With the dog days of the NHL offseason now upon us, we’re going to spend the next couple of weeks taking a deeper dive at a number of players on the Bruins’ roster (or on the cusp of a roster spot) who could make a major impact on the club’s hopes of putting together another Cup run.
Here are our previous breakdowns of B’s players this summer:
Part 1: F Danton Heinen
Part 2: F Peter Cehlarik
Part 3: F Charlie Coyle
Part 4: F Anders Bjork
Part 5: F Zach Senyshyn
Part 6: D Urho Vaakanainen
Part 7: F Sean Kuraly
Part 8: F Karson Kuhlman
Part 9: F David Backes
Next up, let’s take a look at a player that — while not a starter — figures to play a key role in Boston’s chances of putting together another deep Cup run in Jaroslav Halak.
Player: Jaroslav Halak
Age: 34 (turns 35 on May 13)
Position: Goaltender
Height/Weight: 5-foot-11 / 185 pounds
2018-19 Stats: 40 games played – 22-11-4 record / 2.34 GAA / .922 save percentage
Season In Review: He may not have appeared in a single playoff game for the Bruins this past spring, but Halak’s play in net might have been one of the key reasons as to why Boston was able to make it all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Signed to a two-year, $5.5-million contract back in July, Halak — primarily a starter in his NHL career — was brought in as a great insurance policy in net for Boston, giving the club one of the top backup goalies in the league and a great addition to an already stout netminder corps featuring Tuukka Rask.
While his numbers in his final season with the New York Islanders left much to be desired (20-26-6 record, 3.19 GAA, .908 save%), Halak hit the ground running in his first season with Boston and allowed the club to stay afloat during a stretch in which Rask struggled with a .901 save percentage through his first eight games.
Rask took some time to get going, but Halak was impressive in the early going — posting a 6-1-2 record with a .945 save percentage and two shutouts in his first 11 appearances. By the time the postseason began, Halak’s impressive play in net allowed Boston to keep Rask fresh for the playoff run — with the latter’s 45 games played last season ranking as his fewest since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season (36 games played).
If we only want to include a full, 82-game slate, it was Rask’s lightest stretch since both the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons — where he was still a backup to Tim Thomas.
With a lower workload for Rask — and without sacrificing points when turning to their backup in net — the Bruins reaped the benefits of Halak’s addition to the roster. Before Game 7 against the Blues, Rask seemed to have a Conn Smythe Trophy all but locked up — with the netminder posting a .934 save percentage and two shutouts over 24 playoff outings.
“We wanted to build a good back-up situation. We had it last year with (Anton) Khudobin,” Bruce Cassidy said of Boston’s goaltending situation back in April. “We know Tuukka is not a 65-starts-a-year goalie. He’s just not built that way, so we have to make sure that we insulate ourselves in that area with a good solid backup. Halak was available, great guy. Good playoff resume as well. So we know we have a great tandem there, no matter which direction we go.”
Given the positive results that Halak’s addition and a lighter workload for Rask brought to the club in 2018-19, look for the Bruins to once again opt for a similar regimen for their netminders in 2019-20, with Halak tasked with the enormous responsibility of both pushing Rask in net and fighting for his own reps — while keeping Boston’s No. 1 option fresh for spring hockey.
But can he replicate such a season for the second year in a row?
When comparing Halak’s numbers in his first season in Boston with his last run-through over in Long Island, his drop in both GAA and rise in save percentage might seem rather startling.
But a deeper dive might showcase that Halak has actually been pretty damn good for quite some time now. And when you add a competent defense in front of him — the numbers follow.
Halak’s numbers might have been decidedly average-to-poor in 2017-18, but to be fair, he was playing with an absolute sieve of a D corps in front of him — with the Islanders ranking dead last in team defense by relinquishing 3.57 goals per game.
Sure, a GAA of 3.19 is less than ideal, but Halak still found himself in good company upon taking a deeper dive into the numbers. Among netminders that logged at least 1,500 minutes of 5v5 play in 2017-18, Halak ranked 15th overall in terms of save percentage on high-danger shots (HDSV%) at 80.38% — higher than Rask (80.37%) and other regular starters like Connor Hellebuyck (80.18%) and Frederik Andersen (79.01%).
To be fair, Halak’s numbers did spike in 2018-19 in his first season in Boston, with his HDSV% of 85.47% ranking third overall among netminders with a minimum of 1,500 minutes of 5v5 play, trailing only Jordan Binnington (85.83%) and Pekka Rinne (85.77%). But he also received quite the boost from a Bruins’ defense that ranked third in the NHL in goals allowed per game at just 2.58.
But that’s just skimming the surface of Boston’s effectiveness when it comes to limiting quality scoring chances, especially if we look at “expected” goals — which is essentially shot attempts that have been weighted for other factors such as location of said shot and quality.
As Alex Novet at Hockey-Graphs notes, the Bruins were far and away the best team in the NHL last season when it came to giving opposing clubs poor scoring chances, with an expected goal per shots against rate hovering just a hair above 0.050. Pretty, pretty good.
That defensive effort — plus Halak’s own play in net — played a major role in the netminder’s stout numbers this past season, with the goalie also ranking fourth among all NHLers in goals saved above expectation (GS Ax) at 10.75. In other words, when looking at the quality of shots that came his way, Halak saved close to 11 more goals than what was expected of the average netminder in said situation. Pretty impressive stuff.
And while, sure, Zdeno Chara might be another year older, there isn’t much that stands in the way of Boston’s defense once again serving as one of the top units in the NHL when it comes to limiting opposing scoring chances. While two-way stars up front like Patrice Bergeron lead the way away from the O-zone, Boston’s blue line should also take another major step forward in 2019-20 with youngsters like Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo and Matt Grzelcyk all expected to build upon successful seasons.
Even if they don’t pace the pack in xG/SA, the Bruins should at the very least be among the best of the bunch once again. And that’s good news for an already fantastic netminder in Halak.
Add in the fact that Sean Tierney’s fantastic WAR Lineup Creator currently has the Bruins projected at 117 points if the club opts to cut up Rask and Halak’s workload at a 55/45 split — with Halak posting a projected full-season WAR of 4.1 — and the Bruins should once again be in line for another strong season from their two regulars between the pipes in 2019-20.
Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick, Corsica, Sean Tierney and HockeyViz.