by Christopher Nardella, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine

POINTE CLAIRE, QC. — When Mike Condon beat out Dustin Tokarski for the job to backup Carey Price there was a collective questioning by Habs fans on whether the latter could regain the form displayed in the 2014 Eastern Conference finals.

To arrive to the spot he’s at today, Tokarski had to play an athletic style. His lack of size relative to the position he plays makes it impossible to rely on positioning and technical play to be effective at any level, so his athleticism was his ticket to the NHL. He’s a butterfly goalie, but he plays a very athletic variation.

Standing at 6-foot-2-inch, Mike Condon is Tokarski’s polar opposite. The Needham, Massachusetts native can be classified as a butterfly/hybrid goaltender and uses his size and strong technical abilities to stop rubber.

A Canadiens fan’s biggest nightmare came true near the 2013-’14 trade deadline when Carey Price went down with an injury. Rather than having perpetual NHL backup Peter Budaj start for a couple games they called up then 24-year old Dustin Tokarski to guard the net for nine periods. The rookie shined with a 1.84 goals against average and a .946 save percentage in the three games.

When Chris Kreider decided to get a piece of Carey Price while sliding towards a post, Tokarski was once again called upon to play multiple games. The Canadiens had so much confidence in Tokarski that they risked the waiver process for him or Budaj by calling up the Canadian backstop. There’s a reason why the Humboldt, Saskatchewan native was chosen over Peter Budaj and why he will never become a backup.

The Andrew Hammond-like style of Tokarski isn’t conducive to becoming a backup, especially at his size. To play the style that the 5-foot-11-inch goalie does, you need to get into a rhythm and play consecutive games so it’s very difficult to do so when you’re a backup, particularly to Carey Price. As you may know, there’s nothing that can recreate the atmosphere of being between the pipes for an NHL game which doesn’t favour the Saskatchewan native.

That’s why the Canadiens favoured him over the veteran Slovak in the playoffs. Tokarski was capable of starting multiple games in a row and was able to have success. The 2013-’14 version of the Habs was very good and had the Stanley Cup in their sights so going with the kid called from Hamilton made more sense in the long-haul, since they still would’ve had another series to play. “Tiker” did have success and was the team’s best player for the rest of the series but the team’s morale had taken too big of a hit and they played poorly which resulted in their defeat.

Mike Condon on the other hand doesn’t need to play every couple games because he can work on his positioning during practice. Once he gets into game action he doesn’t need to see a couple shots early on, although that’s beneficial to any goalie. It also helps that Condon is a little over the average goalie height of 6-foot-1-inch.

As was demonstrated throughout training camp and during his first career start, Condon isn’t only dependant on his positioning, he is also strong when moving laterally. As Michel Therrien said “he’s a battler,” working very hard to see pucks because he has the physical ability to do so.

The problem with the St. John’s Ice Caps starter is not tied to him being a bad goaltender and not having the ability. There’s nothing Stéphane Waite can do to change the way his former pupil has been playing of late because his problem isn’t related to his positioning, or his glove not being high enough, it has to do with him not playing on a consistent basis which was a contributor to his success in the past.

Some of the best and most athletic goaltenders in the league would struggle as backups without a doubt in my mind. Jonathan Quick is by far the most aggressive goalie in the NHL and he would initially struggle as a backup. However, I’m fairly certain that he would rapidly adapt to his situation since he has an abundance of talent.

Some goaltenders can adapt to the backup role more easily than others, which is the case with the Canadiens’ current backup. Now comes the discussion about Zachary Fucale and how to develop him. Do you mold the Quebecer into an eventual backup for Carey Price or do you continue to develop him into the starter for the future?

Considering the best goaltender in the league is in front of him, and has at least six more years of high level hockey in front of him, the original assumption would be to begin to develop Fucale as a backup.  At the end of the day, it’s not really that difficult to find a backup in the NHL so Fucale immediately becomes a trading piece as has been rumoured to be true over the last season. To maximize return, he needs to be developed as a starter. Now, obviously this elaborate plan is totally dependant on the 21-year olds play in the AHL but should he have a solid couple years of development this would be ideal.

Dustin Tokarski is a good goalie, and will have some success in the AHL, despite getting shelled in his second start with the ‘Caps, because he will be starting. There is no guarantee that “Tiker” and Michael Condon stay in the spots they’re in now because Condon still doesn’t require waivers and depending on Tokarski’s play, he might be in St. John’s at one point this season. However it could go the other way for the 5-foot-11-inch backstop who has Eddie Pasquale and the aforementioned Zachary Fucale gunning for his spot.

As was documented by Robin Short of The Telegram in St. John’s, Tokarski doesn’t want to be with the ‘Caps and hasn’t been saying much since he’s arrived in the AHL. He stayed on the ice close to an hour after his first practice but for most of it he was on the bench by himself and he was “working on his butterfly style.”

It won’t surprise me at all if he has success in the AHL but his style isn’t conducive to having success as a backup in the NHL which will prohibit him from doing so.