Recalled/Assigned: Calvin Pickard
- Thread starter Warden of the North
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SprDaVE
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That should have been Sparks. He's been dominant there and deserved the call up.
thewave
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SprDaVE
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CantLoseWithMatthews
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too bad. McBackup has been reliable for us. Sparks and Pickard are probably both better goaltenders so it's nice to see one of them get the nod here. I think Pickard got the advantage since it's against his old team
thewave
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Paris in Flames
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SprDaVE
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Really? The sample size for Sparks' NHL career are close to impossible to quantify while playing for the worst team in the NHL at time from top to bottom. Sparks has been better than Pickard at the AHL level where the sample size, some of it being on the same team, is much greater.
I like Pickard and actually was hoping to acquire him in the off-season before re-signing McBackup and Sparks.... but Sparks has been dominant in the AHL for a while.
BlueBaron
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Could be a couple reasons it's not.
Less disruptive to the Marlies
Less disruption of his development if the call up does not play
Packard has a better NHL record
SprDaVE
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I don't understand what's disruptive to call up Sparks over Pickard? Development isn't much at play for either one as they are only up for a week or two.
If only Sparks had the track record of 86 NHL games over 13 NHL games.
Sparks has been much better than Pickard with the Marlies and in the AHL. He earned a call up over Pickard. I'd be hoping we would be calling up players based on merit not just past achievements or something.
majority of Pickards NHL stats were on a historically bad avalanche team, also the worst team in the league. Also that leafs team was pretty good defensively it was offense that ensured we were 30th overall
edit: the avalance won 22 games that season, Pickard won 15 of them
bobermay
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This is all a matter of opportunity.
Pickard started on a more succesful team and was eased in in the backup role. Sparks debuted on on a last-place team that clearly tanked at the end of the season. Even then, he showed glimpses of solid play. Okay, Pickard was on a last place team last year... sure... but he was a year older at that time with NHL experience under his belt.
At this point, I don't know how you can definitely say that Pickard has been the better goaltender... Personally, I like Sparks better.
LeafChief
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SprDaVE
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Both goaltenders were behind some bad teams, difference is that Pickard played 50 games while Sparks had 13 when the team was completely gutted. Like I said, Pickard had some interesting upside but right now, Sparks has been much better than him and anyone else in the AHL for that matter.
Not that big of a deal but Sparks deserved it a lot more to me, especially for how tough he's been treated since his last NHL stint.
LeafChief
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oh poor sparks, how dare they. He really wasn't good enough at all, I get the team was bad but he didn't show much at all to say if this team was better he is a goalie we can trust. I don't get it, its not like Pickard is miles better though so in the end it doesn't really matter and looks like the leafs picked the guy with the better NHL resume
SprDaVE
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The team gave up the most shots in NHL history that season and the team was completely gutted. It's amazing he didn't up with a GAA of 4 and a save percentage below .890%.
It's amazing to me how people can completely give up on a player after 17 games when he's been one of the best AHL goaltenders since he's been there.
LeafChief
Matthew Knies Enthusiast
Sparks will have a solid AHL-career.
Pickard looks like he could possibly have some sort of NHL career.
Not a difficult decision in my eyes.
LeafChief
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SprDaVE
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Considering he hasn't had a single call up since, I would say it's been quite a bit of a questionable way of treating him but he's also had some injuries along the way which probably hasn't helped.
