News and Notes XXII: Now With More Finnish!

[Cardiac Jerks]

I think he does and I also think he is a top 15 goalie .

 

[Moosetache]

I think he does and I also think he is a top 15 goalie .

I'm hoping you are being sarcastic, but just in case you aren't:

Cam's sv% this year is .910 (better than past years, .909 in his career) and league average is .913. so even in a year he's playing better than he has in past years....hes still below average.

 

[bluedevil58]

I'm hoping you are being sarcastic, but just in case you aren't:

Cam's sv% this year is .910 (better than past years, .909 in his career) and league average is .913. so even in a year he's playing better than he has in past years....hes still below average.

Ummm Scott Darling says hi. Cam' s stats are below average because he plays and had always played on a shit team.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Yeah, Scott Darling being awful this year doesn't make Cam better than average at best.

 

[bluedevil58]

You're discrediting him playing on a bad team.

 

[A Star is Burns]

So, Antti Raanta is the best goalie on the planet for having better stats than Ward on the worst team in the league?

 

[bluedevil58]

So, Antti Raanta is the best goalie on the planet for having better stats than Ward on the worst team in the league?

I checked the guys stats. I do not see Stanley cup finals experience or a conn smythe on his resume. I also don't see where he has been to the ECF twice.

 

[A Star is Burns]

I've said I could live with Ward back under a short term deal where the money is right (though I wouldn't be heart broken if he left either). There is just no way he deserves more money or term than last time. I was just responding to your laughably insane assertion that Cam is a top 15 goalie.

 

[bluedevil58]

Why is that insane? If he was on Boston or some other contender he would be a top 10 NHL goalie?

 

[The Faulker 27]

I've said I could live with Ward back under a short term deal where the money is right (though I wouldn't be heart broken if he left either). There is just no way he deserves more money or term than last time. I was just responding to your laughably insane assertion that Cam is a top 15 goalie.

Not a top 15 goalie with this team anyway. Yet, he's never been dethroned despite his stats. It's the curious case of Cam Ward.

 

[A Star is Burns]

And the next time we bring in a legitimate, proven starter at anything close to the prime of his career to try to dethrone him will be the first.

 

[Vagrant]

you know, this is just a random thought but i wonder if eric would be a solid plan b signing for carolina at this stage. with all jordan has been through and the resurgence eric has had... you just never know. i wonder how much of a factor PK was in not getting an extension done and if he'd be receptive to dundon if approached. suppose it depends on who really made the call between francis and PK about the upper limit of the offer. still think it's likely he gets something done with the wild, but an interesting thought. i would really like to see him recover some of the luster of his legacy and finish his career here strong. he can't be happy with how things were left here.

 

[The Faulker 27]

And the next time we bring in a legitimate, proven starter at anything close to the prime of his career to try to dethrone him will be the first.

I'd love to see how a legitimate, proven starter does on this team. Honestly, one way or another It would answer a lot of questions we have about the goal tending delimma.

 

[Canes]

Minnesota is going to do their best to re-sign him and I don't think Eric is going to mess with what's working for him right now to come back here, especially if we're golfing in early April like usual.

I think it's more likely Jordan joins him in Minnesota once Koivu is gone if I'm being honest.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

IIRC, Eric is still under contract for next year. He’s not a UFA until summer of 2019.

EDIT: Just checked Capfriendly and that's indeed the case.

 

[JCLA]

I checked the guys stats. I do not see Stanley cup finals experience or a conn smythe on his resume. I also don't see where he has been to the ECF twice.

Last being in the ECF in 2009 does not make you a top 15 goalie today.

Winning the Conn Smythe in 2006 does not make you a top 15 goalie today.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Last being in the ECF in 2009 does not make you a top 15 goalie today.

Winning the Conn Smythe in 2006 does not make you a top 15 goalie today.

Just consider who you are responding to.

 

[bluedevil58]

Just consider who you are responding to.

Says the guy that stated Weight was in no way a 1C because when he played on Carolina he played on the 3rd line thus making him a 3C.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Says the guy that stated Weight was in no way a 1C because when he played on Carolina he played on the 3rd line thus making him a 3C.

I never said he was a 3C. Please keep up, or learn to read. Don't you have a Brokeback Mountain joke to make?

 

[Moosetache]

Good lord.....at what point is cam going to stop riding the wave of a hot couple months 12 years ago?

I appreciate what he's done in the past for the franchise/fans (yes, me included), but at some point you have to move on. He's not a top 15 goalie, he's probably not a top 25 goalie. if the league AVERAGE is .913, and there are AT LEAST 62 goalies, that would mean statistically he's not in the top 30...I'll adjust for lack of data on some of those guys and give you 25th.

 

[Svechhammer]

You want to call Cam below average have at it.

All that does is lower the bar on what kind of goalie we need to have here in order for this team to be competitive. If we had 2 goddamn Cam Wards this year we'd be comfortably in the playoff hunt. But no, we have one Cam Ward, and the ghost of Scott Darling. I say ghost, because being a shadowy figure with no physical substance to his being is the only way I can mentally come to terms with how awful he's been at stopping the puck this year.

So if the bare minimum for us to be competitive is two below average goaltenders, why the f-k is it so hard for Ron Francis to find even that?

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

If we had 2 goddamn Cam Wards this year we'd be comfortably in the playoff hunt. But no, we have one Cam Ward, and the ghost of Scott Darling.

Yeah, forget about what we call Ward and whether he is average / above average / below average, but if we had 2 guys at that level, we'd be fine. He's not the problem this season. To illustrate that:

Ward: 19-10-4: 104 point pace for 82 games
Darling: 10-16-7: 67 point pace for 82 games

 

[TheBigKahuna]

I checked the guys stats. I do not see Stanley cup finals experience or a conn smythe on his resume. I also don't see where he has been to the ECF twice.

Please explain how 10 year old accolades make him a good goalie TODAY.

 

[AD Skinner]

It's uncanny to me how poorly anyone not named Cam Ward has played in goal for this team the last decade or so. Even before the Francis era Ward's most reliable backup was probably one-off seasons from Manny Legace or Dan Ellis. Those dudes had .906 and .907 save percentages their years here. Imagine if we had one of those this year- we'd be talking about sneaking into top 3 in the division. Even when Khudobin was struggling he still had .900 in his worst year as a Cane. His best as a Cane was .926. Can you imagine if we had even one goalie playing that well this year?

Darling is sitting at .889 on the year. Can't imagine he's going to get much opportunity to pull that up before game 82.

 

[bleedgreen]

Is Cam a stud anymore? Hard to quantify. Was he ever? Debatable. Did he step up huge to have us a point off a playoff spot in March? Absolutely. Especially after being discarded as a starter in the first place. Articles written with quotes from him about sucking it up and becoming a back up, only to become the primary option on a team with some expectations who are already falling behind.

He deserves a ton of credit. Not analysis of where he ranks vs other goalies. It he had played all season as the starter we would be a few points further up I think it’s fair to say. He’s been good enough this season for us to be a playoff team.

Good enough to win a cup? Probably a different conversation but of all the things to pick apart and bicker about this year.....Cam isn’t one of them.