When Cam Ward isn't 'on', he's a terrible goaltender

[Beardy*]

I've seen enough. He can carry a team for stretches, but thats it. When he's not on one of his streaks, he's downright terrible. This franchise would be much better off getting rid of him and getting a more reliable and consistent goaltender between the pipes.

Tonight is a disgrace. All 4 ******* goals he let in were soft, and the most recent 2 have been inexcusable. And this is after letting one in from beyond center ice the last game. Absolutely pathetic. Yes, he won the Conn Smythe, and I thank him for that, but get him out of Raleigh. Let him be someone else's problem.

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[Blueline Bomber]

Overreact much?

 

[Anton Babchuk]

This will be the usual Cam Ward thread. People will pretend like he's been an elite goalie for years and that this is just some minor hiccup that he'll get over. And he will, once the Hurricanes are far out of playoff contention and Ward goes on a stad-padding spree.

 

[Jerk Newton]

Overreact much?

Overreactions seem to be the MO of this board for the past few seasons. Yes, Ward played a terrible game tonight, and has looked off more times than he has looked on this season. Yes, Ellis should start the next game and possibly the next one after that. But all of this seems to be overdoing it.

And honestly, there's a part of me that almost hopes Ellis gets shelled in his next few games so that all the people who are chirping about Ward being the worst goalie ever and Ellis should be starting will shut the **** up.

 

[w e l o s t b o y s]

Maybe this is just what we need, another jinx thread. The Cam Ward is overrated thread worked like a charm maybe we should just bump that

 

[Jerkob Slavin]

I'm a huge Wardo fan, but he's not "right" at the moment. We definitely need to ride Ellis for a few games if for no other reason to give Ward a chance to work on his concentration and focus.

As someone else said in the GDT, hopefully we aren't in 9th place and a point out of a playoff spot when its all said and done. If so, this is one of the games that will haunt us.

 

[Lazyking]

Maybe this is just what we need, another jinx thread. The Cam Ward is overrated thread worked like a charm maybe we should just bump that

This...

Honestly, Ward is not getting this team to the playoffs playing like this but until Ellis does it, I won't believe that he can either. Anytime he's not been sheltered and played a long stretch, he's sucked so I'm not jumping on the Ellis wagon either.

 

[normalpsychology]

I've seen enough. He can carry a team for stretches, but thats it. When he's not on one of his streaks, he's downright terrible. This franchise would be much better off getting rid of him and getting a more reliable and consistent goaltender between the pipes.

Tonight is a disgrace. All 4 ******* goals he let in were soft, and the most recent 2 have been inexcusable. And this is after letting one in from beyond center ice the last game. Absolutely pathetic. Yes, he won the Conn Smythe, and I thank him for that, but get him out of Raleigh. Let him be someone else's problem.

Haven't you gotten the memo? Ward was incredible during the 06 cup run. Nothing else since then really matters

 

[NorthStar4Canes]

Cam must be hurt. Cam has a new baby. Cam is great in the playoffs. Cam is whatever.

Maybe everyone got so used to Streaky Staal it doesn't register that having a streaky, undependable player in net will hurt a team worse.

 

[normalpsychology]

Cam must be hurt. Cam has a new baby. Cam is great in the playoffs. Cam is whatever.

Maybe everyone got so used to Streaky Stall it doesn't register that having a streaky, undependable player in net will hurt a team worse.

He's only been playing with his locker stall in its new position for a few games now...

 

[rocky7]

IMO Cam Ward has never been an 'elite' goaltender. He is a good goaltender who plays up and down. He is better than average and awesome at times. That can be said about most, but he doesn't seem to have that regular game saving consistency that comes through when the team needs him to. A weak defence is a definate disadvantage of course to any goalie. His salary does seem high when compared to other goalies. He didn't lose the game tonight but he didn't come up big when needed. Soft goals deflate a team and huge saves pump them. It has been an odd season however and relatively young. But, there is no time to lose games that should have been won. Panic? No. But panic soon? Yes.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I'm curious, since the OP's point is that we should acquire a more consistent goalie, how many of them don't fit the title of this thread.

Lundqvist? Maybe Price?

Every fanbase in the league goes through periods of worrying that their goalie is a fraud. It's Ward's turn to be the goat, now that Luongo and Bryzgalov have gone through the wringer and Quick is still living within the benefit of the doubt.

 

[TheBigKahuna]

Ward is an average goaltender with a few brief periods of brilliance, and long stretches of mediocrity. He's overpaid, and overrated. This loss was 100% his fault.

