Lame Lambert
Fire Lou
- Mar 5, 2015
- 21,219
- 15,634
Goaltending, defense
- Thread starter Crazy Cizikas
- Start date
yeah I'm well aware unfortunately.
Just in response to the poster's pulse comment. I am serious about Howard though.
Kevin27NYI
Registered User
- Aug 5, 2009
- 19,761
- 5,822
Alexei Yashvalev
Registered User
Howard's career save percentage is worse than Halak's and not much better this year. Also, Howard is older.
You won't notice any difference.
Hunn
Registered User
- Feb 23, 2017
- 1,647
- 1,251
Following Staples' article, I took a closer look at Corsica. Halak has surprisingly strong ES numbers. Based on the advanced metrics, he is an upper-mid-tier NHL goalie prone for softies. His ES GSAA is +2.18, ES Sv%, mid- and high-danger ES Sv% are all in upper parts of the rankings. So, to answer the OP, we already have above-average goaltending from Halak. Kinda.
Then I looked at PK numbers. Wow ... I'm far from pinning down our PK issues on goaltending alone, but not seeing even one decent name in Halak's half of PK Sv% table makes you understand the meaning of "your best penalty killer is your goaltender".
Meanwhile, Greiss having ES GSAA of -5.78 costs us an even strength goal above replacement every 2-3 games. The rough breakdown looks like this:
[TBODY]
[/TBODY]
Average goaltending would trim 12 goals from our total and put us right in the middle of the league (would be tied with the Jets and Rangers for 14 in GA).
Then I looked at PK numbers. Wow ... I'm far from pinning down our PK issues on goaltending alone, but not seeing even one decent name in Halak's half of PK Sv% table makes you understand the meaning of "your best penalty killer is your goaltender".
Meanwhile, Greiss having ES GSAA of -5.78 costs us an even strength goal above replacement every 2-3 games. The rough breakdown looks like this:
| GSAA | ES | PK | Other | Total |
| Halak | +2 | -4 | -1 | -3 |
| Greiss | -6 | -1 | -2 | -9 |
Average goaltending would trim 12 goals from our total and put us right in the middle of the league (would be tied with the Jets and Rangers for 14 in GA).
The special teams have been abhorrent all year. They need to be fixed. Losing Kulemin was a bigger blow than I thought.
Fixed the PK then your G save % should improve. Eliminate the inside and clear cut one timers from the slot. Need faceoff wins, speed, tons of blocks and a good strong stick for clearing to do that. PK is a very speicialized type of job and not every players in the league can do it well. It requires discipline, sacrafice, calm and good sticks to do the job. There are players around the league who may not do much else but are excellent in PK, winning faceoff and are top blockers and they may not cost that much in both salary nor trade pieces.
Eithers Isles have to draft some of these types of players or get them through trades. It is hard to develop these types of players as blocking is actual a skill so is winning face-off and definitely you need speed in PK so you can cover up the holes and check the shooters before they have chance to tee up.
Goalies need to practice more for the PK situation and learn how to battle for seeing the pucks through the screens and not giving up too much rebounds and know how to freez the pucks better.
Scouting is so important when it comes to finding these type of skills in junior, college, European leagues and AHL. Putting in the work and find workable but cheap pieces can make the difference. The big trades are great but sometimes can backfire if you give up too much future and the players you acquire can either decline or is one more injury away from worthing that gamble.
Finding a top 4 D who can defend is great if you can get away without trading too much future or players currently on good long term contract. Also I am questioning about any team getting into a pattern of trading top 2 round picks especially with the new lottery pick system. We are seeing so many talented young players coming into the league and made great impacts for thier team and the reluctance of teams trading away these players for upgrade. The key is to improve the over all scouting system to draft well. You should not have to give away these valuable picks because the scout or GM did not find prospects which the Canes, Blue Jackets, Flyers and Rangers did in the last few years. I can tell you also that with all the scoutning report out there 2018 and 2019 are both very good draft years so do not gut most of your top draft picks before you fix the two most important issue, 1st line center (still not yet resigned as of today) and the duel goaltending situation. I believe you need a solid #1, and a capable young back up is the best solution as Goalies typically do not play their best unless they can play consistently and knowing their role with the team. They do not need distractions. Remember that most successful teams build their team like this order - 1st line center, starter goalie, 1st 2 D pairings, 1st line wingers, 2nd line center, then the rest. Once they have enough top 2 line and top 4 D pieces, they also need valuable role players.
