Capitals go off the script with rookie netminder
NEW YORK – They knew his name, of course. Simeon Varlamov is, after all, one of the Capitals’ top prospects. Some players vaguely recall seeing him during training camp and taking quick note of the organization’s likely goalie of the future.
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But as they gathered in Washington late last summer to prepare for the season, not a single one of those players envisioned the 20-year-old Russian as their postseason starter.
The plan was for Varlamov, the team’s 2006 first-round draft pick, to get used to life in North America playing for the franchise’s American Hockey League affiliate in Hershey. But that plan went out the window once backup goalie Brent Johnson had hip surgery in February and Varlamov had sufficiently recovered from a knee injury. Still, his emergence during the Stanley Cup playoffs is as much a surprise to himself as it has been to his teammates.
“In the beginning of the season I was playing at Hershey,” said Varlamov through an interpreter after Tuesday’s 4-0 shutout of the New York Rangers. “I not only didn’t think about the playoffs, I didn’t think I was going to play in the season at all.”
Varlamov — 4-0-1 with five starts during the regular season — became just the fourth NHL goalie under 21 to record a postseason shutout. According to Caps goalie coach Dave Prior, Varlamov has the elite explosiveness and mobility to become a star in the NHL. It’s just a matter of managing that raw talent. If his first two playoff starts are any indication — a 4-0 win and a 1-0 loss — he is on his way.
“He was supposed to be one of [the] Team Russia goalies [at the World Championships in 2008] but got hurt first, right? He came up through the Team Russia organization. That’s a good start for anybody,” said Caps defenseman Milan Jurcina. “Maybe we shouldn’t be that surprised.”
