Carl Lindbom

Last Season

Eight appearances, 2-4-2, a 3.00 goals-against average and a .8730 save percentage, no shutouts. His first NHL games, at 22.

The Physical Game

Six foot one and 186 pounds, which is small for the modern position, and he plays an aggressive, athletic game because there is no other option at that size.

He challenges further out than most and is beaten across the crease when the play moves. The technique is sound and the frame is the limit.

The Mental Game

A seventh-round pick who came out of Sweden and forced his way onto an NHL roster inside four years, which for a two hundred and twenty-second overall selection is already a considerable achievement.

Eight appearances at 22 is a look, not a season.

The Intangibles

Eight games is not a sample and this page will not pretend otherwise.

What it does belong to is the club figure: three Vegas goaltenders played eight games or more and stopped .8705, .8910 and .8730. The club allowed the fifth-fewest expected goals in the league and conceded twenty-two more than the chances warranted.

He is 23, and the honest position is that Vegas has an excellent team and no goaltender, and that this is the cheapest of the three options rather than the answer to it.