Michael Hutchison sets Winnipeg Jets / Atlanta Thrashers record for rookie goaltender

Though he lost the starting job to Ondrej Pavelec in recent weeks, Winnipeg Jets rookie netminder Michael Hutchinson has put together a strong rookie season. In fact it was a record setting rookie season.

Hutchinson finished the year with a 21-10-5 record, which was good enough to set a new record for rookie goaltenders in the history of the Jets version 2.0/Atlanta Thrashers franchise.

Let’s break it down after the jump.

It’s been a season of up and downs for the rookie netminder Michael Hutchinson.

After a shaky pre-season, the Winnipeg Jets traded for Peter Budaj as extra insurance.

Hutchinson turned things around early. He continued to improve though throughout the season, showing that the insurance was not necessarily needed. Hutchinson lead the league in save percentage for portions of the season. He moved from back up, to splitting starts, to undisputed start.

Then started the inevitable crash. When dealing with arguably the top 60 goaltenders in the entire world, it’s important to remember that the margins in talent is very small. All goalies have ups and downs and it’s unrealistic to expect anyone to just have one over the other.

Still, Hutchinson has had a great rookie season.

His 0.915 save percentage is only 0.001 percentage points below this season’s league average (which by the way is the highest league average in NHL history). He finished the season with a winning record.

With Michael Hutchinson’s strong rookie season and both Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie in the wings, the future looks bright for the Winnipeg Jets in goal.