Goaltending

[MAC331]

3 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

That is definitely my argument.

2 seasons ago, I asked him if he should have made the team at 22, he gave me that NHL answer, "I've got to improve my strength and conditioning and learn how to be better defensively".

Last year, wow. Any arguments? Totally cleaned up his D.

This summer?

Don't count the kid out. This is what hard work looks like.

It's what makes a team.

Hey I am a supporter of Kulak but as you know I hate labelling players with numbers. Get him playing with whoever is best for him as a partner. I think this is the season to give a few more of these young players some rope. Let's see how Kulak plays beside Hamonic.

[conundrumed]

4 minutes ago, MAC331 said:

Hey I am a supporter of Kulak but as you know I hate labelling players with numbers. Get him playing with whoever is best for him as a partner. I think this is the season to give a few more of these young players some rope. Let's see how Kulak plays beside Hamonic.

I agree. If Peters likes to lean on young dmen, Kulak should be the 1st.

Not young rookies in unfamiliar territory.

[MAC331]

21 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

I agree. If Peters likes to lean on young dmen, Kulak should be the 1st.

Not young rookies in unfamiliar territory.

I said this before there are some players that can come in and hold their own from Junior. If Valimaki is one of those players play him.

[travel_dude]

Some great discussion.  What were we talking about?

 

Oh, right goalies.

Does anyone think we will be in on one this summer, like every other year?

As good as our D looks on paper, and how they played for parts of some/most games, we still need to be concerned about nets.

Build from the net out.

We seem to try to do that and come up short on the G side.

The defense is fine, even without Brodie and Stone.  We can survive that part.

We can;t have another season of up and down goaltending.

Great Smith.  MVP.

Ok to bad Smith.

Injured Smith.

Terrible Smith.

 

It's like watching Elliott struggle here and in Philly.  Was STL the only place he could play?

Are we setting ourselves up for another letdown this year with Smith, if we do nothing else? 

 

[cccsberg]

35 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

Some great discussion.  What were we talking about?

 

Oh, right goalies.

Does anyone think we will be in on one this summer, like every other year?

As good as our D looks on paper, and how they played for parts of some/most games, we still need to be concerned about nets.

Build from the net out.

We seem to try to do that and come up short on the G side.

The defense is fine, even without Brodie and Stone.  We can survive that part.

We can;t have another season of up and down goaltending.

Great Smith.  MVP.

Ok to bad Smith.

Injured Smith.

Terrible Smith.

 

It's like watching Elliott struggle here and in Philly.  Was STL the only place he could play?

Are we setting ourselves up for another letdown this year with Smith, if we do nothing else? 

 

A month-long or longer injury to one of your key players is going to be difficult to handle, no matter who it is.  This is especially true with goalies.  The funny thing is that Rittich was actually playing great before the injury and only fell apart when given the ball and told to run.  Perhaps its the team, perhaps its the goalie, in his first big stint.  In any case with young goalies we're in the same situation and hopefully they can be better, and the team can be better too.  I think we need to keep the same and try again, or else we might as well write Rittich and Gillies off right now.  I'd give Gillies the back-up role and ensure he plays every third game, week in, week out.  That's the only way we're going to really know what they can do.....

[conundrumed]

What bout Jake Allan or Jack Campell as improvements at net?

[MAC331]

1 hour ago, cccsberg said:

A month-long or longer injury to one of your key players is going to be difficult to handle, no matter who it is.  This is especially true with goalies.  The funny thing is that Rittich was actually playing great before the injury and only fell apart when given the ball and told to run.  Perhaps its the team, perhaps its the goalie, in his first big stint.  In any case with young goalies we're in the same situation and hopefully they can be better, and the team can be better too.  I think we need to keep the same and try again, or else we might as well write Rittich and Gillies off right now.  I'd give Gillies the back-up role and ensure he plays every third game, week in, week out.  That's the only way we're going to really know what they can do.....

I agree with staying with who we have but it is never as simple as playing the back up every third game. You want to expand Rittich's ( prefer him) workload to a number of games however when and where should be left up to the coach.

[MAC331]

2 hours ago, travel_dude said:

Some great discussion.  What were we talking about?

 

Oh, right goalies.

Does anyone think we will be in on one this summer, like every other year?

As good as our D looks on paper, and how they played for parts of some/most games, we still need to be concerned about nets.

Build from the net out.

We seem to try to do that and come up short on the G side.

