GDT: Carolinan Hurrikaanit continue their winstreak against the New Jerseyn Paholaiset

bleedgreen

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Dec 8, 2003
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I didn’t mind that Hishier sniped him, it just was so easy. Darling just looked too awkward to me, and I would normally defend him on that goal. It’s a two on one. I know Hishier is a talent, but that one bothered me more than the others for some reason. Like there was no reason to think he was gonna stop it.

He’s seemingly too lost for this season. He’ll get another chance next year like it or not. Hopefully he gets his head right.
 

The Faulker 27

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I didn’t mind that Hishier sniped him, it just was so easy. Darling just looked too awkward to me, and I would normally defend him on that goal. It’s a two on one. I know Hishier is a talent, but that one bothered me more than the others for some reason. Like there was no reason to think he was gonna stop it.

He’s seemingly too lost for this season. He’ll get another chance next year like it or not. Hopefully he gets his head right.

His body language after that one says it all.

gFIBTv4.png




They should play the Theme music from Curb Your Enthusiasm after every goal against Darling. That's terrible, but also damn funny.
 
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DaveG

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Apr 7, 2003
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Speaking of Aho Sr, wonder if we could get him to sweet talk Veini Vehvilainen in to coming here in the offseason. 21, undrafted, put up nice numbers last year in the WJC and has really taken the reigns with Karpat as the #1.

Shouldn't be a tough sell, tell him that if he can at least play competently he's likely our backup next year and takes over as starter in one or two more. Bury Darling in the AHL while Veini is still on the ELC.

Wouldn't mind us trying to sign Alexei Krasikov either but KHL.
 

Wolfpuck

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Speaking of Aho Sr, wonder if we could get him to sweet talk Veini Vehvilainen in to coming here in the offseason. 21, undrafted, put up nice numbers last year in the WJC and has really taken the reigns with Karpat as the #1. Wouldn't mind us trying to sign Alexei Krasikov either but KHL.
Dave, you know damn well that whatever decision we make regarding goaltending will be wrong, because hcanes. It will never be fixed.
 

Lempo

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Speaking of Aho Sr, wonder if we could get him to sweet talk Veini Vehvilainen in to coming here in the offseason. 21, undrafted, put up nice numbers last year in the WJC and has really taken the reigns with Karpat as the #1.

Shouldn't be a tough sell, tell him that if he can at least play competently he's likely our backup next year and takes over as starter in one or two more. Bury Darling in the AHL while Veini is still on the ELC.

Wouldn't mind us trying to sign Alexei Krasikov either but KHL.
They are leading the Liiga, with Veini as the starter.

al.jpg
 

JCLA

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Feb 23, 2017
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Age has something to do with it because you’re comparing

1) a 22 year old with a Conn Smythe, making $700K and playing backup-quality goal as he struggles to adjust to a 60 game workload

2) a 29 year old making $4M who has never played more than 42 games in a season at any level (junior, minor league, pro), playing sub-NHL quality goal as he struggles to handle 1 start per week

And that’s if you’re ONLY looking at the numbers. With Ward you had a guy who had visible potential, and while he was obviously unhappy with his results, he was also obviously dialed in and developing.

Darling came here as a guy with a checkered personal history, immediately provoked questions about his conditioning, and is now visibly crumpling under pressure. I keep saying “yips” as a baseball analogy, but honestly it’s rare to see an NHL goalie fold mentally the way he has over the past few months. That kind of response to failure is not a predictor of someone destined for future success in the NHL. Nobody wants a goalie who has collapsed mentally more than once.

So while it’s maybe an exaggeration to say it’s all over for him, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say his career is on a thread and it’s VERY unlikely anyone picks him up if it gets to the point of a buyout. Not just because it means he’ll have continued to play terribly, but also because he has nothing comparable to Tim Thomas level confidence and determination.

People weren't saying his career was on a thread, they were saying his career as an NHL goaltender is over and while it may be. It's absurd to sit here and say it as a certain. We're not talking about a guy who was a .904 goaltender thrust into a starting role and couldn't handle it. We're talking about a guy with two years of about 30 starts with good numbers and a really good playoff series under his belt. I find it hard pressed to think it just evaporated to the point where he's at 30 starts now and 23 points lower than one year and 32 points below another.

