Is there a team with a worse goaltending situation than the Sens?

[BondraTime]

It shouldn't have been a massive issue, at least not this year. It was still ill advised though, as there really was very little benefit to getting it done when we did, and, as we now see, plenty of risk.

I questioned the timing at the time, but was willing to brush it off. Anderson's fall from grace came far quicker than I think any should/would have predicted, but looking back, he showed some signs last year in the playoffs of not being as consistently sharp as he once was.

Has there been any justification from Dorion about the pre-season extension?

Honestly, that is just GMing/business/life 101, every single person here knows there was no need to rush that extension.

 

[Tundraman]

Montreal.

I'd still take our situation over that contract.

Paying Price that kind of money without a strong team in front is a big risk. At least one of our goalies might be trade-able if Dorion sweetens the pot. The problem is we don't have another option right now.

 

[Micklebot]

Has there been any justification from Dorion about the pre-season extension?

Honestly, that is just GMing/business/life 101, every single person here knows there was no need to rush that extension.

I haven't seen anything. Someone suggested maybe rewarding Anderson after a very trying year for him, but you got to separate business from life.

My biggest issue is that they show faith in Condon being a potential replacement for Anderson with his contract (a classic show me you can be a starter contract imo), then admit they really don't have any faith in him by extending Anderson out of the blue. Just bizarre choice.

I get that we don't have any sure things in the pipeline, so you want to set yourself up in net, but they really just took away any flexibility and that's death in a cap/budget environment imo. We already have Ryan and Phaneuf contracts restricting our ability to adapt on the fly, this really wasn't needed.

Oh well. Hope Anderson continues his trend of good bad good for at least one additional year.

 

[BondraTime]

I haven't seen anything. Someone suggested maybe rewarding Anderson after a very trying year for him, but you got to separate business from life.

My biggest issue is that they show faith in Condon being a potential replacement for Anderson with his contract (a classic show me you can be a starter contract imo), then admit they really don't have any faith in him by extending Anderson out of the blue. Just bizarre choice.

I get that we don't have any sure things in the pipeline, so you want to set yourself up in net, but they really just took away any flexibility and that's death in a cap/budget environment imo. We already have Ryan and Phaneuf contracts restricting our ability to adapt on the fly, this really wasn't needed.

Oh well. Hope Anderson continues his trend of good bad good for at least one additional year.

Yeah, the management of our salaries/contracts and cap has been abysmal.

Nothing Dorion can do about Ryan and Phaneuf, but he has shot himself in the foot with 80% of his signings and extensions since starting.

 

[Stylizer1]

Yeah, the management of our salaries/contracts and cap has been abysmal.

Nothing Dorion can do about Ryan and Phaneuf, but he has shot himself in the foot with 80% of his signings and extensions since starting.

He's an extension of Murray. Murray's deals screwed us and Dorion's are crippling us.

 

[branch]

Oettinger would have been a nice pick last year, instead they picked Shane Bowers.

 

[BondraTime]

Oettinger would have been a nice pick last year, instead they picked Shane Bowers.

Yeah, too bad we picked after Ottinger had been selected....

 

[ottawah]

I did watch some AAA bantam hockey last night. It was hard to tell, but yes I think Ottawa has better goaltending than at least one of the two teams I saw.

 

[ottawah]

From what I have read the best trade option at the moment is Aaron Dell. May very well be that late bloomer, or a waste. UFA after this year though.

I cannot see him being any worse than what we have, which is not a strong endorsement .....

 

[TheBradyBunch]

Oettinger would have been a nice pick last year, instead they picked Shane Bowers.

Oettinger would have been nice but IMO Hischier would have been nicer. Instead they picked Shane Bowers, though.

As for the thread, I agree entirely. I have some faith in a bounceback but if that doesn't happen these next few years will be horrendous.

