Speculation: Freddy Andersen is the best leafs tender since CUJO

[Halla]

Time to give this man his due. with the win over the pens, he is now 50-24-15 as a leaf.
The leafs have gotten points in 73% of the games he has gotten a decision in, and put up a 106pt pace


by comparison, the backups have combined to go 9-13-1 since he has been a leaf.
they only get points in 39% of those games, and put up a 68pt pace


Let that sink in.

Click to read more...

 

[HamiltonNHL]

And all those points with a Motley Crue defensive core !

 

[Gary Nylund]

Andersieve - among goalies with at least 20 games played this season he now sits at 5th overall in SV%. He's also first overall in minutes played with a 66 minute lead over the next guy.

I was thrilled when we traded for him but wasn't sure if it was a good idea to sign him right away for all those years, why so many years so soon? I no longer have any questions, what a signing that was! It's still early but it's looking more and more like there is little reason to question it any longer, the guy is a bonafide legit #1 starting goalie in the NHL, perhaps he's already an above average #1 goalie, how much longer does he have to play at this level before we can state it as a fact? How much more upside does he have? Can he stay at a top 5 level?

A top 5 starter, wow wouldn't that be something. I can't be bothered to dig up the numbers but I'm not sure even Cujo was at that level as a Leaf.

If we're going to win the cup in the not too distant future, this guy will be a huge part of it. With all due respect to Matthews, the goalie is the most important player on the team. It looks like we're in good hands.

Always loved this guy, there's just something about his demeanour, his composure and his compete level. Freddie Andersen, what a beauty!

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

Wasn’t Es Belford better than CuJo?

Question is rhetorical.

 

[BlueBaron]

His October issues still bug me but I am very happy with him. I knew Lou would not trade for a bum though.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Wasn’t Es Belford better than CuJo?

Question is rhetorical.

no he wasn't.
Ed Belfour however was

 

[darrylsittler27]

Belfour for me.

 

[Warden of the North]

Belfour was a Vezina finalist here. He had at least two amazing seasons.

Stylisitcally Belfour and Freddy are pretty similar. Extremely positionally sound goalies who make it look easy often.

 

[Nineteen67]

He’s been dang good. No law says your best play can’t be your goalie.

 

[BayStreetBully]

I’m cautiously optimistic, but so far so good. His current .923 over an entire season would be just great. I’d like for him to stabilize the D, with the D also stabilizing him at the same time.

And what I really want to see is him getting us deeper into the playoffs.

 

[ULF_55]

Wasn’t Es Belford better than CuJo?

Question is rhetorical.

Eddy seemed to have a weakness on angles near the end and that one series the Flyers exploited it.

He was a good one, just couldn't hold it together during the playoffs.

 

[zeke]

Belfour was much better than Cujo.

 

[coupe93]

Was never an Andersen detractor, but remained skeptical whether he was the right guy for a deep run. He's completely erased that. I'm on board.

 

[Buds17]

CuJo was probably my favourite goalie, but I agree that Belfour was better. Regarding Andersen, he's a workhorse capable of putting up solid numbers. Really nice value for what we acquired and signed him for. Delivering as hoped for IMO.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Eddy seemed to have a weakness on angles near the end and that one series the Flyers exploited it.

He was a good one, just couldn't hold it together during the playoffs.

I can only assume you're referring to one series with the "can't hold it together" comment. Over his career, Belfour was a fine playoff goalie. In particular, check out this career highlight (from Wikipedia):

The next season, the Stars repeated their regular season championship and Belfour won his fourth Jennings Trophy. In the playoffs, Belfour won duels against past Vezina- and Stanley Cup-winning goaltenders Grant Fuhr and Patrick Roy, respectively. The Stars won the Stanley Cup, beating the Buffalo Sabres in six games, capped by an incredible goalie duel against former backup Dominik Hašek that ended in a 2-1 win in the third overtime. Belfour made 53 saves to Hašek's 50, and for the entire Finals, had a 1.26 GAA to Hašek's 1.68.
Belfour backstopped his team to another consecutive finals appearance, winning his second seven-game Western Conference final duel against the Colorado Avalanche's Patrick Roy. The Stars lost the Cup in double-overtime to the New Jersey Devils. Belfour had 4 shutouts in that playoffs, including a triple-overtime blanking of the Devils in game five of the finals series.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Belfour was much better than Cujo.

True.

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

no he wasn't.
Ed Belfour however was

Lol typing on a Panamanian cellphone with Spanish autocorrect. That could have been way worse.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Lol typing on a Panamanian cellphone with Spanish autocorrect. That could have been way worse.

Indeed!

 

[Morgs]

Underlying stats suggest he has the ability to improve as well.

