Arizona Coyotes continue to search for the answer in net

The Arizona Coyotes are at a crossroads.

As the NHL puts the finishing touches on the first quarter of the 2014-15 season, the Coyotes sit with a losing record — staring at the very real possibility of missing the playoffs for a third consecutive season.

It’s times like these that all options are put on the table and tough decisions are made. The Coyotes must choose between a safety net that has developed a few holes over the years and diving head first into an uncertain future, rife with major financial complications, that could help them now.

Therein lies the rub in Arizona’s complicated goaltending situation.

It is not hard to figure out which netminder has performed better in brick red this season. By almost any statistical measure, first-year Coyote Devan Dubnyk has vastly outperformed the incumbent Mike Smith.

Dubnyk has an equal number of wins in one-third of the starts. Goals against average, save percentage, shutouts — you name it, Dubnyk has the edge. There is little argument of who the better goaltender is right now.

The aforementioned safety net is Mike Smith. Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett may not have drafted Smith, but he is more than familiar with the Ontario native from years of coaching him while both men worked for the Dallas Stars. Tippett coached Smith in the goalie’s rookie and sophomore seasons between 2006-08 before Dallas traded him to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 26, 2008.

Tippett was impressed enough with Smith’s raw talent to choose him as Ilya Bryzgalov’s replacement before the 2011-12 season, despite a very spotty track record as a starter. That decision paid off in spades as Smith led the Coyotes to the greatest season in franchise history, which ended in a trip to the Western Conference Finals after years of either missing the playoffs or failing to get out of the first round.

Smith nearly single-handedly carried the Coyotes though the first two rounds of the playoffs before falling to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings. Many considered Smith one of the five best goalies in the entire league that season.

That season’s performance earned Smith a six-year, $34 million contract and the trust of his coach.

Smith has since had his ups and downs, but was always expected to turn things around by starting as often as possible.

One season after placing fourth in the Vezina Trophy voting, Smith finished 25th in the NHL among qualified puck-stoppers in save percentage (.910) and 28th in goals against average (2.58). Last season, he finished 25th in save percentage (.915) and 30th in goals against average (2.64).

At the moment, Smith longs for those days, as his start to this season is shaping up to be one of the worst, if not the worst, of his career. He ranks 42nd in save percentage (.890) and 41st in goals against average (3.30) through his first 15 starts.

In fact, since the start of the 2012-13 season, Smith ranks 29th in save percentage and goals against average among all goalies who have played at least 55 games.

At the same time, the one-year reclamation project of Dubnyk barely meets the qualifying marks to be placed on the NHL stats list with only six games played. However, he ranks eighth in the league in save percentage (.925) and 13th in goals against average (2.25).

The Coyotes are forced to choose between rolling with a player who is likely the better option right now, but is signed for just this season and has an inconsistent record as a full-time starter, and toughing it out with an underperforming veteran with four more years left on his deal after this season with a cap hit of $5.67 million.

It’s a sticky situation for a team that heavily relies on defense and goaltending just to get by. The team was forced to make many decisions based on money in the past — it may be time to make a decision based on what’s best for the team right now.

What to do between the pipes may be Tippett’s biggest decision to date.

Follow @AZSports