I know his stats suck and I only used Ward becuase in his first year as a starter, and even his second year, he sucked. In regards to Ward's age, plenty of goalies figure it out early and plenty figure it out later. Vasilaksdjf;klas is 23. Only thing Ward had was draft pedigree and a really good playoff run. His first year as a backup featured a .882 in a backup role before he got hot in the playoffs and got a conn smythe because of it. Then he follows that up with a .897 in 60 starts and .904 in 69. I know, I know different time. But if you look at goalie stats in that time period, .897 and .904 still are not good. Goalies are voodoo when it comes to figuring it out. Some never do but it's outlandish to me to think they won't if scouting and previous information says they will. Hell, even sometimes the previous information doesn't predict a goalie will find it and they do.
 

Negan4Coach

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People weren't saying his career was on a thread, they were saying his career as an NHL goaltender is over and while it may be. It's absurd to sit here and say it as a certain. We're not talking about a guy who was a .904 goaltender thrust into a starting role and couldn't handle it. We're talking about a guy with two years of about 30 starts with good numbers and a really good playoff series under his belt. I find it hard pressed to think it just evaporated to the point where he's at 30 starts now and 23 points lower than one year and 32 points below another.

I know his stats suck and I only used Ward becuase in his first year as a starter, and even his second year, he sucked. In regards to Ward's age, plenty of goalies figure it out early and plenty figure it out later. Vasilaksdjf;klas is 23. Only thing Ward had was draft pedigree and a really good playoff run. His first year as a backup featured a .882 in a backup role before he got hot in the playoffs and got a conn smythe because of it. Then he follows that up with a .897 in 60 starts and .904 in 69. I know, I know different time. But if you look at goalie stats in that time period, .897 and .904 still are not good. Goalies are voodoo when it comes to figuring it out. Some never do but it's outlandish to me to think they won't if scouting and previous information says they will. Hell, even sometimes the previous information doesn't predict a goalie will find it and they do.
 

tarheelhockey

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People weren't saying his career was on a thread, they were saying his career as an NHL goaltender is over and while it may be. It's absurd to sit here and say it as a certain. We're not talking about a guy who was a .904 goaltender thrust into a starting role and couldn't handle it. We're talking about a guy with two years of about 30 starts with good numbers and a really good playoff series under his belt. I find it hard pressed to think it just evaporated to the point where he's at 30 starts now and 23 points lower than one year and 32 points below another.

I know his stats suck and I only used Ward becuase in his first year as a starter, and even his second year, he sucked. In regards to Ward's age, plenty of goalies figure it out early and plenty figure it out later. Vasilaksdjf;klas is 23. Only thing Ward had was draft pedigree and a really good playoff run. His first year as a backup featured a .882 in a backup role before he got hot in the playoffs and got a conn smythe because of it. Then he follows that up with a .897 in 60 starts and .904 in 69. I know, I know different time. But if you look at goalie stats in that time period, .897 and .904 still are not good. Goalies are voodoo when it comes to figuring it out. Some never do but it's outlandish to me to think they won't if scouting and previous information says they will. Hell, even sometimes the previous information doesn't predict a goalie will find it and they do.

Again though, I think the difference here is Darling has a history of flaming out mentally. It’s one thing to take on a headcase who’s proven he can be a starter, but who wants a headcase backup?
 

Navin R Slavin

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Look, we can debate some other time about whether Darling can come back from this or not. Maybe he can, maybe he can't.

But right now, I don't give a shit, because there's basically zero chance of him coming back right now, under these circumstances, with this team. Right now, this minute, he's a less than replacement level goalie. Period. We're trying to make the goddamned playoffs. Send him down. Now.
 

hurricure

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Look, we can debate some other time about whether Darling can come back from this or not. Maybe he can, maybe he can't.

But right now, I don't give a ****, because there's basically zero chance of him coming back right now, under these circumstances, with this team. Right now, this minute, he's a less than replacement level goalie. Period. We're trying to make the goddamned playoffs. Send him down. Now.

get this man the stuffed animal from the top shelf
 

My Special Purpose

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Apr 8, 2008
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It looks to me like Darling is really hoping hard that the puck hits him. He's not moving, he's not reacting, he's not actually *playing* goal. He's just hoping to get in the way of the first shot. The shooter tutor analogy is really pretty spot on. And when the puck misses him, he's mad because he didn't get lucky. It's also no way to control a rebound. If I were the coach, I'd rather seem him actually *trying* to be a goaltender, whether he's successful or not. Literally anybody can do what he's doing now.
 

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