 

[Anton H Christ]

He's either god tier mode or leighton mode, its just a waiting game to see how long he stays in leighton mode and frankly in this shortened season i dont think we should be waiting on ****, especially with a decent backup goalie in the wings.


Although to his credit he comes back very well, especially after a backup starts over him. The sensible non-reactionary in me says to give ellis more starts and don't sell cam quite yet.

 

[garnetpalmetto]

I've seen enough. He can carry a team for stretches, but thats it. When he's not on one of his streaks, he's downright terrible. This franchise would be much better off getting rid of him and getting a more reliable and consistent goaltender between the pipes.

Tonight is a disgrace. All 4 ******* goals he let in were soft, and the most recent 2 have been inexcusable. And this is after letting one in from beyond center ice the last game. Absolutely pathetic. Yes, he won the Conn Smythe, and I thank him for that, but get him out of Raleigh. Let him be someone else's problem.

Isn't that just about any starting goaltender at the NHL level though? He's good, except when he's bad? He wins except when he loses?

Just for the sake of argument here, let's say Jim Rutherford decided tomorrow morning to trade Cam off. What do we do in goal? Run with a tandem of Ellis and Peters? Acquire another goalie? If so, who?

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Trade for Luongo, amnesty buyout Ward, who gets signed by the Canucks.

 

[Roboturner913]

And there's the thing. Let's say the Canes decide they can do better than Ward and want to upgrade. Who is out there to get? Unless you're damn sure the other guy is better, it's a major gamble and if you lose, it sets the whole team back even more.

I say stick with Cam, but learn to play the backup at the proper time. Ellis should've been in there tonight.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Ward and 4 1st rounders for O'Reilly.

Think we'd need to add on our part?

 

[garnetpalmetto]

Trade for Luongo, amnesty buyout Ward, who gets signed by the Canucks.

While that would be hilarious, if for no other reason than the epic meltdown that would trigger on the part of y2canucks, what do you really gain from that? A goalie with 5 more years of mileage on him than Ward who is in some regards the yang to Ward's yin.

 

[rocky7]

And there's the thing. Let's say the Canes decide they can do better than Ward and want to upgrade. Who is out there to get? Unless you're damn sure the other guy is better, it's a major gamble and if you lose, it sets the whole team back even more.

I say stick with Cam, but learn to play the backup at the proper time. Ellis should've been in there tonight.

First, the term "upgrade" a goalie being paid his salary seems odd. Luongo is better IMO. That said, they should be doing what Pittsburgh is doing, play Ward and rest him. Makes Ellis better both with confidence and play time and keeps Ward sharp.

 

[Lazyking]

They'll have chances to start Ellis since we don't have more then one day off til after March 9. To stay in the playoff hunt, Ward will need his game to a competent level and rest. If he plays lights out, keep him in there. otherwise, every third start, put Ellis in.

 

[Razputyn]

Ward is an average goaltender with a few brief periods of brilliance, and long stretches of mediocrity. He's overpaid, and overrated. This loss was 100% his fault.

I feel like this is the truth.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Trade for Luongo, amnesty buyout Ward, who gets signed by the Canucks.

Thus acquiring another goalie who is horrible when he's not amazing.

 

[Clark Gillies]

Cam has become/is becoming the most divisive player on this team with the fan base. You will have you Cam apologists who will continue to defend him to no end and those who see he is an average goalie who has had flashes of brilliance at times but whose consistency problems and tendency to let in soft goals may actually put him below average.

I am a huge NY Jets fan and the Ward issue is becoming a lot like those surrounding Mark Sanchez. Apologists will say "he took us to 2 back to back AFC Championship games" followed with "He has no offensive line". "He has no receivers, they drop balls, they run wrong routes", "He has no running game" "He is tired from the supermodels he is sleeping with" etc. etc. However the truth is he is a below average QB, with poor stats to back that up, and anyone with eyes sees he makes poor throws and has horrible interceptions/fumbles (much like Ward's soft goals).

In some respects both goalies and qb's get too much credit when the team wins and too much blame when they lose. But in the case of Ward (and Sanchez) they really do deserve the blame although half the fan base doesn't want acknowledge that.

 

[TheBigKahuna]

Cam is what, the 5th highest paid 'tender in the NHL? And not going to make ANYONE's top 10 goalie list. He's way overpaid, along with Ruutu, Gleason, Jokinen, etc. We're going to have problems icing a competitive team over the next 5 seasons because of contracts like those!