Goalie glut confounds Beauchemin

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/09/2008 (6500 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

AS bets go, there would be few safer than wagering Winnipegger Rejean Beauchemin will not start the season with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

It’s no reflection on the 23-year-old’s goalkeeping, just the Moose depth chart.

Good punters know, however, that streaks come to an end at some point, and Beauchemin’s trying to be ready for the moment his lousy luck turns.

A little inconsistency in his rookie pro year, 2005-06, now hardly seems worth mentioning.

Injuries and bad timing plagued him in Years 2 and 3 and at the end of his entry-level NHL deal with Philadelphia, which drafted him in the sixth round of 2003, he had no organization to call home.

The former member of Canada’s 2005 gold-medal world junior team finally landed a deal with Idaho of the ECHL and received a last-minute invitation to Moose camp this week.

“I felt like I had a strong season in Dayton but it’s tough because there are a lot of really good goalies out there,” said Beauchemin, who was 16-17-7 with a .912 save percentage and a 2.88 GAA once he came back from a knee injury suffered at Philly’s training camp. “Nobody feels sorry for you and you can’t feel sorry yourself either. All I can ask for is an opportunity here.”

He recited a string of injuries that combined with some off nights to leave him in this predicament.

“It’s more that at some point I’ve had a bad game at a bad time,” he said. “You can be frustrated all you want but you’ve got to move on, right?

“Obviously you think once in a while of what could have been but you have to move on. The past is the past and all I can do know is work as hard as I can and work my way back up.”

Beauchemin is positively beaming for the opportunity to be in camp with the Moose, despite knowing there’s nearly zero chance he’ll be here long.

“It’s an opportunity to show the coaches and management that what you’ve got,” he said. “It’s getting more ice time with high-calibre players. I don’t think this is a waste of time whatsoever.

“You never know what can happen. I’ve lived through that already, been hurt and somebody else has had an opportunity to step in and that’s what I’m kind of hoping for.”

The Moose had approached Beauchemin earlier in the off-season but his arrangement in Idaho gives him more flexibility if an AHL team is in need in the 2008-09 season.

“The situation in Idaho was better,” he said. “I wasn’t just restricted to going to one (AHL) team. Now I’m glad this worked out. I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity.”

Moose GM Craig Heisinger asked what was in this tryout for the Moose, considering they have Cory Schneider and Karl Goehring lined up as their tandem, Todd Ford and Jonathan Boutin slotted in for their farm team in Victoria of the ECHL and Julien Ellis still on the injury list.

“As much as we might not need goaltending help, who knows that we don’t?” Heisinger said. “We haven’t seen Reggie in our environment and he hasn’t seen our environment so whether it pays dividends now or sometime down the road, it’s hard to say but there’s no harm in continuing to get to know players.”

Heisinger confirmed earlier interest in Beauchemin, despite his pro troubles so far.

“He’s a guy we had identified that we wanted in camp early on,” he said. “We were trying to recruit him to go to Victoria but he wound up signing in Idaho.

“We were going to get a goalie for our camp from Dallas but he was staying there. Reggie’s a local guy, we liked him and he didn’t have a camp to go to so we brought him in. It’s an opportunity to show another organization that he’s worth another look.”

The Moose GM also said he’s not a big fan of hasty determinations on young players.

“He’s 23,” Heisinger said. “We’ve had a lot of success with reclamation projects. I’m not saying he’s one because I think forwards develop sooner than anybody, defencemen a little later, and goalies later than that. Maturity and ability don’t always come together when you’re 20 or 23. Maybe for him it’s 25, who knows?

“But just because he’s come off an entry-level contract doesn’t mean his career’s over. He’s got to keep working to prove to people he’s worth a shot. Who knows? Tim Thomas didn’t break into the NHL until he was 31.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca