Blue Jackets’ 3-Goalie Rotation Proving to Be Unsustainable

The Columbus Blue Jackets had a decision to make in the early part of December. With goaltender Daniil Tarasov ready to play NHL games, it was thought something would have to give with the goaltending with both Elvis Merzlikins and Spencer Martin in the fold.

The Blue Jackets ultimately made a decision. They decided to keep all three goalies on the roster. With Tarasov missing the season to date due to an injury, keeping three goalies around would allow them insurance in case something happened to one of them. It would also allow them time to evaluate all of their options in net. This meant punting a decision down the road.

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We are now nine games into the Blue Jackets’ three-goalie rotation since Tarasov was activated on Dec 11. How have the goalies done to this point? And is this something that can be sustainable? The numbers sure do tell a story here.

Setting the Scene

In their last nine games since the goalie rotation started, the Blue Jackets have a record of 3-3-3 for hockey .500. While that’s certainly not great, it could be worse.

Now how have the starts been split up? Since there are three goalies on the active roster, one starts, one backs up and the other one is a scratch. The scratch can play as the emergency third goalie should it ever come to that.

The Blue Jackets said they had a plan for their goalie rotation. While they haven’t said exactly what that is publicly, there is a clear pattern on who is starting and potentially why.

• Merzlikins: 4 starts
• Tarasov: 4 starts
• Martin: 1 start

The two perceived goalies this season have eight of the nine starts. In the first five of those starts since the Dec 14 game in Toronto, Tarasov had three starts and Merzlikins had two starts. There was a clear priority to get Tarasov into some games to shake the rust off and get caught up to speed. His early numbers seem to point to this as well.

Now here is a breakdown of starts, number of times dressed as the back up and number of scratches.

• Merzlikins: 4 starts, 3 back ups, 1 healthy scratch, 1 scratch due to illness.
• Tarasov: 4 starts, 0 back ups, 5 healthy scratches.
• Martin: 1 start, 6 back ups, 2 healthy scratches.

It’s clear they don’t want Tarasov coming into a game cold given him coming off an injury. It’s also clear that Martin is essentially playing the role of a third goalie given these splits. He got the…