Has The Decline Of Ben Bishop Already Begun?
As we approached the 2013-14 season, it was expected that Tampa Bay Lightning goaltenders Ben Bishop and Anders Lindback would split time in the crease. As we know now, that turned out to be far from true. Bishop took the clear lead as the starting goalie and led the bolts all the way to the playoffs before getting injured. In fact, he ran away with it, even becoming a Vezina trophy candidate.
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Any person with some knowledge about hockey knew there was a good chance we would see a decline of the game play of Bishop going into the 2014-15 season.
Bishop put up astronomical numbers in his first full season with the bolts, having a save percentage of .924 and a goals against average of 2.23. He played in a total or 63 games and had a record of 37-14-7. It is rare to see a goaltender have a breakout season like that and hold the numbers for a long period of time.
This season, not only have we seen a decrease in nearly every stat that is recorded, but the players and fans are also starting to lose confidence in the 28-year-old goaltender. It isn’t that he isn’t making the easy saves, it’s that we are no longer seeing those clutch saves to win games for the bolts.
Bishop is currently sitting all the way down at 25th in the league for save percentage in the 2014-15 season with a .911. He also has a mediocre goals against average of 2.37. The Lightning are second in the league for allowing the fewest shots against which should do nothing but elevate the stats of a goaltender. They are not terrible stats, but not impressive for a team that is hoping to make a run at the cup.
Jan 2, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning goalie
Ben Bishop(30) on the ice before playing the Pittsburgh Penguins at the CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
To make it worse, it has been apparent that Bishop is struggling to stop pucks early in the game, often allowing goals on only the first few shots. In the last three games Bishop has played, he has allowed a goal in the first five minutes. He has also allowed a total of six goals in the first period of those games.
Andrei Vasilevskiy is adding even more pressure onto the starter. With his outstanding play so far at the NHL level, fans are pushing for Vasilevskiy to get a bigger role with the Lightning. With Vasilevskiy getting referred to as the future of the team, Bishop knows that at some point down the road, no matter how well he plays, he will likely be giving up his starting spot to the young Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Maybe, just maybe, Bishop is not completely at fault for his decline after his breakout year as a Lightning goaltender. Instead it could be goaltender coach Frantz Jean. Jean has been a coach for the Lightning since 2010, yet he still has almost nothing to show for it. Recognize these names?
Anders Lindback, Dwayne Roloson, Mike Smith, Dan Ellis, Dustin Tokarski, Sebastien Caron, Mathieu Garon, Cedrick Desjardins
Every one of those goaltenders played under Frantz Jean, yet not a single one of them had more then one successful season with the Lightning. Mike Smith was demoted to the AHL after playing under Jean, only to became a Vezina candidate playing for the Coyotes a year later. Dustin Tokarski went on to be a successful goalie for the Montreal Canadiens after being a member of the Lightning.
According to Damian Cristodero of the Tampa Bay Times, Dwayne Roloson stated after his playoff surge that he did so well because he stopped using the drills Jean recommended.
Anders Lindback seemed to be thriving when he left the Nashville Predators to come to Tampa. When Lindback arrived in Tampa he was putting up the best numbers of his career, but all of that success had gone away by the next season. It was rumored that the reason for his decline was because Jean tried to convert him into a more butterfly-style goaltender. It was a style that Lindback simply couldn’t learn to play.
It’s amazing that of all the goaltenders who went through Tampa Bay during this period of time, none of them seemed to succeed while being under the guidance of Frantz Jean. Coincidence? Probably not.
If Bishop’s play declines to the point where he cannot be the clear number one goaltender until the end of next season, it may be time to let Frantz Jean go. The worst thing the Lightning can do with the pool of outstanding goalie prospects that they currently hold is let an incapable coach tell them how they should play their game.
We also must hope that the decrease that Bishop has seen between these two seasons is not injury-related. After undergoing wrist surgery during the off-season, Bishop has continued to have nagging issues that have caused him to miss more games this season. Although the injuries have not been related to each other, the threat of having to go through the playoffs again without Bishop still looms.
Though the decline in the play of Ben Bishop is not yet something to be concerned about, it is something we need to keep an eye on as we go into the second half of the NHL season. If problems continue, the bolts may have to resort to other options in net.