2014-15 Goalie Madness: Someone HELP US

[LT]

Campbell?

Sarcasm, my friend.

 

[Frozen Failure]

Campbell?

I think that was the joke he was trying to make.

 

[Rune Forumwalker]

Sadly this was one of the few times it wasn't much of a joke as that roughly described Campbell.

 

[BigG44]

Sadly this was one of the few times it wasn't much of a joke as that roughly described Campbell.

That was the point .... I was purposely describing him because he was bemoaning Dallas' goalie situation which, even if you don't like Lindback and I understand some don't, Dallas really hasn't been this deep in a while. Only one is a proven commodity, but all 3 have nice upside.

Jack Campbell is a 22 year goalie. They're not common in the NHL. He's exactly where he should be.

 

[Rune Forumwalker]

Oh, well that blurb didn't seem like sarcasm due to the tone of the rest of the post.

I am OK with Lindback and Ryynas, and the theory behind having both. However it didn't really seem to work out the best the two years with Nilstorp.

 

[BigG44]

Oh, well that blurb didn't seem like sarcasm due to the tone of the rest of the post.

I am OK with Lindback and Ryynas, and the theory behind having both. However it didn't really seem to work out the best the two years with Nilstorp.

The entire post was intended to be sarcastic. I was joshing him.

They won a Calder Cup with Nilstorp after Campbell was injured all year and again in the playoffs. Seems like a pretty good end result. He didn't work out in the NHL which isn't shocking considering he was a fairly old "prospect". Impossible to say that he wasn't a huge help to the organization though. He wasn't great at times in the playoffs, but he was very good in the regular season and was a key cog in their season last year.

 

[Troy McClure]

Is this how Lindback normally looks? He looked like an I-league goalie out there.

 

[BoltSTH]

Is this how Lindback normally looks? He looked like an I-league goalie out there.

Bolts fan coming in peace. I feel you pain towards Lindback, the way he played after Bishop went done last year, I-league is being generous. He would be 6th on the Bolts depth chart, fighting for an ECHL job.

Watch and see how fast he goes down, leaving the top of the net open. And 1 softie a game.

 

[Klockis]

Bolts fan coming in peace. I feel you pain towards Lindback, the way he played after Bishop went done last year, I-league is being generous. He would be 6th on the Bolts depth chart, fighting for an ECHL job.

Watch and see how fast he goes down, leaving the top of the net open. And 1 softie a game.

And being 6'6 and still looking small in the net.

I may be a little too harsh on him

 

[Starry Knight]

You can ride a positional butterfly style in lesser leagues, but once you hit the NHL, shooters will pick you apart. He doesn't seem to read plays; he just uses his size to block the puck. Carey Price used to do this and struggled early on in the NHL. Once he got a goalie coach to help him adjust to a more athletic style he started thriving.

I don't know if he is athletic enough to change. I hoped Rynnas would have played better in the preseason because I feel he has more upside.

 

[BigG44]

Not a surprise, but I was holding out hope. Kiviaho isn't going to be penciled in as the starter for Idaho. They just signed former Oiler draft pick Olivier Roy to be the starter.



Kiviaho will likely have to compete with Lagace to be the back up. Looking at Allen's roster, they have no established goalie. One of them could end up in Allen I guess.

I can't wait until Allen is in the ECHL. That really seems like it will happen by next summer. Will be great to have Allen in a better league and all of Dallas' prospects playing in the state of Texas.

 

[Frozen Failure]

Oh man, that would be great if they got out of that ****** CHL and into the ECHL to play against actual competition...

 

[ElGuapo]

I've seen talk on Twitter of the two leagues merging. I'm guessing that really means teams that are ECHL-worthy join it and the rest go bye bye.

 

[BigG44]

I've seen talk on Twitter of the two leagues merging. I'm guessing that really means teams that are ECHL-worthy join it and the rest go bye bye.

The minor league landscape could be totally re-done by this summer. There are some suggesting ECHL teams on the West Coast will become AHL teams, and some of the many AHL teams in the East could be forced out.

Dallas 5 years ago made a big push to get their own AHL affiliate in the same state. Now many Western teams are trying to do the same thing and create a real Western conference in the AHL. Teams like San Jose and LA have their AHL affiliates in the Boston area (I believe that's where Worcester and Manchester are). Winnipeg's team was in St. John's ... the most ridiculous affiliate.

There have been some very interesting articles looking at which teams in the ECHL on the west coast could support the AHL and which AHL teams in the east aren't up to par.

One example I remember is that Manchester (LA) has a great arena and support. They are a great AHL city. LA would move Manchester (since they own the team) to say Ontario, California, where they have a very good stadium that could support the AHL. Albany is a city that has not done a good job of supporting the AHL so that team could replace Manchester in Manchester, and Albany becomes an ECHL team.

It may take more than one year to sort everything out, but as far as the Stars are concerned, Allen should be in the ECHL by next year unless something goes wrong. They are in court right now so you never know.

