Scouting Report: Brian Elliott

by Peter Drake (with contributions from Amanda Murray)

2008-09 Binghamton Senators AHL 30GP 18W 2.31GAA 0.926sv% 2SO
2008-09 Ottawa Senators NHL 17GP 7W 2.84GAA 0.905sv%

Following a terrific first half of the season with the Ottawa Senators' AHL affiliate in Binghamton, Brian Elliott was recalled to the NHL in mid-January in attempt to kick-start a struggling hockey team. While Senators General Manager Bryan Murray alluded to plans for such a mid-season call-up on multiple occasions since the off-season, it was the young netminder's strong AHL play which made such a call up inevitable. Elliott won December Player of the Month honours, placed among the AHL's best goaltenders in every statistical category, and even earned a starting slot on the AHL All-Star team. Seventeen games into Brian Elliott's first extended stretch at the NHL level, it seems a reasonable time to evaluate his play up to this point, which has so far been a mixed blessing.

As with many good prospects, he excelled at the start and was the team's best player on some nights. He quickly gained the confidence and respect of his teammates. This was especially noticeable during new coach Cory Clouston's transition to an aggressive game, as there were more than a few instances where mistakes by forwards and defensemen lead to scoring chances that Elliott handled calmly and proficiently. While the Senators recent stretch of comparatively competent play has been most often attributed to Clouston's influence, the boost is similarly attributable to the arrival of Elliott.

Through this stretch his mental game and technical skills seemed up to the challenge. He has proven himself to be a mature, confident player who welcomes a challenge. He shows intense motivation and demands perfection of his own performance, and even after poor outings he relishes the opportunity to get back in the net. Primarily, he knows his weaknesses and works tirelessly to improve upon them. Prominent areas for improvement are rebound control, consistency, and anticipation, but the latter comes with learning the shooters at the NHL level. Given Elliott's reputation for focus and preparation, both of those issues should see improvement over time.

More recently, Elliott has given up a significant number of goals early in games, to the point where he has been replaced by the coach three times, in outings against Washington, Minnesota and Montreal. Although each goal in isolation has appeared to be justifiable, and mostly due to poor team play in front of him, the coach has challenged Elliott to keep his team in the game as they weather some rough early patches. The technical faults, if any, have been minor. A slight hesitancy here or there, failure to challenge a shooter as much as he could, losing a shooter in traffic, perhaps a failure to anticipate a shot.

If there has been a moderate drop in performance it is hard to assign it to any one cause. Could it be fatigue near the end of a long season with lots of difficult AHL travel, topped off by a Senators road trip that was brutal by NHL standards? Could it be a loss of mental focus now that the initial rush of games is past? Or is it primarily attributable to poor team play in front of him?

If Elliott had to be graded on his NHL performance so far this season, he would earn a solid B. He demonstrated poise and talent, and a few rough edges. How Elliott addresses those areas for improvement will be critical to his next year or two with the Senators. At this point Elliott has demonstrated enough to pencil him in as an NHL backup, with NHL starter upside. Just exactly how high that upside goes is unknown, but the Senators would probably count themselves lucky if they could get proficient, reliable goaltending of a 10th-15th ranked goalie, considering Elliott was drafted 291st out of 292 in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Most people agree that Elliott is the most promising goaltending prospect ever drafted by the Ottawa Senators, but on a list that includes Ray Emery and not much else, this isn't much of a flattering consideration. Still, he has excelled at the NCAA and AHL level despite odds against him, and while his starts in both leagues were slow, he graduated both ranks as a star at each level. His NHL development has been on track with educated expectations.

Looking ahead, the Senators have a few decisions to make. Do they keep Elliott up with the NHL club and see how he works through the challenge immediately in front of him, or do they send him back to Binghamton in hopes of a long and successful AHL playoff run?

The Senators also need to sign Elliott to a new contract over the summer. He will be a Restricted Free Agent, without arbitration rights, which means he could be the target of an offer sheet from another team. That gives the Senators an incentive to sign him relatively quickly. Elliott might reasonably expect to sign a one or two year deal in the range of $900,000 to $1.3 million. Based on the scarcity of significant or desirable goalie upgrades this summer, the Senators may decide to start next season with a tandem of Alex Auld and Elliott, a situation that provides an interesting mix of challenge and opportunity for both goaltenders.

The key point is that Elliott's future is entirely in his hands. The Senators would love nothing more than to see him step up and take the reigns of an organization in dire need of a consistent force between the pipes, and will give him every opportunity to succeed. If Elliott shows the determination and commitment to betterment espoused by his play at other levels, he will be a valuable asset to the Ottawa Senators franchise.