All summer we heard that goaltending was our top strength (and it was last year). This season it has been our biggest issue. I fully believe that if we got average goaltending this season, we'd be right in the thick of things. Not only has goaltending tangibly hurt us, I think it has a massive mental effect. Nothing is more discouraging than working your ass off all shift, doing everything right, and then seeing the puck in your net. At least when it's caused by a mistake, you know where you went wrong and have something to focus on moving forward.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

I say it is pretty hard rank goaltending situations, because they can change so easily and goaltending prospects seem like a crapshoot for the most part. Also, goalie trades never seem to go for what you think. It seems like people disagree with me, but if you really wanted to trade Andy for cap relief I think despite his bad season so far and his 2 more years you would find takers. I would be surprised if the Islanders, Flyers, and Hurricanes wouldn't kick the tires on him.

And honestly, our defense situation worries me much more than our goaltending. I think our goaltending will bounce back, while I think our defense will remain an absolute tire fire.

 

[Xspyrit]

2.4 for Condon for 3 years? Condon was like an urgency guess last season and we went and signed him 3 years for too much money. He was good for a stretch then was back to normal, but Dorion still thought he had 1B starter potential and could take on Andy when he eventually was going to decline... I didn't like it and still sure don't

Andy fell off a cliff this year. He's 36 y/o and it was bound to happen at some time. He had one year left and we're not talking about Stamkos or Tavares in their prime here, there was no reason to extend him 2 years this soon.

Impossible to go on a winning streak with that kind of goaltending. Actually, it's even worse because it's impossible for a team to have a good season with that kind of goaltending. Hard to play well when you don't have full of confidence in your goalies. You play scared and stressed about making mistakes and then you end up making mistakes.

Yes team defense isn't great (ex : Karlsson is struggling defensively this year) but you need solid goaltending for a team to be solid defensively and the Sens don't have that at all.

GCCH (goaltending-coaching-chemistry-health) factor print is horrible this season and I think goaltending is the worst of them all.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

Since Hogberg is splitting starts with 3 other goalies, why not just call him up and start him tonight? Can't be worse than the two we got going right now.

Pretty sure the Sens are at the 23 man player roster limit, and would have to move someone off it to make room............. who, and how would you do that?

 

[branch]

Yeah, too bad we picked after Ottinger had been selected....

He was taken 1 pick ahead of us IIRC. Door is open to move up when you're that close.

 

[Micklebot]

Pretty sure the Sens are at the 23 man player roster limit, and would have to move someone off it to make room............. who, and how would you do that?

We have a bunch guys who could easily go on IR (some of which like Wideman almost certainly already are), like Ryan, perhaps Oduya and Thompson.

 

[Micklebot]

He was taken 1 pick ahead of us IIRC. Door is open to move up when you're that close.

2 picks ahead of us. Philly picked Frost before we selected Bowers.

 

[branch]

2 picks ahead of us. Philly picked Frost before we selected Bowers.

My mistake. Close though.

 

[BatherSeason]

M

We have a bunch guys who could easily go on IR (some of which like Wideman almost certainly already are), like Ryan, perhaps Oduya and Thompson.

Maybe waive Gabriel Dumont??

 

[bert]

They've got a good one waiting in Thatcher Demko who should be ready for the NHL in about a year and they drafted Michael Dipietro last year so similar my point, their future looks much brighter than Ottawa's.

Yeah and they dont have money tied into starters with no upside. I can still see Markstrom and Nilsson get better at the NHL level not our guys. Its hilarous how piss poor every move Dorion has made has been thus far.

 

[coladin]

For Condon, there is no excuse.

For Andy, anyone who went through what he did last year...what has happened this year comes as no surprise to me, personally. When you are in "fighting for your life" mode, you find another level for everything that you do. Whether being a husband, cheerleader, father, or goaltender. Once that type of scenario wears off, you are left now to revisit the trauma that he and his wife went through, and he actually has time now to absorb it. Mentally.

Has nothing to do with Andy being "old". He is mentally exhausted. And while he is killing my team's season, I feel for him.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

I haven't seen anything. Someone suggested maybe rewarding Anderson after a very trying year for him, but you got to separate business from life.

My biggest issue is that they show faith in Condon being a potential replacement for Anderson with his contract (a classic show me you can be a starter contract imo), then admit they really don't have any faith in him by extending Anderson out of the blue. Just bizarre choice.

I get that we don't have any sure things in the pipeline, so you want to set yourself up in net, but they really just took away any flexibility and that's death in a cap/budget environment imo. We already have Ryan and Phaneuf contracts restricting our ability to adapt on the fly, this really wasn't needed.