 

[OttMorrow]

Lindback might be the worst backup goalie I've seen. Not enough sample size to tell if he takes the cake, but so far he has been very, very bad....bad. I'm about tired of this tall goalie fad as well, what ever happened to the Haseks and Belfours of the world who actually had some athletic ability. There are some good goalies out there with size like Bishop, but enough already.

 

[DFC]

Lindback might be the worst backup goalie I've seen. Not enough sample size to tell if he takes the cake, but so far he has been very, very bad....bad. I'm about tired of this tall goalie fad as well, what ever happened to the Haseks and Belfours of the world who actually had some athletic ability. There are some good goalies out there with size like Bishop, but enough already.

Another Lightning fan coming in peace.

I wouldn't get your hopes up about Lindback, with regard to the sample size. What you're seeing in this pre-season is what we saw for two years. He'll show you flashes of potential, he'll make ridiculously impossible saves... but he won't stop enough B-grade scoring chances to keep you in games.

What wound up happening was the Lightning lost confidence in him and played like idiots in front of him whenever he played in the latter half of last season (after they got used to Bishop stopping and smothering everything that came near him). If that starts happening to the Stars, you're better off with whatever other goalie you can muster up. If you have a decent AHL goalie, it's probably best to go with him. Lindback's inconsistency will eat through your team's psyche if you give him enough time.

Things to watch for: He can't hold onto rebounds to save his life. This leads to wild scrambles in front of him, which, aside from nearly giving you a heart attack, tires out his defenders. Making matters worse, when he finally does get control of the puck, even after intense pressure, he tends to put it back in play, leaving defenders who are often so tired they're mistake prone to clear the zone. Which of course leads to more pressure, more fatigue, and more mistakes. It's a vicious cycle.

We Lightning fans were really surprised Lindback managed to land a contract. But don't feel bad--at least you didn't give up quality draft picks to acquire him.

Now just imagine what it feels like to be starting that guy in round 1 of the playoffs.

Anyway, as a fan of Jim Nill, it's been great to watch what the Stars have been doing. Hopefully you don't wind up relying on Lindback, because it could ruin a lot of very good work. Good luck in the season.

 

[Satan]

Winnipeg's team was in St. John's ... the most ridiculous affiliate.

Is*

Ridiculous in the sense that it's ridiculously successful.

 

[MetalGodAOD*]

It'll never happen but I'd love to see us claim Zackoff from Pittsburg.

 

[Klockis]

It'll never happen but I'd love to see us claim Zackoff from Pittsburg.

Sometimes I wonder if it was better if we didn't sign Lindback and just went for Rynnas/waived goalie (or a buy-low goalie).

 

[OttMorrow]

Per DBD:

In the preseason, "Lehtonen has a 4.82 goals-against average and an alarmingly low .802 save percentage"

Yikes.

 

[dechire]

Per DBD:

In the preseason, "Lehtonen has a 4.82 goals-against average and an alarmingly low .802 save percentage"

Yikes.

To put that in perspective Lindback was pretty terrible in the preseason but managed to have a .890

 

[BigG44]

Is*

Ridiculous in the sense that it's ridiculously successful.

If you simply read what I was saying it had absolutely nothing to do with the quality of team in St. John's.

The discussion is 100% about travel and how difficult it is for a team to bring up a player from their AHL affiliate. If you're going to argue that isn't exactly the case, you're homerism for St. John's is much stronger than anticipated.

They'd be a much better option for a team on the East coast, but even there the travel isn't ideal. There's a major discussion going on for this exact reason that will potentially significantly change the AHL landscape as early as next season. The first domino fell when the ECHL and CHL merged.

More importantly though ... the only thing that matters is Winnipeg clearly agreed when they made the move to Thunder Bay ... next season. I was mistaken that it happened this season.

 

[OttMorrow]

To put that in perspective Lindback was pretty terrible in the preseason but managed to have a .890

Wow. Pretty staggerring when you look at the numbers. Kari will need to do a complete about-face in just a few days. Definitely worrisome being that Lindback is such a scary alternative. I would prefer they just call up Campbell if Kari is still off his game.

 

[Rune Forumwalker]

Richard Bachman was "expected" to be better than he is now.

When Bachman was backing up Kari, did we ever consider him a legitimate starting goalie?

I'm not sure anyone, or maybe just the majority, really expected a whole lot more out of Bachman. I remember Cin raving about him in the AHL, but other than that I'm not sure.

 

[glovesave_35]

I'm not sure anyone, or maybe just the majority, really expected a whole lot more out of Bachman. I remember Cin raving about him in the AHL, but other than that I'm not sure.

I had to go to bed and missed responding in the other thread, but the whole conversation centered around evaluating a goalie coach based on the results of his backups. I listed about eight goaltenders without high pedigree (there are quite a few more) who have become starters. Bluesoma's answer was basically that those guys were expected to become starters. I think that's basically completely inaccurate. I mean yes, at SOME point they were expected to become starters, but only because they actually started showing something.

If the logic I'm arguing against is essentially that the backups-turned-starters around the league were all destined to become starting goalies, well I don't really know how to argue against circular logic.

And yes, I think a lot of people around here expected Bachman to be at the very least a very solid backup NHL goalie (which he currently is not) based on his first few seasons in Texas.