Alex Goligoski may fit the New Jersey Devils' puzzle
CJ Turtoro dives into why in his latest.
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Today’s post was written by C.J. TURTORO. You can find him on Twitter @CJTDevil.
I know that, to some degree, every UFA defender has effectively been legally renamed “not Dougie Hamilton,” by this fanbase. However, the New Jersey Devils are probably not going to get him and 1) that’s honestly probably for the best; 2) they are still going to need to bolster the back-end.
I started looking into the names of those you might consider to be consolation prizes. The second tier of names as far as contract projections were Alec Martinez (who I like) and then Brandon Montour and Ty Barrie (who I don’t). But it’s the first name in tier 3 that interested me the most -- Alex Goligoski.
The reason I think Goligoski makes sense is because it marries a lot of different mindsets on how to build. He could potentially be used in a variety of ways. Let’s start off here though: he’s actually still pretty good!
In terms of GAR value, he was the 11th-ranked defenceman in the NHL -- ahead of two of the three Norris nominees (Fox and Hedman) and he’s a top-50 defender over the past three seasons.
In xGAR, Goligoski fares noticeably worse but he was still 80th in the league, which makes him a top-4 defender. His GAR value is a bit inflated by some lucky on-ice shooting, it seems, and between his mediocre shot impact numbers and his age, he’s certainly not the best defender available. But he’s good enough and he might just be the “right” defender for the Devils right now.
There are a few things that make Goligoski a good fit for the Devils. First of all, Fitzgerald likes gritty defenders (likely why he spun the tires on adding Risto, which he shouldn’t do).
While Goligoski has a reputation as an undersized defender that struggles against bigger forwards, he is a regular 100-hit/100-block guy who has played 23+ minutes a game in 7 of the last 8 seasons. He is also used in the defensive zone just as much as the offensive one.
He reminds me a little of the Devils edition of Marek Zidlicky in that he’s a past-his-prime puck-mover that can eat up minutes, but he’s got more defensive chops than Zid did. In that sense, I think he’ll fit Ruff’s scheme similarly to how Kulikov did -- a defensively-competent blueliner with the speed to keep up with Ruff’s high-pace system.
And what is, perhaps, the most attractive feature about Goligoski is that he just played a season alongside a former 16th overall selection and helped the 22-year-old lefty to a career season. Sound like something that might be helpful to a certain 21-year-old former 17th overall that is the lone hope for the future of the Devils’ blueline at the moment?
There are no good long-term solutions to holes in the core of a team to be found in free agency. Dougie is better than you’d normally get, but he is 28 and likely to be very expensive.
I think that a valid Plan B -- or, even Plan A -- is to sign players that can serve as liaisons for the franchise until the age of the young is ready to begin. And for the blueline and Ty Smith, in particular, I think there may be no option more appropriate than Alex Goligoski.
numbers via Evolving-Hockey.com