The defense is fine, even without Brodie and Stone.  We can survive that part.

We can;t have another season of up and down goaltending.

Great Smith.  MVP.

Ok to bad Smith.

Injured Smith.

Terrible Smith.

 

It's like watching Elliott struggle here and in Philly.  Was STL the only place he could play?

Are we setting ourselves up for another letdown this year with Smith, if we do nothing else? 

 

We don't know what our D looks like to start next season so whether we can survive or not is speculation. Whether we need any change is Goalies in order to have a sure thing is also speculation.Unless the plan is to go all out for the SC this season should be a season of discovery in what we have in some of our youth.

[robrob74]

2 hours ago, MAC331 said:

I agree with staying with who we have but it is never as simple as playing the back up every third game. You want to expand Rittich's ( prefer him) workload to a number of games however when and where should be left up to the coach.

 

Yeah, but then they end up going hot hand and tiring the goalie out, and the backup or other goalie gets cold and it is nearly impossible to win the net back.

[MAC331]

9 hours ago, robrob74 said:

 

Yeah, but then they end up going hot hand and tiring the goalie out, and the backup or other goalie gets cold and it is nearly impossible to win the net back.

This begins and ends with the quality of the Coach IMO and his ability to read when is regular needs a rest or should have one periodically. A smart coach will or should do his best to keep both fresh and ready so we ice the best team advantage. I think we see a different mandate with Peters and that Smith has 1 year remaining. It is time to find out what we have in Rittich and Gilles. If they fail then maybe BT looks for someone next offseason.

[cross16]

11 hours ago, conundrumed said:

What bout Jake Allan or Jack Campell as improvements at net?

 

I'd inquire about Allan. When he's on he's great but his inconsistencies are worrisome. That being said, he's a great age range for this team. Have to believe the Blues would want a lot though.

 

Not to me for Campbell I don't think that's an "upgrade". I'd rather work with Rittich/Gilles. 

[conundrumed]

15 minutes ago, cross16 said:

 

I'd inquire about Allan. When he's on he's great but his inconsistencies are worrisome. That being said, he's a great age range for this team. Have to believe the Blues would want a lot though.

 

Not to me for Campbell I don't think that's an "upgrade". I'd rather work with Rittich/Gilles. 

I was surprised LA brought Budaj back via trade, so that pushes Campbell back down.

Was thinking with Allan's bad year St. Loo will probably see if he's going to bounce back, but maybe they're having some doubts.

[MAC331]

27 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

I was surprised LA brought Budaj back via trade, so that pushes Campbell back down.

Was thinking with Allan's bad year St. Loo will probably see if he's going to bounce back, but maybe they're having some doubts.

It seems like all kinds of rumors circulate around Goaltenders, some reporters were saying Renne was done in NAS, seriously ??? I'm not concerned about our Goaltending for this season coming and would rather see BT focused on a few other areas to improve the team.

[travel_dude]

I've heard that the WASH media says the GM is expecting to have to trade Grubauer. 

Same old story, since the player is ready for a starting role on a team with a gifted starter.

I don't see that many teams looking for a starter, but probably at least 3.

Interesting to see what teams offer.

[conundrumed]

3 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

I've heard that the WASH media says the GM is expecting to have to trade Grubauer. 

Same old story, since the player is ready for a starting role on a team with a gifted starter.

I don't see that many teams looking for a starter, but probably at least 3.

Interesting to see what teams offer.

Guessing the Isles will throw one of their 1sts at him.

[cross16]

1 hour ago, conundrumed said:

Guessing the Isles will throw one of their 1sts at him.

 

Last I heard the Isles have already offered the Flames 1st and a prospect for Grubauer. 

 

with news out now that apparently Tavares is actually leaning towards returning to the Island my guess is he's being promised the Isles are close on a goalie. 

[JTech780]

7 minutes ago, cross16 said:

 

Last I heard the Isles have already offered the Flames 1st and a prospect for Grubauer. 

 

with news out now that apparently Tavares is actually leaning towards returning to the Island my guess is he's being promised the Isles are close on a goalie. 

 

I like Grubauer but that offer takes us out of the running. The Islanders need a goalie really bad, worse than we do. I wonder who their next coach is going to be, I wouldn't be surprised if it is Sutter or Vigneault.

