Confirmed Signing with Link: [CAR] Canes sign Scott Darling (4 years, $4.15m AAV)

[Cardiac Jerks]

Ward is a starter, but the idiots played him 8 times b2b and too much for long periods. I can run down every goalie too. CAR lost the playoffs because they overused Ward and were too cheap to get a better backup. Too cheap to claim McElhinney off waivers for free in January. And now they paid a 3rd for Darling's rights ... idiots. And the best is these idiots will pay Darling 3M more than Pickard and Domingue will make next season.

Ron Francis, you idiot! We could've had Louis Domingue for less. He's the man to carry us to the playoffs.

 

[Ropesman]

When i seen this thread i wasn't quite sure which way to feel about the deal. First thoughts were "lots of dough for a backup" then i progressed to well he looked decent in CHI so 4M if they make him the starter is decent.

So long as you get the same Darling CHI did its a fair deal. Never going to be an upper echelon goalie but i assume at this point CAR is just looking for a stable presence back there.

 

[sheriff bart]

I would consider a playoff round a starter workload, 7 games in 2 weeks. Unfortunately Darling played that seldom. If you want to compare Darling's backup workload you need to compare him with other backup workloads either.
For example in 2015/16 Darling played 21 games with enough rest with .917 EVsave%. Pickard was .923 in games with enough rest, Korpisalo was .928, Domingue .934.

Do you understand that young goalies are still developing. Darling played NHL only the last 3 seasons when he was 26, 27 and 28 years old. Domingue and Pickard just had their 25th birthday, at 25 Darling played ECHL. Do you get this? You want to compare a further developed goalie with Korpisalo who is over 5 years younger.

Pickard, Korpisalo and Domingue are younger, played on worse teams than Darling and still were better at same usage.

Ward is a starter, but the idiots played him 8 times b2b and too much for long periods. I can run down every goalie too. CAR lost the playoffs because they overused Ward and were too cheap to get a better backup. Too cheap to claim McElhinney off waivers for free in January. And now they paid a 3rd for Darling's rights ... idiots. And the best is these idiots will pay Darling 3M more than Pickard and Domingue will make next season.

Sounds like you have this all figured out better than the GMs and coaches do

 

[airbus220]

Sounds like you have this all figured out better than the GMs and coaches do

If you could go back in time to early January, wouldn't you claim McElhinney off waivers?

McElhinney was pretty good in TOR and might be the reason they reached the playoffs.

But some people think goalies are machines you can turn on and off. Ask CBJ fans if they think Bobrovsky played too much too, because when it counted he wasn't good in the playoffs.

 

[sheriff bart]

If you could go back in time to early January, wouldn't you claim McElhinney off waivers?

McElhinney was pretty good in TOR and might be the reason they reached the playoffs.

But some people think goalies are machines you can turn on and off. Ask CBJ fans if they think Bobrovsky played too much too, because when it counted he wasn't good in the playoffs.

But we can't go back to January.

Look, you won't find a Canes fan anywhere that doesn't think Cam was overused, and most likely damaged because of it. You are right about them grinding him into the ice in 2009, but we are talking about what to do now, not revising history. Ward has a lot of city miles on him.

I have to say that I feel much better with the idea of Darling as the de facto #1 next year instead of wheeling Cam out there with hopes and dreams. Cam's stats have been pretty consistent (ly bad) for a while. There is a reason that "mediocre at best" has been kicked around a lot by Canes fans.

Francis knew he needed to upgrade in goal, and made a move. Could it backfire? Sure. But signing Bishop for 6 years at $7M has a lot of "ouch" on it too. Trading for MAF? His career numbers aren't much better than Ward's, but he has a bigger safety net with the team in front of him. I thought all along it would end up Darling or Grubauer.

 

[airbus220]

But we can't go back to January.

Look, you won't find a Canes fan anywhere that doesn't think Cam was overused, and most likely damaged because of it. You are right about them grinding him into the ice in 2009, but we are talking about what to do now, not revising history. Ward has a lot of city miles on him.

I have to say that I feel much better with the idea of Darling as the de facto #1 next year instead of wheeling Cam out there with hopes and dreams. Cam's stats have been pretty consistent (ly bad) for a while. There is a reason that "mediocre at best" has been kicked around a lot by Canes fans.

Francis knew he needed to upgrade in goal, and made a move. Could it backfire? Sure. But signing Bishop for 6 years at $7M has a lot of "ouch" on it too. Trading for MAF? His career numbers aren't much better than Ward's, but he has a bigger safety net with the team in front of him. I thought all along it would end up Darling or Grubauer.

Grubauer is even less proven playing consecutive games.
I wouldn't want Bishop and Fleury either.

