Ward/Lack: Exactly how bad were they really?

[Dumpster Flyers]

Hey Canes fans. I am but a humble outsider with a question about your team.

A quick look at the stats suggest that Ward and Lack did not have great seasons, and goaltending issues continues to plague the team. However, Peters seems to play a possession-heavy style that is more vulnerable to odd-man counterattacks and quality scoring chances, which could make the goalie's Sv% look worse out of context. Stats show playoff-caliber Corsi but an anomalously bad PDO.

Is this narrative accurate, or do you think Carolina's problem lies with goaltending and lack of finishing ability? Also, while I know Ward isn't playing like the top-tier goalie he once was, do you think his Sv% would be higher on most other teams, and to what degree?

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[Carolinas Identity*]

we should kill them both tbh imo

 

[59Rosebuds]

I didn't think either of them were bad. I am right on the glass for all of the Canes games. The biggest drawback is that both lack the ability to flat out steal games. Lack has the added issue of inconsistency due to being the backup for long periods of time. I would rather see us give Lack the starting role from the outset of the season and let him get into a rhythm. Maybe let him start the majority of the preseason games.

On another note, I hope Altshuller get a chance to start a few games next year.

 

[DaveG]

Ward was meh, Lack was somehow significantly worse then meh but still not even close to the bottom tier of backups we've had this past decade.

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

very

 

[Roboturner913]

Peters' approach is very adherent to the Babcock school, which has been proven time and time again over the last decade. So if you're asking me if there might be a problem in terms of coaching philosophies, I'd have to say no.

Soft goals were the norm, especially in the first few months of the season. That's a big problem for me. Both goalies were better over the second half of the season in general, no surprise the team got much better results in turn.

So in summation, yeah, to me, goaltending was the #1 thing holding the team back this past season. Scoring is another, but we are much closer to having a good base of offensive players than we are to having good goaltending right now. IMO.

 

[Wolfpuck]

Fire David Marcoux

Into the Sun

 

[Hulkacaniac]

Fire David Marcoux

Into the Sun

Hey now it's not his fault he can't help putting his nose into how every goalie plays their fundamentals

 

[sheriff bart]

I don't think Pinnochio helped at all this year

 

[HisIceness]

I was not impressed with Lack. Ward is declining but at times is a serviceable net-minder for us. Goaltending is going to be our achilles heel next season.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Ward was seriously not good until mid-December.

Anyone remember the game where he let in both of these in a 1-goal loss?





I mean look at Peters' face after that second goal. You cannot have goaltending like that at the NHL level.

He did get better, significantly better as the season went along. But never to the point of having the game-stealing ability that would justify the occasional trainwreck game.

The easiest way to get better results from this team is to find better goaltending.

 

[NotOpie]

Ward's game was pretty bad to horrible for most of the initial 2 months of the season. His game seemed to turn around in a loss to FL on 12/18. Following that game he went 8-3-4 in his next 15 games. During that time he also sat out something like 3 weeks with an injury (concussion I believe).

Eddie Lack was much more inconsistent from game to game, but his 1st two months were just terri-bad. Even after he started showing us why Ronnie traded for him, he remained inconsistent. His challenges are that when he's off he gives up juicy rebounds and because he's a bigger goalie he tends to play deeper in the crease allowing guys to walk in closer and snipe more effectively. That positioning was something that Marcoux tried to change unsuccessfully. However, it appeared that Eddie "split the baby" and edged out a little further in the blue paint but just not as far as Marcoux would have liked. It cut down on angles and made his glove side, in particular look like it was more effective.

In Eddie's 1st 10 games he went 2-6-1 plus a no decision. That last game was a win against Anaheim where he seemed to have figured a few things out. He was still consistently inconsistent throughout the rest of the season but he strung together a nice run when Cam was injured in January and early February. In fact beginning with that Anaheim game Lack went 8-4-2 plus a no decision. During that run, however, he had 6 sub-.900 SV% games and the team went 1-4-1 in those tilts.

Ward depends on good technique and positioning with a dose of quickness thrown in when he's on his game. Lack is all about positioning, athleticism, and quickness. His technique is all over the map. Together they paint a picture that has fans wondering what good consistent goaltending actually looks like.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

IMO, The problems were more complex than just goalies struggling. First, Cam and Eddie were definitely both struggling the first couple of months of the season. Second, by losing Wiz right off the bat, the team had to scramble defensively as well and were basically playing 3 rookies (or 2 rookies and Murphy) and they needed to adjust. Third, the PK was terrible early in the season and it wasn't all because of goaltending. The PK got much better as the season progressed, the rookies got better and the forwards were sorted out. Lastly, lack of goal scoring is and was as big of an issue as goaltending. It also was better from December on, but still bottom quarter of the NHL.

I had hoped for better things from Lack. He had some games where he was just lights out, but his play was just a lot more loose and he gave up more rebounds. Ward was the better goalie last season.

Ward: Oct 8 - Dec 8: 0.892 SV%
Ward: Dec 8 - Apr 7: 0.920 SV%

Lack: Oct 8 - Dec 8: 0.863 SV%
Lack: Oct 8 - Dec 8: 0.910 SV%

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Hey Canes fans. I am but a humble outsider with a question about your team.

Loved you as Colonel Sanders. A little disappointed you couldn't hold on to that role for longer. Also, your Twitter feed is epic.

 

[Joe McGrath]

He did get better, significantly better as the season went along. But never to the point of having the game-stealing ability that would justify the occasional trainwreck game.

Just off the top of my head I know Ward stole the Avs game on the road early in the season, since they won 1-0 in OT and he made of those impossible stick saves late in the 3rd.

I think he stole another in January but I'm having trouble remembering. Not to discount the rest of your post because I agree with it, just that he did steal a couple games they had no business winning.

