Goalie Troubles for Kings!

The Los Angeles Kings have major issues in net again this year, culminating today with the waiving of Dan Cloutier and his $6.2 million dollar contract.

The Kings hope that some desperate team will take Cloutier's contract off their hands, but that seems unlikely. If he passes through waivers they intend to send him to their AHL affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs.

This leaves the Kings with two career backups in Jason LaBarbera and J.S Aubin, to challenge their stud prospect, Jonathan Bernier, for the starting role.

Labarbera and Aubin have yet to prove that they possess the necessary qualities to be a starter in the NHL, but they do provide a solid backup option. This leaves only one option for the starting role and that is Canada's Summit Series goalie Jonathan Bernier.

By all accounts, Bernier has had an outstanding camp Obviously, that was enough for the Kings to waiver Cloutier. However, Bernier would be jumping straight from Juniors to the NHL, which is a tough task for the best of goalies.

I'm an advocate for bringing young goalies along slowly, especially when the team in front of them isn't capable of protecting them. I believe goalies should learn the pro game in the AHL and only when they are ready bring them up to the NHL.

There will always be a few goalies that make the instant jump, but they are few and far between and there are many more goalies that have had their careers stunted by being asked to do too much too soon.

The Kings may be in the market for a starting goalie, but they are in short supply. The kings could make a move for the much maligned Andrew Raycroft or the impressive Ilya Bryzgalov. However, they will come with a steep price tag attached to them. A short term option may be to take a chance on a veteran like Curtis Joseph.

If the Kings are going to solve their goalie crisis, they will have to hope that Bernier doesn't crumble under the pressure, or they have to go out and get a legitimate starting goalie. If this fails to happen, their season will be over before it has even started.