Jonas Hiller remains out of Anaheim's lineup as well does Ryan Getzlaf. Getzlaf, who is out with a troublesome ankle could be out for the remainder of the season, though Getzlaf is hoping to play before the end the regular season ends also out of the line up is Joffrey Lupul but he's been out for half of the season which was originally a raptured disk, but he contracted a blood infection and will most likely play the 2010-2011 season.
Hiller has suffered from back spasms and has been out for at five games and has handed Curtis McElhinney the reigns while he's out on injury. McElhinney has taken an advantage of this opportunity he is currently 5-0-1, each game he is more confident in net and he has great footwork and hands. The injury to Hiller has helped McElhinney show his true potential but he still has a little ways to go if he wants to be a No 1 goalie like Hiller did. McElhinney will need to take what he's given and make the best of it. This enables a goalie to improve his game and learn from his mistakes. The best thing right now for McElhinney is he's receiving consistent starts that has let him get into a rhythm which is something that is needed by a goaltender because playing a goalie one game, then taking him out in favor of his teammate takes him out of the rhythm or more likely, it does not allow him to fall into a consistent rhythm. For Anaheim fans the best example would of been when the Ducks' coach Randy Carlyle installed his "You win. You're in" earlier in the season between J.S. Giguere and Jonas Hiller before Hiller signed his 4-year contract extension worth $18 million and Giguere was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Vesa Toskala, who did not play a game in a Ducks uniform despite him making all his gear more fitting for Anaheim. Toskala was traded to the Calgary Flames and was re-united with his old teammate from the San Jose Sharks, who drafted himself (Toskala) and Mikka Kippursoff. When Hiller signed his extension the first person to know about the contract was Giguere; Hiller said he had told Jiggy first even before the contract was official and before the rest of the team had any idea, he said "we're just honest with each other that way" The 'you win, you're in' did not work and it took awhile for Carlyle to figure that out.
Hiller has been overplayed for most of the season but especially after the Olympics, where he played every game for Switzerland, the back spasms were mostly caused by the overplaying of the goaltender .Giving a goalie consistent starts does help a goaltender but giving him an overabundance of starts and minutes, may hurt him in the long run. Yes, there are goalies who can deal with a huge workload of games, but they're also have a lot of experience such as the Flames' Mikka Kippursoff and the Sharks' Evgeni Nabokov. Goalies who are used to playing a large amount of the games in the regular NHL season and sometimes the playoffs. Hiller is a goalie who has improved in back to back games, but he still struggles mightily a lot of times, when he is giving back to back games especially games, which require long travel periods outside the state of California. If Hiller played less back to back games and a little less in general he may of been saved from missing so many games due to back spasms. As a goalie, this is a normal injury which one cause is a lot of stress (work) on the back, twisting of the back, etc. In part because Carlyle refused to let the leash loose a little on Hiller; Carlyle may be part of why Hiller is experiencing long and deliberating back spasms/tighting of the back. Joey MacDonald so far still remains as the back-up goaltender to McElhinney. Although, despite both players wanting to come back it may be best to "shelf" them for the rest of the season, giving them the rest and letting them start and a brand new clean slate next season this would give them the rest they need, and would prevent them from playing through pain which is not needed especially so late into the season. In Getzlaf's case, it would give him a chance for the ankle to heal completely which would help him in the long run. In Hiller's case, back pain even just a little is something which cannot be taken lightly. Give Hiller more time to heal along with Getzlaf and this will help them with their careers in the long run.
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