It was a very rough road for netminder Scott Darling in his inaugural season with the Carolina Hurricanes. Darling ended up losing the starting role for the Canes between the pipes early on in the regular season, in place of Cam Ward. For most of the season, Ward was clearly the better goalie.
In fact, among all NHL goalies who started at least 20 games in 2017-18, none finished with a lower save percentage than Darling. It’s hard to imagine Darling’s first season in Raleigh going any worse than it did. And, to make matters worse, he is locked up to a somewhat long-term deal for three more seasons worth a good chunk of change, originally more than $25 million.