Ferraro: Canucks botched goalie situation

The Canucks left Mikey DiPietro out to dry against one of the hottest teams in the NHL on Monday.

DiPietro gave up a goal on the first NHL shot he faced vs. the San Jose Sharks and went on to incur a 7-2 loss.

TSN’s Ray Ferraro struggles to comprehend how a 19-year-old goalie out of junior was Vancouver’s only option against a powerhouse offensive team that includes Evander Kane, Logan Couture, Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski among others.

“Alot of it I don’t think they [Canucks] could have done much different, but in the end, they botched it.”

Ferraro details how most of it was an unfortunate chain of events that the Canucks simply couldn’t control. AHL starter Richard Bachman suffered a season-ending injury with the Utica Comets while Thatcher Demko’s camp put pressure on the Canucks to give the youngster his shot in the NHL.

The Canucks called up the 23-year-old rookie and traded away their current NHL backup Anders Nilsson to the Ottawa Senators. In that trade, the Canucks received goaltender and journeyman Mike McKenna. Still, nothing seemed to be amiss.

It’s when the Philadelphia Flyers claimed McKenna off waivers that the Canucks found themselves in a tough situation.

Demko then hurt his knee and the Canucks figured they call up DiPietro to backup their clear-cut starter Jacob Markstrom. The 19-year-old didn’t have to play, but he could work with Vancouver’s goalie coach and gain valuable experience at the NHL level.

The plan was never to start DiPietro, but the Canucks also didn’t have any other options. The Comets did sign Michael Leighton to a PTO, but there simply wasn’t anybody the Canucks could have called up from the AHL in a worst-case scenario.

Once Markstrom tweaked something, the Canucks were out of options. In the end, Ferraro believes the Canucks totally screwed up.

The Canucks traded for goaltender Marek Mazanec from New York on Tuesday to help address their goaltending issues.

“You mean to tell me you couldn’t have done that five days ago? 10 days ago? Once Demko got hurt, the plan to get DiPietro in was a bad plan. Because what if he had to play? And guess what? The worst of the worst happened.”

Ferraro was in disbelief of a goalie going from junior straight to starting in the NHL. It’s simply unheard of.

Ferraro concluded the rant by stating DiPietro will recover from this and fans shouldn’t feel the need to worry.

“Goalies have crappy games all the time. He’ll be fine. It’s not even a concern, but it’s a bad spot to put him in.”

It really was a series of unfortunate events that led to DiPietro getting his first NHL start at such a young age. Ferraro’s rant makes you think about what the team could have done differently to have prevented it.