There are striking similarities between Buffalo Sabres goaltenders Craig Anderson’s and Eric Comrie’s career paths. And it’s why you can’t count out Comrie.
It is clear Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams knows what he is doing. Entering his third season at the helm, Adams built one of the best prospect pools in the NHL and is busy building a nucleus of young players while seeking to keep them around long-term. Everything at this moment is clicking for the Sabres, and while many deny it, the goaltending situation has potential.
A look back at Craig Anderson’s career should show both the Sabres faithful and the media that it’s rather foolish to write off Eric Comrie because he has only played in a little over two dozen NHL games. When you look where Anderson was at age 27, he found himself exactly in the same position Comrie is in today.
Buffalo Sabres goalie Eric Comrie on a similar career path as Anderson
Like Comrie, Anderson was a mid-round pick…twice! Once in 1999 and again in 2001. Comrie, slated to play at least 30 games for the first time in his career, is 27, the same age Anderson was the first year he saw action in 30 games, 31 to be exact.
Want more fun? Anderson played in just 17 games the season prior, in 2007-08, when he finished 8-6-1, scored a 0.935 save percentage and a 2.25 GAA.
The next season, 2008-09, he finished 15-7-5 with a 0.924 save percentage and a 2.71 GAA. Anderson then went to the Colorado Avalanche for the 2009-10 season, seeing 71 starts and a 38-25-5 record. He recorded a 0.917 save percentage plus a 2.63 GAA, taking ninth for the Hart and fourth for the Vezina.
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You look at these statistics and to what Comrie has gone through and they are eerily similar. While Comrie saw less games than Anderson had during his first few seasons in professional hockey, his 0.920 save percentage and 2.58 GAA is encouraging, and not much lower than Anderson’s stats in 2007-08.
While there is no guarantee that Comrie will experience the same career breakout as Anderson, who is the fifth winningest American goaltender of all-time, it does show that the aging goaltender’s past means we cannot count out Comrie because of his relative inexperience in the NHL. Anderson will go down as one of the better goaltenders in NHL history, as he is currently 33rd on the all-time wins list.
This article is not saying Comrie will follow Anderson to a T. He probably won’t. But it is saying that just because a goaltender hasn’t gotten much of a chance until their late 20s, it doesn’t mean they are a washout.
Comrie will prove his doubters wrong in 2022-23. Barring injury, he will lead the team in wins this season, and he will at least post respectable numbers in the net.
Article Source: Anderson’s return, Comrie’s mindset & more takeaways from Day 2 of camp by Jourdon LaBarber
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)