Player Discussion Craig Anderson Appreciation Thread

[Larionov]

First off, all the respect in the world to Craig Anderson for the career he has had. He came in here, solidified a position where we had struggled, and gave us a number of great seasons. He is the best goalie to ever play for the franchise.

Having said all that, he is now on the 18th hole and heading for the clubhouse. His body language on the ice is awful - he has checked out mentally, and his physical skills are deteriorating. At some point in their late 30s, the clock strikes midnight for pro athletes. That has now happened to him.

As for next year, the fact that we can buy out Anderson, save cash and still keep his full cap hit to help us hit the floor will be irresistible for Eugene. Buy out Anderson and offer Nilsson a one year, $3 million "show us" contract. Your cash outlay is the same, yet you've improved yourself at the position.

I just don't see where Anderson has even a scrap of trade value. Even if we retained 50%, that's over $2 million for a 38 year old goalie who has been putting up below replacement level stats for two straight seasons. Every team in the league has a guy in the AHL who can come up and give them that for less than half the price. Andy now reminds me of post-comeback Tim Thomas - a once great goalie who is now a shadow of what he once was. Father Time is undefeated...

 

[JD1]

First off, all the respect in the world to Craig Anderson for the career he has had. He came in here, solidified a position where we had struggled, and gave us a number of great seasons. He is the best goalie to ever play for the franchise.

Having said all that, he is now on the 18th hole and heading for the clubhouse. His body language on the ice is awful - he has checked out mentally, and his physical skills are deteriorating. At some point in their late 30s, the clock strikes midnight for pro athletes. That has now happened to him.

As for next year, the fact that we can buy out Anderson, save cash and still keep his full cap hit to help us hit the floor will be irresistible for Eugene. Buy out Anderson and offer Nilsson a one year, $3 million "show us" contract. Your cash outlay is the same, yet you've improved yourself at the position.

I just don't see where Anderson has even a scrap of trade value. Even if we retained 50%, that's over $2 million for a 38 year old goalie who has been putting up below replacement level stats for two straight seasons. Every team in the league has a guy in the AHL who can come up and give them that for less than half the price. Andy now reminds me of post-comeback Tim Thomas - a once great goalie who is now a shadow of what he once was. Father Time is undefeated...

Yup. I agree. He's done.

 

[Alex1234]

First off, all the respect in the world to Craig Anderson for the career he has had. He came in here, solidified a position where we had struggled, and gave us a number of great seasons. He is the best goalie to ever play for the franchise.

Having said all that, he is now on the 18th hole and heading for the clubhouse. His body language on the ice is awful - he has checked out mentally, and his physical skills are deteriorating. At some point in their late 30s, the clock strikes midnight for pro athletes. That has now happened to him.

As for next year, the fact that we can buy out Anderson, save cash and still keep his full cap hit to help us hit the floor will be irresistible for Eugene. Buy out Anderson and offer Nilsson a one year, $3 million "show us" contract. Your cash outlay is the same, yet you've improved yourself at the position.

I just don't see where Anderson has even a scrap of trade value. Even if we retained 50%, that's over $2 million for a 38 year old goalie who has been putting up below replacement level stats for two straight seasons. Every team in the league has a guy in the AHL who can come up and give them that for less than half the price. Andy now reminds me of post-comeback Tim Thomas - a once great goalie who is now a shadow of what he once was. Father Time is undefeated...

Agree
He is either on his knees not challenging the shot or on his knees not challenging the shot

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Agree
He is either on his knees not challenging the shot or on his knees not challenging the shot

Most goalies have frail confidence. They live off the good times, not that bad times.

The poor guy needs a good run.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

 

[operasen]

Glad he's having good games goping into the offseason. Increases his value. Trade him with something to upgrade a draft position into another 1st.

He's been a good soldier. He could backup a contender next year.

 

[DylanSensFan]

First off, all the respect in the world to Craig Anderson for the career he has had. He came in here, solidified a position where we had struggled, and gave us a number of great seasons. He is the best goalie to ever play for the franchise.

Having said all that, he is now on the 18th hole and heading for the clubhouse. His body language on the ice is awful - he has checked out mentally, and his physical skills are deteriorating. At some point in their late 30s, the clock strikes midnight for pro athletes. That has now happened to him.

As for next year, the fact that we can buy out Anderson, save cash and still keep his full cap hit to help us hit the floor will be irresistible for Eugene. Buy out Anderson and offer Nilsson a one year, $3 million "show us" contract. Your cash outlay is the same, yet you've improved yourself at the position.

I just don't see where Anderson has even a scrap of trade value. Even if we retained 50%, that's over $2 million for a 38 year old goalie who has been putting up below replacement level stats for two straight seasons. Every team in the league has a guy in the AHL who can come up and give them that for less than half the price. Andy now reminds me of post-comeback Tim Thomas - a once great goalie who is now a shadow of what he once was. Father Time is undefeated...