As I already said, I wish you all the best with Darling, but I think many mistakes were made in the past. If they play Darling 55-60 games it could be another mistake. And if Vegas will draft Ward it could get ugly with Lack.

 

[NotOpie]

Condon played 27 consecutive games and could be better than Darling playing starter workloads.
Pickard played lots of games on a bad team when Varlamov was injured and wasn't so bad.
1 year ago Domingue and Korpisalo played many consecutive games with good results. They already proved to be able to play starter workloads.
They all are much younger than Darling and are possible to get and would be much cheaper.
Even Budaj could be better than Darling playing starter workloads.

How much better should Darling be next season at age 29 to be worth multi millions more than what Domingue and Korpisalo did 1 year ago when they were 23 and 21 years old.

You are totally discounting that w/the exception of Budaj (who I cannot even believe you referenced given his extremely inconsistent history) these guys are all RFAs (or arbitration eligible RFAs). Columbus has absolutely not incentive to trade within their division and Korpisalo would have been even more expensive to acquire.

Ward is a starter, but the idiots played him 8 times b2b and too much for long periods. I can run down every goalie too. CAR lost the playoffs because they overused Ward and were too cheap to get a better backup. Too cheap to claim McElhinney off waivers for free in January. And now they paid a 3rd for Darling's rights ... idiots. And the best is these idiots will pay Darling 3M more than Pickard and Domingue will make next season.

Do you even watch the Hurricanes? If so, you would know that Cam Ward just isn't that good. He had a three or four nice seasons/runs, but outside of that has been a below average goal tender. Perhaps it did have something to do with his usage early in his career, but by now that's a moot point....oh, and I don't know where you're getting your back to back figures. Ward played in 5 sets of back to backs, with the first one not taking place until mid December. Overall Ward was 4-1 in the first games of b2bs and 3-2 in the 2nd games....not a real big difference. He played in 3 sets of back to backs in December and then not again until early Feb.

If you could go back in time to early January, wouldn't you claim McElhinney off waivers?

McElhinney was pretty good in TOR and might be the reason they reached the playoffs.

But some people think goalies are machines you can turn on and off. Ask CBJ fans if they think Bobrovsky played too much too, because when it counted he wasn't good in the playoffs.

I would not have picked up McElhinney. From Dec. 17 to Jan. 14 Ward went something like 9-4. Over his next 10 starts Ward gave up 36 goals. It had nothing to do with workload, he was just downright bad.

 

[airbus220]

these guys are all RFAs (or arbitration eligible RFAs). Columbus has absolutely not incentive to trade within their division and Korpisalo would have been even more expensive to acquire.

I don't know where you're getting your back to back figures.

Pickard and Domingue are under contract for another year. Korpisalo is RFA but not arbitration eligible. You might get them all from Vegas, not for a 3rd round pick, but salaries are much cheaper than 4M.

Ward played
DEC 07, 08, 16, 17, 22, 23, 30, 31,
JAN 05, 06, 13, 14,
FEB 03, 04,
MAR 13, 14.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

I don't think it was ever a consideration to wait and trade with Vegas. Don't present that as if it were a realistic possibility.

 

[ONO94]

1st 10 starts of the season--Cam Ward had no back to backs, gave up 28 goals and had a 3-4-3 record. Last 10 starts of the season with one set of back to backs, Cam gave up 29 goals, and went 4-2-4. So I can agree with only one of your points....Cam Ward is the reason the Canes missed the playoffs.

 

[caniac247]

Odd to throw so much at him without having him play a game for your team. Good numbers for a back up though could work out.

I don't get this. Every free agent gets paid big bucks without ever having played for said team.

If the Islanders don't sign Tavares, he is getting paid by another team and a lot. Should his new team not pay him for what they think he will do to help their team b/c he's never played there and may not adjust to their system?

Teams pay players not only what they did on their previous team, but also what they expect said player to do on their team. And of to outbid other suitors. Darling is expected to out play Ward and be the #1 starter. He is getting paid as a low end starter.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Interesting. If true, it appears Dallas's first choice was Darling also. Makes sense why it cost what it did. Canes were in an ideal situation as they had 7 picks in the first 3 rounds of this coming draft so were more able to part with their 7th pick in the draft (Ottawa's 3rd round pick).

http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/05/15/report-ben-bishop-wasnt-dallas-first-choice/

But according to a report from the Joural de Montreal’s Renaud Lavoie, Bishop wasn’t Dallas’ first choice. Instead, Stars GM Jim Nill wanted Scott Darling from the Chicago Blackhawks.

According to Lavoie, Nill wasn’t interested in giving up a third-round pick for Darling’s exclusive negotiating rights, so the ‘Hawks shipped him to Carolina instead.