 

[nobuddy]

Ward was seriously not good until mid-December.

Anyone remember the game where he let in both of these in a 1-goal loss?





I mean look at Peters' face after that second goal. You cannot have goaltending like that at the NHL level.

He did get better, significantly better as the season went along. But never to the point of having the game-stealing ability that would justify the occasional trainwreck game.

The easiest way to get better results from this team is to find better goaltending.

I was at this game. Horrifying.

 

[The Faulker 27]

Turrible

 

[FreshSeabass]

IMHO i think that lack really didn't get a fair shot. Through the beginning of the season i recall him getting a start here and there, but he really didn't get a chance to get a rhythm going. As someone pointed out earlier when he did get to string together some consecutive starts his performance improved greatly. I'm not saying he is the best goaltender out there, but i really do think he didn't get a fair shake. Vancouver saw him as a potential starter after miller went down, if i recall correctly. What has changed between then and now? The amount of games played for lack went down to 34 from 41 in his two seasons with VAN. I'm gonna go out on limb and say you probably shouldn't give a guy your looking to become your starter less games than the the guy your trying to replace.

 

[My Special Purpose]

Soft goals were the norm, especially in the first few months of the season. That's a big problem for me. Both goalies were better over the second half of the season in general, no surprise the team got much better results in turn.

Bingo. This is the issue for me. We can use fancy stats -- and even old-fashioned stats -- to show whatever we want, but in the end, our goalies gave up a lot of goals that NHL goalies simply should not allow. This breeds a lack of confidence in the goaltending and the feeling that you have to do everything right to cover for your goalies. Good goaltending -- or at least, goaltending that stops all the shots they should stop -- does just the opposite. It frees a team to be more aggressive. The numbers can say whatever you want them to say, but there's no stat for bad goals at critical moments, and we've clearly led the league in those as long as Cam has been around.

So in summation, yeah, to me, goaltending was the #1 thing holding the team back this past season. Scoring is another, but we are much closer to having a good base of offensive players than we are to having good goaltending right now. IMO.

Gonna disagree here, only because the nature of the position means we're exactly *one* NHL goalie away from completely solving our goaltending issue. Unfortunately, there aren't many of these guys available, but a big splash for a guy like Ben Bishop, and we're in good shape. Offensively, we're about three guys short of NHL-level depth.

 

[RodTheBawd]

Bishop is great, but I don't think Carolina is going to be ponying up the type of contract he'll be commanding.

I'm gonna go out on limb and say you probably shouldn't give a guy your looking to become your starter less games than the the guy your trying to replace.

You should when he's getting outperformed by the guy you're trying to replace, especially when that guy you're looking to replace could actually be a viable starter.

 

[NotOpie]

IMHO i think that lack really didn't get a fair shot. Through the beginning of the season i recall him getting a start here and there, but he really didn't get a chance to get a rhythm going. As someone pointed out earlier when he did get to string together some consecutive starts his performance improved greatly. I'm not saying he is the best goaltender out there, but i really do think he didn't get a fair shake. Vancouver saw him as a potential starter after miller went down, if i recall correctly. What has changed between then and now? The amount of games played for lack went down to 34 from 41 in his two seasons with VAN. I'm gonna go out on limb and say you probably shouldn't give a guy your looking to become your starter less games than the the guy your trying to replace.

There is/was a lot of "give Eddie some games in a row" calls during last season. Cam Ward got hit in his face mask by a Phil Kessel slapper, knocking his mask off on January 12. He played one more game and then missed 3 weeks. Eddie started every one of those games during Cam's injury. During that run, Eddie Lack went 4-3, pitching two shutouts. However in his 3 losses he gave up 4 goals twice and 5 goals once. He was the picture of inconsistency. You just didn't know what you were getting. If 3 weeks of play isn't enough to see what you have in a goaltender then I don't know what is.

Personally, I think Lack was finding his confidence after taking what David Marcoux was serving and either ignoring it or taking it with a grain of salt. His confidence was pretty low during the 1st 2.5 months of the season as he had lost his game somewhat. He started finding it again in December, built on that in January and February. March was a conundrum as he gave up 4 goals 3 times. What we learned about last year's Eddie Lack was that he just wasn't to be depended upon to deliver consistency. We already knew we had that in Cam Ward, so better the devil we knew from Peter's perspective.

My hope is that Eddie is working on some things (I know not what) and that he'll come into camp with more confidence and a little more reliance on technique to help him find his game when his athleticism won't.

 

[sheriff bart]

Loved you as Colonel Sanders. A little disappointed you couldn't hold on to that role for longer.

Since they were running with ex-SNL guys, I was really hoping Tracy Morgan was going to be the next Colonel.

 

[geehaad]

During that run, Eddie Lack went 4-3, pitching two shutouts. However in his 3 losses he gave up 4 goals twice and 5 goals once. He was the picture of inconsistency. You just didn't know what you were getting. If 3 weeks of play isn't enough to see what you have in a goaltender then I don't know what is.

Change "3 weeks" into "10 years" and you have encapsulated Cam Ward. But, for some reason, Ward gets the starts.

 

[NotOpie]

Change "3 weeks" into "10 years" and you have encapsulated Cam Ward. But, for some reason, Ward gets the starts.

I'm no Ward apologist, but he was flat out better than Lack for the majority of the year. Of course that might feel like, "....would you like the electric chair or face a firing squad...." type of choice....come to think of it that's exactly what it feels like.....or maybe more of a "...death by a thousand cuts" sort of thing.

 

[The Faulker 27]

Change "3 weeks" into "10 years" and you have encapsulated Cam Ward. But, for some reason, Ward gets the starts.

But remember that one cup that one time.