I am a huge critic of Anderson, but he has had nothing to do with this season or last. I also disagree that he has checked out.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Andy is not happy no one posted anything in this thread, last night.

 

[swiftwin]

I loved him coming to the aid of Chabot when Kadri was instigating shit at the end of the game. Anyone got a vid of that?

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

I loved him coming to the aid of Chabot when Kadri was instigating **** at the end of the game. Anyone got a vid of that?

 

[topshelf15]

Ahh JGP the anti Kadri missile...Love to see him scrap the fake tough guy

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

You know Andy was feeling it when he decided to bust out the two pad stack poke check vs. Toronto. He hasn't used that move in a few years I believe.

 

[topshelf15]

You know Andy was feeling it when he decided to bust out the two pad stack poke check vs. Toronto. He hasn't used that move in a few years I believe.

He isnt a 1a starter anymore,but on a better team he would be a great backup ,lots of teams could use him

 

[aragorn]

Andy has been good for Ott for a good portion of his time here but he has also had some moments when he stunk & his injury history while weird gave us the Hamburgler run & then Condon's run to get Ott into the playoffs. He's a hard guy to pin down, whose career seemed to come to an end several times only to be reborn with some solid play at appropriate times. Next season may not be his last depending on whether they are able to trade him after this season or at the deadline & whether anyone would re-sign him at his age including Ott. You have to like his honesty during interviews though, he told us a lot about how GB coached & the problems involved.

He would probably be a solid backup & maybe even a goalie coach after his career but Ott hasn't yet established a solid backup who they have enough confidence in to be a starter & take over for him. Nilsson has played well at times & has not at other times, is he a starter? Can he develop at his age into a solid #1 goalie? Can he play 50 or 60 games next yr? And Hogberg is a rookie who we won't know about until he plays a lot more NHL games & whether he can develop into a #1 goalie as well & Gustavsson is even younger. It will be interesting to see what happens with the goalie situation next yr & whether Anderson is retained or traded.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

He isnt a 1a starter anymore,but on a better team he would be a great backup ,lots of teams could use him

Yeah at this stage of his career I see him like how Roloson was used at the end of his career. Actually Roloson got way overplayed that one season and it hurt him big time.

 

[SensFactor]

Anderson is nearing the end of his career but he has been stellar on most nights. Hats off to him for not throwing the towel in.

 

[swiftwin]

Anderson is nearing the end of his career but he had been stellar on some night. Hats off to him for not throwing the towel in.

He was stellar at the beginning of the season too. He only started to falter after the trade drama started to mount. But when he's engaged, like playing against the Leafs, he shows up.

If he was on a playoff team, I have no doubt he'd be a starter.

 

[Alex1234]

You know Andy was feeling it when he decided to bust out the two pad stack poke check vs. Toronto. He hasn't used that move in a few years I believe.

Was super engaged against TO
One of his best performance of the season

 

[Samsquanch]

I appreciate the fact that Craig does not give one shit about supposed "superstitions" or "trends", and has proceeded to completely shatter the myth that he has one good year/one bad year by just outright sucking two years in a row.

I kid, I kid. Hes been a soldier for us and Im appreciative towards the best goalie in this teams history. Hopefully he can bounce back next year and have one last hurrah before its over, and end things here on a high note. For his own sake.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Was super engaged against TO
One of his best performance of the season

It was definitely playoff like

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

He was stellar at the beginning of the season too. He only started to falter after the trade drama started to mount. But when he's engaged, like playing against the Leafs, he shows up.

If he was on a playoff team, I have no doubt he'd be a starter.

Must be pretty hard for a goaltender in your final years to realize that you most likely will never being playing for the cup.

 

[bert]

Must be pretty hard for a goaltender in your final years to realize that you most likely will never being playing for the cup.

Probably why he has asked for a trade atleast once. Too bad no one is willing to give up any assets for him or he would likely be gone. I appreciate his play from years ago but if a guy asks for a deal id rather he was out of the dressing room.

 

[DueDiligence]

He was stellar at the beginning of the season too. He only started to falter after the trade drama started to mount. But when he's engaged, like playing against the Leafs, he shows up.

If he was on a playoff team, I have no doubt he'd be a starter.

Actually Anderson has been very inconsistent this year; pretty good at home and crappy on the road. His worse month was November and his best month was March so that disproves your theory about him faltering after the trade deadline.
And no he would not be a starter for a playoff team.

 

[BonkTastic]

Actually Anderson has been very inconsistent this year; pretty good at home and crappy on the road.

Defensively, we've been systematically picked apart on the road, when the home team has last line change advantage and have continuously created lopsided matchups against our green & bad defencemen. The fact that Andy's goaltending stats are worse on the road than at home lines up with this, and make perfect sense to me.

 

[BonkTastic]

Must be pretty hard for a goaltender in your final years to realize that you most likely will never being playing for the cup.

I hope he can get moved to a cup contender next year at the deadline, and we can give him at least one last cup run.

I have a feeling he sticks around the league after next season, though... for a year or two as some cup contender's backup goalie.