700mins+ (38 goalies), all situation

dSV% (difference between expected and actual sv%) - 1.41 (9th)
GSAA (goals saved above average) - 14.01 (5th)
LDsv% - 96.18 (32nd)
MDsv% - 93.66 (5th)
HDsv% - 83.26 (6th)

Freddy since he's been here has been a borderline top-5 HDsv% goalie.. meaning that number is mostly sustainable. What's amazing though is his MDsv% has improved drastically from last season, and he's been one of the worst in the entire league in regards to low danger shots... after being top-5 last year.

Thing is, the most unsustainable number of the three danger stats is the LD one... meaning we have quite easily one of the best goalies in the league. All this was done after being one of the worst goalies in October too, which makes this even more impressive.

 

[Judas Tavares]

I can only assume you're referring to one series with the "can't hold it together" comment. Over his career, Belfour was a fine playoff goalie. In particular, check out this career highlight (from Wikipedia):

The next season, the Stars repeated their regular season championship and Belfour won his fourth Jennings Trophy. In the playoffs, Belfour won duels against past Vezina- and Stanley Cup-winning goaltenders Grant Fuhr and Patrick Roy, respectively. The Stars won the Stanley Cup, beating the Buffalo Sabres in six games, capped by an incredible goalie duel against former backup Dominik Hašek that ended in a 2-1 win in the third overtime. Belfour made 53 saves to Hašek's 50, and for the entire Finals, had a 1.26 GAA to Hašek's 1.68.
Belfour backstopped his team to another consecutive finals appearance, winning his second seven-game Western Conference final duel against the Colorado Avalanche's Patrick Roy. The Stars lost the Cup in double-overtime to the New Jersey Devils. Belfour had 4 shutouts in that playoffs, including a triple-overtime blanking of the Devils in game five of the finals series.

Belfour was the sole reason we beat Ottawa in 2004. If they kept advanced stats back then, we probably would have had record-low %s in that series because the ice was completely tilted in Ottawa's favour. It was tough to watch.

The series against Philly, his former coach Hitch told the Flyers to crash the net. It worked. Most goals came from the crease with their forwards basically pushing the puck in the net. Primeau was a monster that series, it was rough.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Belfour was the sole reason we beat Ottawa in 2004. If they kept advanced stats back then, we probably would have had record-low %s in that series because the ice was completely tilted in Ottawa's favour. It was tough to watch.

The series against Philly, his former coach Hitch told the Flyers to crash the net. It worked. Most goals came from the crease with their forwards basically pushing the puck in the net. Primeau was a monster that series, it was rough.

Belfour was awesome, in my opinion he's the clear 3rd best goalie of his era behind Roy and Hasek but ahead of Brodeur and Fuhr.

So glad I bumped this thread, hard to believe it was buried on page 3. Andersen is our MVP by a mile and deserves to be on page 1 permanently!

 

[ULF_55]

I can only assume you're referring to one series with the "can't hold it together" comment. Over his career, Belfour was a fine playoff goalie. In particular, check out this career highlight (from Wikipedia):

The next season, the Stars repeated their regular season championship and Belfour won his fourth Jennings Trophy. In the playoffs, Belfour won duels against past Vezina- and Stanley Cup-winning goaltenders Grant Fuhr and Patrick Roy, respectively. The Stars won the Stanley Cup, beating the Buffalo Sabres in six games, capped by an incredible goalie duel against former backup Dominik Hašek that ended in a 2-1 win in the third overtime. Belfour made 53 saves to Hašek's 50, and for the entire Finals, had a 1.26 GAA to Hašek's 1.68.
Belfour backstopped his team to another consecutive finals appearance, winning his second seven-game Western Conference final duel against the Colorado Avalanche's Patrick Roy. The Stars lost the Cup in double-overtime to the New Jersey Devils. Belfour had 4 shutouts in that playoffs, including a triple-overtime blanking of the Devils in game five of the finals series.

Those are pre-Leafs though. What he did with other teams didn't help the Leafs.

I think against the Flyers he let in 2 bad angle goals that IMO were the difference.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Those are pre-Leafs though. What he did with other teams didn't help the Leafs.

Of course not but not sure what you're not happy about with it comes to Belfour and the playoffs. He was with us at the tail end of his career but was still quite good - playoff SV% was .915 over 7 games the first year and .929 over 13 games the next year.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

Lets just say they traded us the right goalie. I am not sure they kept the right goalie......

Andy is really poised. Mcbackup has been solid too. Nice pair. With this defensive focus the team is working on it could get a little better even.

He is a solid professional and shows great leadership !

 

[The Iceman]

Eddie B came to the Leafs as a 37 year old. Best days in the rear view mirror. He did pretty much on his own win us a first round playoff series in 2003-04. was solid as a 37 and 38 year old. Then the strike. Not the same goalie when he came back as a 40 year old in his last season as a Leaf and in the league.