be eyeing Andrei Svechnikov’s eight-year, $62MM deal with Carolina as a legitimate comparable contract which would make him Ottawa’s highest-paid forward but would still keep him below Thomas Chabot’s $8MM AAV for the highest-paid player on the team.  As some of Ottawa’s top youngsters come up for new deals, trying to keep all of those below Chabot’s price tag would seem like a viable strategy for the Senators in an effort to keep their window for contention open as long as possible.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Stars head coach Rick Bowness told Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News that forwards Tyler Seguin (hip and knee), Roope Hintz (groin), Alexander Radulov (core), and defenseman Joel Hanley (core) have all recovered from their respective injuries and surgeries and will be ready for training camp. Seguin, in particular, will be a welcome return as he was only able to suit up in three games last season, managing a pair of goals in those contests.  They’re still not fully healthy, however, as there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding goalie Ben Bishop’s future which is why Braden Holtby was surprisingly signed in free agency this summer.
  • While winger Conor Garland believed the Bruins might show interest in him, he told Matt Porter of the Boston Globe that his camp never heard from Boston when Arizona was shopping him around the league. The 25-year-old Scituate native had identified Boston, Toronto, and Los Angeles as potential fits but he wound up being moved to Vancouver instead where he quickly signed a five-year, $24.75MM contract.  Garland wouldn’t rule out the idea of playing for his hometown team down the road but it won’t be happening anytime soon.

Pittsburgh Penguins Content With Tristan Jarry As Starter

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Heading into the off-season, the Pittsburgh Penguins seemed destined to bring in a new goaltender. GM Ron Hextall more than hinted at his desire to add an established veteran to the mix alongside young Tristan Jarry, whose play suffered this past season. Yet, the status quo remains in the Pittsburgh net with Jarry and injury-prone backup Casey DeSmith. 

The root of this unexpected lack of change at the goalie position lies in the salary cap. Even with the departures of Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev, the Penguins are still right up against the upper limit. To this point, high-priced trade chips Jason Zucker, Marcus Pettersson, and Mike Matheson have yet to move, which leaves the team with little wiggle room in the free agent market. With what small space they had, the team opted to replace Tanev and McCann with Brock McGinn and Danton Heinen rather than address the goaltender position.

If and when the team is able to clear some space, perhaps adding a goalie will return to the forefront of their off-season objectives. The free agent market has largely been left bare, but the team could target a trade option such as Dallas’ Ben Bishop or Anton Khudobin, while Joonas Korpisalo, Alexandar Georgiev, and Malcolm Subban are other options believed to be available.

However, the team appears to no longer feel that they absolutely must add a goaltender before next season. Speaking with NHL.com’s Wes Crosby, Hextall stated that he believes Jarry is “going to bounce back” to starter quality for the Penguins this season. The 26-year-old did post a .921 save percentage and 2.43 GAA just a year ago, but those numbers fell to .909 and 2.75 this season. Most jarring was Jarry’s poor performance in the playoffs, in which he looked totally outmatched. Yet, Hextall – a former goalie himself – is confident that Jarry can return to form even without competition from a veteran addition. It seems he trusts DeSmith, who should be recovered from off-season surgery in time for the new campaign, as the backup again as well. This newfound confidence could be a product of the lacking talent available elsewhere or perhaps even some optimism for highly-regarded college free agent addition Filip Lindberg. Whatever the reason, the front office has changed their tune and Penguins fans have to hope that it all works out for the team as their championship window begins to close.

Braden Holtby Signs With Dallas Stars

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The Dallas Stars have brought in another veteran goaltender, signing the recently bought out Braden Holtby on a one-year contract. Eric Engels of Sportsnet reports that it will be a $2MM deal for Holtby, which certainly raises some further questions about the health of Ben Bishop.

One of the more unpredictable moves of the day, Dallas now finds themselves with four NHL-caliber goaltenders for the coming season in Holtby, Bishop, Anton Khudobin, and Jake Oettinger. Oettinger is still waivers-exempt, if the Stars want to go that route, while Bishop’s injury could see him back on LTIR, leaving a tandem of Holtby and Khudobin. The team may also plan to trade one of Khudobin or Bishop.

Whichever way the Stars go, it seems Holtby will play an important role for the team in 2021-22. While his short stint with the Vancouver Canucks did not go well, Holtby is still a decorated NHL netminder and at 31 should still have plenty of gas left in the tank. As a short-term, relatively low-money gamble, Holtby could be a nice addition as a reclamation project. If he returns to form, the Stars will have at least two good goalies no matter which direction they go. If that isn’t enough to get them back into the playoffs, then he also becomes a valuable trade chip in February. Compared to some of the other contracts handed out to goaltenders today, Holtby’s new pact looks like a wise investment, even from a team without an apparent need in goal.

Ben Bishop Agrees To Waive No-Movement Clause For Expansion

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The Dallas Stars may not have to expose Anton Khudobin to the Seattle Kraken after all. Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News reports that Ben Bishop has agreed to waive his no-movement clause for the expansion draft, meaning the Stars will not be forced to protect him. Bishop’s agent, Allain Roy, explained why his client made the decision:

I thought that was a good move for him and the team. In the big picture, the goal is to win the Stanley Cup, so I think he felt that was the right move for the team to be the best team possible next year. Makes sense.

The 34-year-old Bishop missed the entire 2020-21 season due to injury, but remains an enticing option for the Stars if he can get back to full health. Since arriving in the NHL, the 6’7″ netminder has been one of the league’s best, posting a .921 save percentage over 413 appearances. That number has Bishop sitting fifth in NHL history, with Tuukka Rask the only active netminder ahead of him (Dominik Hasek, Johnny Bower, and Ken Dryden are the other three). A three-time Vezina Trophy finalist, he was outstanding in his first three years in Dallas, posting a .923 in 143 games.

Of course, that success would also make him a very attractive choice for Seattle, if only they knew he would be healthy enough to play. That uncertainty and the $4.92MM cap hit likely keeps him off the Kraken’s radar, but waiving the no-movement still helps out the club. Jake Oettinger, the team’s presumed “goaltender of the future” is still exempt from selection, meaning the team can protect Khudobin and keep their depth intact.

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