Do the Coyotes Have two Starting Goalies?

Through the first few games of the season, the Arizona Coyotes have been utilizing both Karel Vejmelka and Connor Ingram at the goaltending position.

Do the Arizona Coyotes have two starting goaltenders?

Through the past couple of seasons, Karel Vejmelka has taken most of the workload at the goaltending position but to start the 2023-24 campaign, Coach André Tourigny has taken a different approach.

The Coyotes are entering their fourth game of the season where Connor Ingram is expected to get the start in goal. So far, Vejmelka has played two games and now Ingram will start for the second time.

Vejmelka has not been bad by any means. He has put up back to back 33 save performances while holding a .943 SV%.

Tourigny’s decision to split time between Vejmelka and Ingram is not a knock on any of these goalies, it’s just that he believes that both are capable of starting and helping the Coyotes win hockey games.

This is described as a “1A, 1B goaltender tandem”. This is a strategy that has become more and more common throughout the NHL.

It’s extremely taxing for a goaltender to play 50 plus games in a season so having two goalies that can produce at a high level has become critical.

Tourigny and the Coyotes seem to have gotten that memo loud and clear and as a result are giving Ingram a much larger role to start this season.

Time will only tell whether Arizona continues to use the two goaltender strategy but for now, it seems to be working just fine.