What To Expect From Jonathan Bernier

The future of Detroit’s goaltending may still be a question mark, but for now the present has been set. After parting ways with both goalies who backed up Jimmy Howard in 2017-18, the team had to dip into the free agency market to fill that gap. They did and they locked up veteran goaltender Jonathan Bernier to a three year, $9-million contract.

For the most part, the deal was favourably received. The Wings needed this signing for two reasons. One was to adequately back-up Jimmy Howard in 2018-19. The other was to take the reins from him after the upcoming season, should Howard and the Wings part ways when his current deal is up. Finally, Bernier’s low cap hit of $3-million is right where a team who’s so tight against the cap ceiling needs their back-up goalie to be.

So what can we expect from Bernier this year and into the future? In a word, consistency.

Bernier’s career save percentage is a cool .915 and it’s not due to extreme highs and lows every season. For three of the last four seasons, Bernier’s save percentages have been within only a few points of this.

Outside of the 2015-16 season where the Leafs finished 30th overall, Bernier has been the definition of consistent, adding a 2.67 career goals against average and 16 shutouts to his career stats.

Breaking it down even further, Bernier has been great at 5-on-5. Last season, he had the 8th best 5-on-5 save percentage in the league (>1500 mins), per Corsicahockey.com, and it was only slightly better than his 5-on-5 career average.

It can be argued that the Avalanche over-performed last season, but it’s not like their goalies had an elite defense corps standing in front of them. Their goaltending was a key part of why they were successful last season and Bernier played a huge role in that.

As we know, Detroit has not been the best team at 5-on-5,  allowing 2.49 goals against-per-60 in 2017-18. They lost a lot of games in the third period by a single goal. Bernier should be able to help with that in games that he plays.

One area where Bernier seems to crumble is in the playoffs. He’s played nine playoff games in his career and only has a .885 save percentage to show for it. In fact, that save percentage is a little inflated by a game that he came into and played 30 minutes in relief of Jonathan Quick in 2012-13. Remove that “shutout” from his playoff stats and he’s left with a .878 playoff save percentage. That is not very important for Detroit right now, whose playoff goals are still a pipe dream for the near future.

So chances are that the only games Red Wings goalies are going to start in this year are regular season ones.

Bernier was not brought into Detroit to be a starter. He’ll back up Howard, who is no stranger to the injured reserve or fatigue. Bernier will play this year, it’s just a matter of how much. With the team looking towards a more traditional starter/back-up format, expect to see Bernier start in about 32 games.

After this upcoming season, we may see more of Bernier, but neither the Wings or Howard have closed the door on an extension for their soon-to-be 35-year-old veteran starter. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Howie extended for another 2-3 seasons, with him and Bernier splitting time more and more as time goes on.

After that, Detroit will reconsider their options as the next crop of goalies should be nearing readiness. Until then, Bernier was a nice pick-up who can consistently steal 20 wins for the team, provided they give him the offensive support.