Oh well. Hope Anderson continues his trend of good bad good for at least one additional year.

They were not close on numbers until they talked. The team was in win now mode so it made sense to sign Anderson in order to let him focus on playing, not to mention the team has nobody else in the pipeline who could take over from Anderson if he left at the end of the 2018 season. The risk wasn't that Anderson would have a Vezina season and be in a position to ask for more, the risk was that if Anderson and Dorion weren't close last summer, he could simply end up walking in the 2018 off season.

To me, it made perfect sense at the time in spite of the risks, but obviously I've been proven wrong by his performance.

He's going to be hard if not impossible to trade, but at the same point I wouldn't be surprised if we get lucky and there is 1 team willing to take him for a minimal pick. Other teams aren't restricted like we are and could buy out his final year if he fails to bounce back in 18-19. I could see how a GM could look at our team being a shit show, both Anderson and Condon having awful numbers, and if they need a goalie badly justify acquiring Anderson with the hopes that he can bounce back and be a big game playoff goalie.

 

[Micklebot]

For Condon, there is no excuse.

For Andy, anyone who went through what he did last year...what has happened this year comes as no surprise to me, personally. When you are in "fighting for your life" mode, you find another level for everything that you do. Whether being a husband, cheerleader, father, or goaltender. Once that type of scenario wears off, you are left now to revisit the trauma that he and his wife went through, and he actually has time now to absorb it. Mentally.

Has nothing to do with Andy being "old". He is mentally exhausted. And while he is killing my team's season, I feel for him.

It's possible this season is really just a case of mental exhaustion and finally dealing emotionally with what his family went through, though I think his age is also a fair point as there is gobs of evidence that supports athletes slowing down at his age. Physically, athletes across many sports peaks around 26. Mentally, the average peak for Chess grandmasters is around 30-31. Some athletes defy the averages, but it's safe to say time catches up with everyone eventually, and Anderson is getting to the point that he'd be in a very high percentile if he continued to perform at or near peak.

 

[krapsik]

Its doesnt matter which team have worst goaltending. Matters when and how ours two will be escorted out of town.

 

[BankStreetParade]

I still remember when everyone bleated on about how this team didn't spend anywhere close to the cap and so many of us said spending to the cap doesn't mean spending smart. And here we are. How many contracts does this team have that they wish they could just make disappear? Ryan 4 more years @ 7.25. Phaneuf 3 more years @ 7. Anderson 2 more years @ 4.75. Smith 3 more years @ 3.25. Burrows 1 more year @ 2.5.

AND Stone + Ceci due for raises this year as well as possibly starting contract negotiations with Karlsson IF he wants to stay.

 

[Micklebot]

They were not close on numbers until they talked. The team was in win now mode so it made sense to sign Anderson in order to let him focus on playing, not to mention the team has nobody else in the pipeline who could take over from Anderson if he left at the end of the 2018 season. The risk wasn't that Anderson would have a Vezina season and be in a position to ask for more, the risk was that if Anderson and Dorion weren't close last summer, he could simply end up walking in the 2018 off season.

To me, it made perfect sense at the time in spite of the risks, but obviously I've been proven wrong by his performance.

He's going to be hard if not impossible to trade, but at the same point I wouldn't be surprised if we get lucky and there is 1 team willing to take him for a minimal pick. Other teams aren't restricted like we are and could buy out his final year if he fails to bounce back in 18-19. I could see how a GM could look at our team being a **** show, both Anderson and Condon having awful numbers, and if they need a goalie badly justify acquiring Anderson with the hopes that he can bounce back and be a big game playoff goalie.

What are the odds of other teams wanting to outbid us for a 37 year old starter and Anderson truly wanting to walk away from us? I think that risk is very much overblown. Also, there's always a younger guy ready for starter duties becoming available, albeit at a cost.

As for other teams willing to pick him up and buy him out, I really don't see it. I've been wrong before, but there's a lot of term left, he hasn't even started the contract yet... 9.5 mil for two years of a 37-38 year old goalie coming off a bad year is a lot.

At the time, I though worst case he's giving us ~905 to .910 sv%, and we could survive even if he regresses, but it never made much sense to me to extend him when we did.