Friday, April 3, 2009

Plante Done + Brodeur Out = Beckford-Tseu? No.

Goaltender Mike Brodeur is still nursing an abdominal injury and while he practiced with Rochester on Thursday, he will not be playing tomorrow night when the Amers host the Binghamton Senators for the final time this season. At the same time, Tyler Plante is meeting with doctors here in Florida to get to the bottom of a shoulder injury that has seemingly resurfaced this season. Last year, Plante underwent surgery for his shoulder as well.

So with those two out and Shantz still with the club, someone has to be the backup, and it won't be Chris Beckford-Tseu. Instead, the Amerks are bringing in a goaltender from the Central Hockey League: Miguel Beaudry. But, as Kevin O writes, it doesn't necessarily mean that Florida and Rochester simply wish to cut ties with CBT. Sure, they may, but he makes some solid points about why Beckford-Tseu will be staying in the ECHL at this point in time:
The CHL regular season is over, so bringing in Beaudry didn’t disrupt anyone else’s season. He’s only coming here because he might be needed as a backup. It wouldn’t be right for a going-nowhere AHL can’t inconvenience a team from another league (even if Phoenix is out of the playoffs) just because it needs a backup goalie.

As for the aforementioned 'Beaudry', the goaltender coming in is Miguel Beaudry of the CHL's newest expansion team, Rapid City Rush. Beaudry was never drafted by an NHL club and after his OHL career had ended, he signed with the New Mexico Scorpions of the CHL. Now a month shy of his 26th birthday, he's been there ever since.

Yet one can't help but wonder if Beckford-Tseu would have been recalled, anyway. He's had a very tough season and after going from the AHL to the ECHL, his numbers have actually gotten worse. In ten games with the ECHL's Phoenix Roadrunners, the 24-year-old goalie has posted a 2-7-1 record with a GAA of 5.00 and an .862 save percentage.

In other news, the Carolina Hurricanes scored twice in twenty-eight seconds in the third period tonight to knock the Rangers off in regulation. Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens picked up a big win against the Islanders and have vaulted themselves ahead of the Blueshirts. Now, in a perfect world, Florida's game in hand on the Rangers could potentially serve to level the playing field tomorrow night and knot the Cats and Rangers up at 89 points apiece, but the Thrashers are no pushovers, especially with the way they've been playing lately.

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