 

[FirstRowUpperDeck]

Interesting. If true, it appears Dallas's first choice was Darling also. Makes sense why it cost what it did. Canes were in an ideal situation as they had 7 picks in the first 3 rounds of this coming draft so were more able to part with their 7th pick in the draft (Ottawa's 3rd round pick).

http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2017/05/15/report-ben-bishop-wasnt-dallas-first-choice/

I have also read the Hawks wanted Darling in the Eastern Conference, and certainly NOT in the Central Division where he would possibly help the Stars dethrone them at the top.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

.882 SV% and 3.40 GAA as a Backup in the American League with Charlotte.

Yikes, this deal is mindblowingly bad.

 

[Jacob]

The only thing worse is some of the Canes fans takes in this post.

 

[Nick Hansen]

.882 SV% and 3.40 GAA as a Backup in the American League with Charlotte.

Yikes, this deal is mindblowingly bad.

Considering his history you do wonder...because that is terrible. It was evident that his fundamentals were poor when with the Canes last year but...

 

[Pinkfloyd]

The real question is does he go to the buyout pile that Semin is still on or do you eat the contract the next two instead of the buyout portion the next four.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

Why was this deal ever necessary?

Not sure why GM’s ever sign any goalie (whatever the AAV) to long-term contracts with such a tiny sample size that often is mediocre at best. I have the same questions about this deal as I do Chiarelli randomly giving out a 3-year deal to Koskinen.

It’s like GM’s get afraid of having to overpay for a goalie, so they sign completely unproven ones to long term “good deals” to combat it. Considering how difficult it is to project a goaltender’s future, I am not sure this is the proper solution.

 

[Frank Drebin]

Saw a really cool video of darling and belfour on YouTube when darling was still with the hawks.

Eddie was darlings hero and went to belfour s hockey with eds son I believe. Anyways darling brings it up to Eddie and while Eddie didn't remember Scott he did say that his wife told him about this young kid at his camp who looked like a future nhler, that kid was Scott darling. It was really cool to see a grown man (darling) act just like a kid around his hero. Around the 2 minute mark

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

The only thing worse is some of the Canes fans takes in this post.

Actually no, what's worse is when posters use hindsight in a 2 year old thread in an attempt to make themselves look smarter.

Every team has trades/signings that fans are happy about initially that turn out badly.

 

[Volica]

Why was this deal ever necessary?

Not sure why GM’s ever sign any goalie (whatever the AAV) to long-term contracts with such a tiny sample size that often is mediocre at best. I have the same questions about this deal as I do Chiarelli randomly giving out a 3-year deal to Koskinen.

It’s like GM’s get afraid of having to overpay for a goalie, so they sign completely unproven ones to long term “good deals” to combat it. Considering how difficult it is to project a goaltender’s future, I am not sure this is the proper solution.

There's only so many ways to pickup netminders in this league to be your #1.

The league is pretty split on how to get them:
1) Draft and develop them for years.
2) Trade for a backup goalie and hope to God he becomes that starter.
3) Sign a legit 1G for legit 1G money.

There were probably 15 other teams in the league that probably were in line to get Darling when he was moved and signed. His numbers from being a backup in Chicago were outstanding. This backfired in the worst of ways, but there's no way you could have predicted it at the time though because his numbers coming from Chicago were fantastic.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Why was this deal ever necessary?

Not sure why GM’s ever sign any goalie (whatever the AAV) to long-term contracts with such a tiny sample size that often is mediocre at best. I have the same questions about this deal as I do Chiarelli randomly giving out a 3-year deal to Koskinen.

It’s like GM’s get afraid of having to overpay for a goalie, so they sign completely unproven ones to long term “good deals” to combat it. Considering how difficult it is to project a goaltender’s future, I am not sure this is the proper solution.

I think it's a case of there aren't 31 "good" starting goalies in the NHL. Teams with bad ones have to take some risks and hope they strike gold. Doing nothing and riding Cam Ward for another 5 years wasn't going to work.

 

[Jacob]

Unfortunate that some need hindsight to realize a boozing SPHL reject isn’t worth 4x4.

 

[Pi]

Back up goalies on good teams rarely ever become great starting goaltenders on a different team. Goalies are voodoo. Can't blame the Canes for trying because they really were just a good goaltender and a couple of tweaks away from being a playoff team.

Look at McElhinney this season. He's been a completely different goaltender for the past 2-2.5 years. No one would have expected him to put the #'s he has in a back up or starting role.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Unfortunate that some need hindsight to realize a boozing SPHL reject isn’t worth 4x4.

LOL. Look at the internet tough guy.