29Apr/102
Is goaltending the answer in the playoffs?
With all the hype these days on the Goalies, do you really think the answer lies in the hands of the men who Guard the 4x6 pipes?
Never before has there been such an abundance of pure athletic skill in the position of the goaltender.
We're seeing a huge new influx of quality netminders over the past couple seasons; Juroslav Halak, Jimmy Howard, Antti Niemi, Jonathan Quick, Tuuka Rask, Pekke Rinne, and many more. Even some of the ones that have been around for a while are gaining new skills and flourishing on sub-par teams; ie: Craig Anderson.
With that being said, has the NHL playoffs become a goaltenders duel? I believe so.
What are your thoughts?
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June 4th, 2010
My thoughts … I love espousing what I would do as the GM of the Vancouver Canucks for a year…
I would look at the proven franchises in the history of the NHL and adopt some of the current successful trends… You can’t go by the 30′s through the 80′s models. You can’t go with the “dead puck era” model of the 90′s …That leaves the new 2000 – present model of success.
Goal tending is important of course. But that is not what any team building equation is about these days. It IS about the manipulation of a team’s cap spending. The current – and successful model for all positions (not just goal tending) is to get as much young talent into the line up before their salaries eclipse the 2 or 3 million dollar range.
Look back to what Montreal Expos did for over two decades in baseball. They were essentially treading water financially – so they had to cycle through the talent (they had tons of future all stars) as soon as the contracts became too unwieldy. This is in part what “money ball” is – and Mike Gillis purported to be pursuing utilizing ‘undervalued talent’ to allow an easier time of achieving bottom line numbers with higher priced talent like the Sedins and Kesler mixed in.
Personally – I have never been a big Loungo supporter. He has big games and he has bad games. What the team needs worse than the”top flight goal tender” is a top flight defense core … something sorely lacking the past … oh 35 years.
Goaltenders are IMHO a reflection of the top 4 defencemen who play in front of them. When Patrick Roy fled Montreal he did so because the D-men in front of him were no longer the stuff hall of famers are selected from. He went to a Colorado team which boasted 4 top notch defenders and subsequently won the cup again. Martin Brodeur has rarely played behind a shoddy defense – and many years of a defense coaching style has not hurt his GAA either.
The best thing our local Cannots could do would be to bite the bullet and seek an amicable parting with their soon to be EX captain and exchange his $5.30 Million per year for the declining years of the future 12 for a couple of first round drafts and perhaps a prospect. Do you think Montreal would be foolish enough to trade Halak? In any case allowing the team to spend it’s money on a top 4 core of defense men and securing a power forward to compete with the likes of Dustin Bufygelin or Ben Eager or Dustin Brown…
Alas – I am not the decision maker and until the Canucks decide to trade Loungo or Louie has a stellar season again like when he first arrived here the Canucks are further proof that goal tending is NOT the key factor.
August 1st, 2010
team building is necessary for making an effective employee relationship as well as in sports too.*.