TAMPA - Given super, is it wrong to also hope for superb?
Given happiness, is it wrong to wish for glee?
Given Nikolai Khabibulin, is it wrong to wonder about John Grahame?
He was back again Saturday night. The dutiful backup, the knavish substitute. The guy who cannot win a starting job even when he has better numbers than any goaltender in the NHL.
After watching Grahame, for the fourth time in five starts, hold an opponent to one goal or fewer, it makes you realize something:
The more you see him, the more you miss him when he is not there.
This is the Lightning's snarl of fortune. The type of goaltender every team needs backed up by the type of goaltender every team wants.
It is, at the moment, the best goaltending situation in the NHL. Okay, so New Jersey has a better goals-against-average, but that's with Martin Brodeur refusing to leave the ice for anything but a potty break.
In terms of a genuine combo, you couldn't draw it up any better. You have Khabibulin - the veteran, the All-Star, the detached perfectionist - for one game. You have Grahame - the apprentice, the up-and-comer, the hard case - for the next. Is it any wonder that Colorado, a team with interest in acquiring a goaltender, had seats for two scouts at Saturday's game?
"Nik is our No. 1," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "But that doesn't mean we consider John to be a backup."
More and more, neither does anyone else. In less than a year, Grahame has evolved from a solid backup to a starter waiting to be called.
He is the last present under the tree. The mystery full of possibilities. You know you have something wonderful with Khabibulin. But is it, you know, possible you have something special with Grahame too?
Now it is true, Hollywood is full of character actors who can not carry a film. Fields and rinks are no different. Every sport has players who look better the less they perform.
No one in the building believes that description fits Grahame. But can they say that with any certainty until he proves it?
He had a chance, once before, to be a team's top goalie. After three years in college, two in the minors, and three as a backup in Boston, Grahame was given his chance at the start of last season.
A couple dozen games later, he was done. A short time after that, he was traded to Tampa Bay for a mid-round draft pick.
"For whatever reason, things didn't work out for him in Boston. But eventually, he will get another chance to be a No. 1 goalie. If not here, then somewhere," said Lightning assistant coach Jeff Reese. "And when it happens, it'll be for a long time. He let it slip through his fingers once and I don't think that will happen to him again."
Tortorella says there is no formula for splitting time between goalies. The decisions, usually, are made game to game. It's a feel more than a plan.
Grahame went four games each between his first two starts. They have since alternated the past eight games.
System or hunch, it has worked splendidly. Khabibulin is playing better than last season and Grahame is playing better than ever. No backup has been as effective. For that matter, neither has any starter. With six appearances, Grahame's goals-against average is 1.06. No other goaltender is even close.
"John Grahame, every night, is trying to make a point," Tortorella said. "He's making a point to his teammates, to this coaching staff, to anyone watching. Every game he's proving who he is."
Grahame is described neither by his style, nor his technique. It is his attitude they talk about. It's not that he has an edge. It's that he is all edges. Aggressive, fearless and, maybe, just a little ticked-off on the ice.
He could also be described as the Lightning's future.
General manager Jay Feaster, as he should, scoffs whenever there is talk of Khabibulin moving on.
But, for the outlet mall of franchises, there is no escaping the economic realities of these goaltenders.
Khabibulin, who will be 31 in two months, has an option next season for $6.5-million. Grahame, who recently turned 28, is signed for $1-million and change.
Strictly from a goaltending point of view, is the Lightning better off without Khabibulin? That's not an argument you want to make.
But would the Lightning be better with Grahame in goal and using Khabibulin's $6.5-million to bring in one or more other players? That's a temptation that may be difficult to ignore.
It's not a choice the Lightning must make immediately, but it will grow in importance if the goalies continue to perform this way.
Given success, is it wrong to think about something better?
Given the best you ever had, is it a sin to hope for more?
