from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

The 70-game starter has gone the way of the 40-start pitcher in baseball: all but extinct. Three goaltenders have scaled that height over the past nine years, with Cam Talbot at 73 for the 2016-17 Oilers and Brayden Holtby at 73 for the 2014-15 Capitals, while Jonathan Quick started 71 for the 2014-15 Kings. (Charlie Hough was the last major leaguer to get 40 starts, for Texas in 1987.)

There were 28 times over the seven seasons from 2005-06 through 2011-12 in which a goaltender started at least 70 games, and 27 times over the nine seasons from 1995-96 through 2003-04.

“I like to think that goalies are paid to be durable,” said Brodeur, who is the executive vice president of hockey operations for the Devils. “But the game is just so fast, there are so many chances, and there’s a lot of bumping and crashing the net, so it is a more mentally challenging game.

“But I think that goalies who are athletic rather than robotic can handle a 70-game or a similarly large workload. Goalies who can adapt and play a little bit differently. The technique played now is so different now because of the lateral movement and number of slot-line passes and back-door plays. Shots that go in off the goalie’s ear are the new five-hole goals. It’s kind of OK to give up that goal because you have to be low and be able to get from side to side.”

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