Eithers Isles have to draft some of these types of players or get them through trades. It is hard to develop these types of players as blocking is actual a skill so is winning face-off and definitely you need speed in PK so you can cover up the holes and check the shooters before they have chance to tee up.
Goalies need to practice more for the PK situation and learn how to battle for seeing the pucks through the screens and not giving up too much rebounds and know how to freez the pucks better.
Scouting is so important when it comes to finding these type of skills in junior, college, European leagues and AHL. Putting in the work and find workable but cheap pieces can make the difference. The big trades are great but sometimes can backfire if you give up too much future and the players you acquire can either decline or is one more injury away from worthing that gamble.
Finding a top 4 D who can defend is great if you can get away without trading too much future or players currently on good long term contract. Also I am questioning about any team getting into a pattern of trading top 2 round picks especially with the new lottery pick system. We are seeing so many talented young players coming into the league and made great impacts for thier team and the reluctance of teams trading away these players for upgrade. The key is to improve the over all scouting system to draft well. You should not have to give away these valuable picks because the scout or GM did not find prospects which the Canes, Blue Jackets, Flyers and Rangers did in the last few years. I can tell you also that with all the scoutning report out there 2018 and 2019 are both very good draft years so do not gut most of your top draft picks before you fix the two most important issue, 1st line center (still not yet resigned as of today) and the duel goaltending situation. I believe you need a solid #1, and a capable young back up is the best solution as Goalies typically do not play their best unless they can play consistently and knowing their role with the team. They do not need distractions. Remember that most successful teams build their team like this order - 1st line center, starter goalie, 1st 2 D pairings, 1st line wingers, 2nd line center, then the rest. Once they have enough top 2 line and top 4 D pieces, they also need valuable role players.
Alexei Yashvalev
Registered User
GrandmaSlices51631
Registered User
Send down Beau and JHS. Bring up Bernier and Gionta. Will improve the TEAM defense. I can't watch JHS and his turnovers anymore.
SI
Registered User
- Feb 16, 2013
- 7,689
- 3,962
Too many soft goals - at some point these guys need to make a save or two to bail out some poor plays in the defensive zoneIt’s not his fault
But this is 32 games in and these guys are simply not getting the job done.
I'm willing to be patient, but at some point this area needs to be addressed.
Kevin27NYI
Registered User
- Aug 5, 2009
- 19,761
- 5,822
In terms of team defense, I think that the top 2 lines have enough offense between them that we can afford to go two checking lines if we wanted to improve the overall defense.
I know most teams are running more offensive lines but most teams don't have our top 2 so..
I know most teams are running more offensive lines but most teams don't have our top 2 so..
The problem is when you play good teams the defensive problem are your top two lines, just look at the last couple games second line is combined for -11 and like a total 7-8 shots on net, easy to play offense when you never have to worry about about giving two on one, now many of them did they give up last night.
I want to think they both get better because this doesn't make sense. These are by far Greiss' worst numbers and among the worst for Halak. It seems silly, but one thing that has changed since last season has been their goaltending coach, and it's worth noting that this is Fred Brathwaite's first NHL coaching gig. Who knows, I'd never think a goaltending coach could tank a goaltender's numbers like this.
I've seen this mentioned before and I really find it hard to believe a goaltending coach can have such an immediate and extreme impact. Is there any precedent of this happening to any other team? I think it's more likely that they're both mediocre goalies who are simply having a rough patch at the same time. Trade for a clear upgrade or try to wait it out, trying to bring in other random marginal goalies (who may be playing well at the moment) will just cause the same thing happen eventually.
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Nobody has a goalie worth dealing yet without losing something that really hurts (e.g. not Brock). There's two months till the deadline.
This is an organizational problem. We saw it happen for years in Philly. Now we see it here --> the inability to come up with an organizational solution in net is stunting the team's growth. It's possible we see a marginal upgrade, but it's hard to see what move fundamentally changes things.
This is an organizational problem. We saw it happen for years in Philly. Now we see it here --> the inability to come up with an organizational solution in net is stunting the team's growth. It's possible we see a marginal upgrade, but it's hard to see what move fundamentally changes things.
No idea, honestly. It's possible though. If you have a routine that works with your previous coach and the next one switches it up, you could def falter a bit.
