Price is Right: Spencer Martin getting rude welcome to life as Canucks No. 1 goalie

There is a reason why NHL head coaches rarely offer goaltending comment. They usually don’t understand it. Very few ex-goalies have gone on to prominent coaching careers, and usually you won’t get anything more than “he was good” or at worst “we need a few more saves.”

But one thing everyone can agree on: It ain’t easy!

Particularly the part about being a reliable every day starter in the NHL. We’ve heard it in this market, we’ve heard everywhere else too. The backup is always everybody’s favourite player, but of course when the time comes for said backup to be the unequivocal starter, heavy is the head that wears the crown.

Spencer Martin’s start to his Canucks career was absolute fairytale stuff. Up to the point of Thatcher Demko’s injury, Martin was 9-2-4 as a Canuck with a save percentage of .922. Those numbers in today’s NHL are spectacular.

Since Demko went down with injury, the wins seem to still be there — he’s 2-0-0. But his save percentage is .847 in three starts, or 185 mins. His goals against average is 4.22.

Smaller sample obviously, but as most of us know, based on what we’ve seen from the Canucks this season, it seems folly to think defensive structure is all of a sudden going to materialize.

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Things change when you become the No. 1. Things change when you know you’ll get leaned on. Things change when you know the coach would really rather not use the other guy.
None of this is criticism of Spencer Martin. This isn’t his role. And this isn’t a team designed to help a guy with his experience ramp up to this level.

He’s just being left to duke it out against NHL snipers.

The good news is the games are spaced out over the next 10 days and he’ll get the chance to catch his breath after every start. But as of December 17, the schedule picks up significantly. We’ll see then whether the Canucks have a goaltending problem in the wake of Demko’s injury, or if Martin can improbably keep the Canucks afloat in this ocean of goals.