 

I like the idea of bringing in Mrazek, to see if he can get his career back on track. I think if we did bring him in though, we would have to move Rittich, but I think Mrazek has more upside than Rittich so I would be in favor of that.

 

[cross16]

3 minutes ago, JTech780 said:

 

I like the idea of bringing in Mrazek, to see if he can get his career back on track. I think if we did bring him in though, we would have to move Rittich, but I think Mrazek has more upside than Rittich so I would be in favor of that.

 

 

As much as i've campaigned for keeping Gilles/Rittich, your last statement is exactly why I think it's worth considering Mrazek. 

[The_People1]

33 minutes ago, cross16 said:

 

Last I heard the Isles have already offered the Flames 1st and a prospect for Grubauer. 

 

with news out now that apparently Tavares is actually leaning towards returning to the Island my guess is he's being promised the Isles are close on a goalie. 

 

I'm pretty sure Tavares is staying in NYI after Snow and Weight got fired.  If Lou can score Grubauer, then that seals the deal.

 

I'd like to see if we can get Grubauer with Brodie.  

[conundrumed]

51 minutes ago, JTech780 said:

 

I like Grubauer but that offer takes us out of the running. The Islanders need a goalie really bad, worse than we do. I wonder who their next coach is going to be, I wouldn't be surprised if it is Sutter or Vigneault.

 

I like the idea of bringing in Mrazek, to see if he can get his career back on track. I think if we did bring him in though, we would have to move Rittich, but I think Mrazek has more upside than Rittich so I would be in favor of that.

 

I actually wonder if Detroit will circle back on Mrazek, I kind of doubt it. The rumours swirling at his departure regarded his poor work ethic.

He doesn't really have a choice now though, or he'll be out of the league pronto.

I know the goalie he used to be, so would give it a shot as he's likely going to be cheap.

[cross16]

Capitals cap I think would make it difficult to get Grubauer with Brodie. Assuming they can get Carlsson signed, probably pretty safe, they'll be pretty tight against the cap so unless the Flames could get Burakovsky in the deal, or the Caps dump Orpik (Flames should have no interest) I think they'll probably find more value in assets that don't impact their cap.

 

As most cup teams do, Caps have a pretty tough cap situations to navigate. If the Flames could get Grubauer and Burakovsky for Brodie i'd be interested but I suspect that would not be on the table. 

[phoenix66]

1 hour ago, cross16 said:

Capitals cap I think would make it difficult to get Grubauer with Brodie. Assuming they can get Carlsson signed, probably pretty safe, they'll be pretty tight against the cap so unless the Flames could get Burakovsky in the deal, or the Caps dump Orpik (Flames should have no interest) I think they'll probably find more value in assets that don't impact their cap.

 

As most cup teams do, Caps have a pretty tough cap situations to navigate. If the Flames could get Grubauer and Burakovsky for Brodie i'd be interested but I suspect that would not be on the table. 

Might have been you , not sure but somebody had a good point that , we might have the advantage of being in the west, just like how TO had the advantage with Andersson.   If we were to offer TJ and Rittich for those 2, might carry some weight .

The only way i see them trading Burakovsky tho is if they know they are out On Carlson....  but even then Rittich for Grubauer could make a lot of sense to them .. NHL ready backup , good cap hit most likely ..   and if Washington is confident Grubauer is ready to be a starter, they would want him far away from them 

[Cowtownguy]

1 hour ago, The_People1 said:

 

I'm pretty sure Tavares is staying in NYI after Snow and Weight got fired.  If Lou can score Grubauer, then that seals the deal.

 

I'd like to see if we can get Grubauer with Brodie.  

Garth Snow was fired!? Mitsubishi, I missed that! I held an enormous amount of respect for the guy, so I find his firing really disappointing. If someone that incompetent can make that much money, I might have a chance some day when I grow up. Okay, I am 50, but still...

[conundrumed]

15 minutes ago, Cowtownguy said:

Garth Snow was fired!? Mitsubishi, I missed that! I held an enormous amount of respect for the guy, so I find his firing really disappointing. If someone that incompetent can make that much money, I might have a chance some day when I grow up. Okay, I am 50, but still...

He's under contract through '22 so will remain with the org.

I'm with you, where can I get some of that action?

[Cowtownguy]

1 minute ago, conundrumed said:

He's under contract through '22 so will remain with the org.

I'm with you, where can I get some of that action?

I guess that I still have respect for him then because I assume he is now paid bank to do nothing for another 4 years.