The new hockey season is right around the corner and yet there are still some players who have yet to sign with a new team. One of them is 36-year-old goaltender from Laval Quebec Jose Theodore. Theodore has played for several NHL teams including the Montreal Canadiens, Colorado Avalanche, Washington Capitals, Minnesota Wild and most recently the Florida Panthers. His new contract he is rumoured to sign is a one year, one way contract with the Boston Bruins.
Jose Theodore was originally drafted by the Montreal Canadiens. His first NHL playoff game was in 1997 where the Canadiens won a 4-3 after triple overtime having Theodore make 56 saves. From then everyone knew about the exceptional goalie this guy was becoming.
Now that the season is a few weeks away, rumors from Renaud Lavoie at TVASports surfaced that he was about to sign a one year contract with the Boston Bruins to be the backup goalie for Tuukka Rask. However, this rumor was refuted by other sources such as TSN’s Bob McKenzie. It seems to be that two of the biggest insiders in hockey (Renaud Lavoie is often seen as the French Canadian Bob McKenzie), are conflicting on this. With that in mind, lets examine if he would be a good fit for the Bruins?
Watching many of his previous games there is no doubt that Theodore is an exceptional goalie. Yes, he has had some rough times over the years but who hasn’t? He had a very solid season in 2011-12 leading the Florida Panthers to their first playoff spot in years.
The Bruins are a strong team and I believe even though they are without many of their top players that with their new additions working together they will be able to fight their way through and get far this season. If the team works together and is strong with one another then it helps push other players to succeed in their game. Hockey is a team sport so for an example the Florida Panthers they were not a very strong team, they had strong key players but they have trouble making it into the playoffs because they don’t work well together. This makes it difficult to show the strength of individual players compared to the previous backup goalie Anton Khudobin (now signed by the Carolina Hurricanes) who had a good team backing him up so it was easy to spot his strengths and weaknesses.
Even if Theodore signs a one year contract I think it will be enough to get him back on top and maybe move somewhere else that will need a primary goalie. This year will be to show the fans of the NHL what he can do and prove he is worthy of keeping. Even if he does play well this season maybe the Bruins will extend his backup contract.
We will see if they officially sign him and if they do what he will bring to the table. I think a good season is about to happen.
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Main photo credit: sarah_connors via photopin cc
