Waived: [CBJ] G Spencer Martin waived by the Blue Jackets (claimed)

[Kocur Dill]

Weird flex, but okay.

 

[seafoam]

NYI bound until Varlamov is back…

 

[BelovedIsles]

We know who the starter is.

 

[Smitty426]

The New Jersey goaltending "issues" may be the most overstated in the league. Certain elements of the fan base are killing a guy with 14 wins on a team that is remarkably careless in its own end; frequently yielding high danger scoring chances.


It has become sport by both home crowds and what passes for the Devils "media" (mostly twenty-somethings fresh out of college with little background in the sport) to scapegoat goalies when the team doesn't win.

Hard to see Spencer Martin making much of an impact one way or the other.

Let's be clear, the D has left him out to dry, but he does not look good....at all!

 

[BKarchitect]

Martin is essentially Pickard. He’s an awesome third string goalie who can deputize as a backup for stretches and hold his own before eventually finding his level again.

He’s nobody idea of a goalie upgrade. Not for the Oilers, the Devils, the Sens…none of those teams. He’s a veteran depth goalie.

So unless those teams have a pressure chamber from the future where they can combine their 4 mediocre goalies into 1 “ok” one…I’m not sure why every time some shitty goalie like Martin or Raanta hit waivers, people immediately scream for those teams to add them.

Collecting all the mediocre goalies is not “improving your goaltending”. You can still only play one at a time.

 

[Mark Stones Spleen]

Are people getting him confused with someone else? His numbers aren't very good.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Ottawa claim him though, Forsberg is injured again and I'm sure they would rather keep their goalie prospect in the AHL. Minimal cap hit works for us.

 

[dirtydanglez]

the very definition of journeyman goaltender. i hope he gets picked up so he keeps his nhl salary

 

[Mike C]

Yeah, I could see Edmonton, NJ, or TML making claims.

Islanders too

 

[TheNumber4]

Hahaha no market for Elvis. That’s what this move means.

 

[GKJ]

I feel like I've gone the entire season hearing about how teams were hoping he would become available.

I think I know the answer.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

This guy sucks

Career .886 save percentage. I’m really not understanding a lot of the comments here

 

[TheNumber4]

Pascal: “ok ok maybe we only have 2 good goalies”

Pascal in 1 month: “ok ok maybe we only have 1 good goalie

Pascal in 2 months: “ok ok maybe we don’t have a good goalie yet”

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Let's be clear, the D has left him out to dry, but he does not look good....at all!

And again, 14 wins looks pretty good.

 

[Smitty426]

And again, 14 wins looks pretty good.

And yet again he looks terrible doing it. Imagine how many he'd have if he stole a game or two.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

And yet again he looks terrible doing it. Imagine how many he'd have if he stole a game or two.

Not to high jack a thread about Spencer Martin, but I don't really agree.

Those who criticize Vanacek tend to focus on his save percentage; ignoring the highlight reel saves he's been forced to make on breakaways or semi-breakaways at critical times.

I can think of at least three games in which he made miraculous stops in the final five minutes while the Devils were clinging to leads.

 

[BKarchitect]

Vanacek can clearly not be the long-term answer and Martin can be a bad goalie best suited as a #3 who moves no needles for the Devils. Both can be true.

I guess if you wanted to keep both Daws and Schmid in Utica all year you could use Martin as a backup but I don’t think he’s any better than either of those young guys…especially Daws who despite Schmid getting more run up until recently - I feel is significantly better at the moment and is well served by the NHL action he is getting right now.

 

[T_Cage]

He's not that good, but the league min caphit means a team might take a shot on him, then just throw him back on waivers if it doesn't work (or he ends up in their AHL affiliate and his cap hit is buried)

 

[Smitty426]

Not to high jack a thread about Spencer Martin, but I don't really agree.

Those who criticize Vanacek tend to focus on his save percentage; ignoring the highlight reel saves he's been forced to make on breakaways or semi-breakaways at critical times.

I can think of at least three games in which he made miraculous stops in the final five minutes while the Devils were clinging to leads.

Also apologies for highjacking thread- And then I can show you 3x as many lowlights where the team has fought back only to L because of some dumb juicy rebound VV gives up. I like the guy but he does not steal wins. An acrobatic save is great, now he's 4 feet from his net and its a tap in, his D is definitely not helping him, its not all him. The vet D this year was terrible (some continue to be), Siegs, Marino and Bahl (not really a vet but work with me). The rookies are the ones who saved them. Since they they have cratered a bit with all of the injuries to the back line. VV was sheltered a bit with Graves and Severson last year it would appear based on the two yrs. I like VV but he is not the answer for this team long term

 

[Koivu11]

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Kochetkov is in concussion protocol right now. Raanta has looked like himself the past few games, but an every day workload runs the risk of his durability issue flaring up.

 

[xECK29x]

Pretty surprised he got that far down the list.