Why Scott Darling has struggled so much trying to be Hurricanes' No. 1 goalie

Scott Darling believes his second year with the Carolina Hurricanes will be a lot smoother, calmer and better than the first.

“In my brain, it can’t go any worse,” the goalie said.

There are several reasons why the Hurricanes likely will fail to reach the Stanley Cup playoffs for a ninth straight season: scoring problems, too many defensive-zone breakdowns, overtime woes. But spotty goaltending is near the top of the list.

Darling, 29, was brought in to supplant Cam Ward and be the Canes’ No. 1 goalie, given a four-year, $16.6 million contract.

“If Darling has just an average season, and I think he’s going to have one better than that, we will be a playoff team,” Peter Karmanos Jr., then the team’s majority owner, said in preseason.

But Darling’s season has been a string of games filled with too many soft goals, a few startling misplays and a bunch of losses. His goaltending numbers are among the worst in the NHL: an 11-17-7 record, 3.08 goals-against average and .888 save percentage.

“Obviously not how you wanted it to go,” Darling said in an interview. “In your head, you know, coming in, it’s going to be a lot of wins and a Stanley Cup your first year. But this is life.”

Ron Francis traded for Darling, bringing in the Chicago Blackhawks’ former backup goalie. Francis, who recently lost his job as the Canes’ general manager, said Darling was ready to be a No. 1 goalie for the first time in his career, that he could be the missing piece needed to get Carolina back in the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

“But I think I didn’t start well and it maybe kind of got in my head a little bit,” Darling said. “You’re here, you’re new, you want to want to play so well, want to have an impact right away.

“I started forcing it a little bit and it’s kind of like quicksand, the harder you battle the quicker you sink.”

A big goalie at 6-foot-6 and 232 pounds, Darling can cover a lot of net but has given up a lot of rebounds. While Ward has an economy of motion and appears calm in net, Darling is more of a scrambler, bouncing around the cage.

After Darling’s early struggles, Ward, the old pro, jumped back in net and gave the Canes a run of quality starts and wins. Without Ward, the Canes would not have stayed in playoff contention as long as they did.

Neither goalie is happy about their last start: Darling allowed four goals on 21 shots Monday in a 6-3 road loss to the New York Rangers and Ward was the loser Tuesday as the Boston Bruins scored five times in the third period for a 6-4 comeback win.

No one is blaming Darling’s poor season for Francis being reassigned to a new job by Tom Dundon, the team’s new owner. Dundon hasn’t. But the Canes soon will have a new general manager and he will inherit Darling’s contract.

“As a player it doesn’t change anything for us, day to day,” Darling said of the front-office move. “As a person, Ron was great to me. Through this whole process, through the dips, through the good and bad, he’s been really supportive of me and keeping me positive and moving in the right direction. I can’t thank him enough for that.”

Darling was one of three former Blackhawks obtained by Francis in offseason trades, joining defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk and center Marcus Kruger. For van Riemsdyk, the transition has been seamless and his stress level lower than Darling’s.

“When you’re the goalie there’s a lot of eyes on you,” van Riemsdyk said.

Darling has worked with goalie coach Mike Bales on his technique while also dropping some weight. He’s trying to be the goalie the Canes, and their fans, wanted him to be.

"When you move organizations and you move cities it takes time to get a comfort level,” Canes coach Bill Peters said. "It would have been nice for it to fall into place earlier but that wasn’t the case. Sometimes there’s a little trial and error. We’re going through that a little bit but I think over the course of his contract he’s going to establish himself as a real good NHL goalie.”

Darling believes that will happen with the Canes. He moved out of an apartment and bought a house in Raleigh, as he put it, “Setting down some roots.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2018 at 1:59 PM with the headline "Why Scott Darling has struggled so much trying to be Hurricanes' No. 1 goalie."