Fleury/Zatkoff Is there a goalie controversy brewing?

[42]

Anaheim won't let Hiller walk after trading Faith.

Hiller is UFA so Anaheim does not have a lot of leverage. Highest bidder wins. But MAF is signed for one more year. Getting Hiller would leave one very expensive back-up. Unless MAF is traded.

 

[jmelm]

I do wish MAF gets bought out or moved in the summer just to go see him thrive for a team that knows how to handle him and help him.

Jesus, yes, I hope so. Getting Fleury's $5 million and Scuderi's salary off the books would allow us to re-sign both Niskanen, and go after a higher end forward. Or re-sign Nisky and replace Fleury with a guy like Miller or Hiller...


No, I don't believe a Zatkoff + Vokoun going into next season would be great, but I feel the same way about hanging on to Fleury -- who with his $5 million cap hit, precludes us from re-signing Nisky, another goalie and/or going after a forward.


I think I would rather roll the dice with a stronger team up front (i.e. Nisky + one of Vanek/Cammalleri/Setoguchi/Kulemin/etc.) to be more potent offensively to make up for subpar goaltending. OR, if we wanted to get a better goalie, we could get one who gave us more confidence and a better chance to win than MAF. Any which way you slice it, getting rid of MAF (and hopefully Scuds), and replacing their salaries with other players.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

nope

 

[Whale Mingo]

Despite what he's done of late (now that he's starting to play actually decent teams...he was incredibly sheltered until the Olympics) I still have little faith in him if we need to count on him in the playoffs. His playoff history throughout the levels has been nothing short of putrid to this point.

Wait.......I forget it you are talking about Zatkoff or Fleury at this point.

 

[radapex]

Wait.......I forget it you are talking about Zatkoff or Fleury at this point.

Well, Fleury had had success in the past while Zatkoff hasn't...

 

[Dragon Priest]

No controversy. Zatkoff is getting his starts in as the Pens look to rest Fleury before the playoffs. No need for MAF to play on back-to-backs.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Wait.......I forget it you are talking about Zatkoff or Fleury at this point.

Jeff Zatkoff's playoff stats by level.
USHL - 2 GP, 8.88 GAA, .706 SV%
ECHL - 7 GP, 3.73 GAA, .872 SV%
AHL - 12 GP, 4.58 GAA, .865 SV%

Zatkoff has started 5 different playoff rounds as a starting goalie and has finished only 1 of them (Ontario, as a top seed, lost to Stockton in that series).

Zatkoff for WBS last spring was worse than Fleury has ever been, and that's saying something.

 

[Darth Vitale]

Marc-Andre Fleury is going to go back in net and he's going to take the net and he's going to be the No. 1 goalie and he's going to play great, Bylsma said. There's no question about that. And he's going to win a lot of hockey games for this team next season and he will have an opportunity in the playoffs again when this team gets there.

Should I close the thread now or later?

 

[vikingGoalie]

put this in the post game comments against the 'Yotes.

but food for thought. last 5 games: Fleury 88.7% save pct. Zatkoff: 92.9%

There is no controversy, Fleury *IS* our guy unless he flames out in the playoffs (again). I am just concerned that Fleury's stats show what the eyeballs show. This season he has changed his technique some and has been more technically sound in net all season long. However, he has been not that great the last 5 games. You see goals that go in, and many of them I see I go meh not really his fault.
The problem is I watch the legit cup contending teams, and *those* goalies tend to make those saves. We'll see in about month... I'm really hoping he pulls it together and has a great post season. If not I hope him and Blysma are chased out of town...

 

[Jedi Pengu*]

If Zatkoff starts in Thursday against the Kings then something is up. Where's there's smoke there's fire!

 

[wgknestrick]

put this in the post game comments against the 'Yotes.

but food for thought. last 5 games: Fleury 88.7% save pct. Zatkoff: 92.9%

There is no controversy, Fleury *IS* our guy unless he flames out in the playoffs (again). I am just concerned that Fleury's stats show what the eyeballs show. This season he has changed his technique some and has been more technically sound in net all season long. However, he has been not that great the last 5 games. You see goals that go in, and many of them I see I go meh not really his fault.
The problem is I watch the legit cup contending teams, and *those* goalies tend to make those saves. We'll see in about month... I'm really hoping he pulls it together and has a great post season. If not I hope him and Blysma are chased out of town...

News flash....MAF still isn't a good goaltender.

 

[ZapRowsdower13]

Have to ask...are you high? No. No. No there isnt.

 

[joeyjake5]

There is no controversy. Fleury will be the playoff goalie this year. I am not a Fleury fan. If the Pens do anything this year in the playoffs it will because Fleury steals games. This is just a bad TEAM.
Yes, losing the MTL series was his fault. Losing to TB was not his fault with Sid, Geno and Cooke not there. That series proved that J. Staal is not a #1 center. Losing to the Flyers was his fault. He let in too many easy goals. Last year he was terrible and Vouchon probably saved DB and RS jobs.
Whether Fleury is here next year just depends on how well he plays in the playoffs. Having two Ds like Scuds and Orpik and no 3rd and 4th lines is not Fleury's fault. IMO, it is RS.

 

[Vujtek]

If Zatkoff starts in Thursday against the Kings then something is up. Where's there's smoke there's fire!

Pens will have games on Thursday and Friday and Zatkoff beat Kings in LA not too long ago with a great performance. Wouldn't surprise me at all if Zatkoff goes Thursday against the Kings while Fleury goes Friday against the Blue Jackets. Then again Zatkoff has also beaten CBJ twice this season already so he may get a third start against them while Fleury would go against the Kings. Anyways, expect Zatkoff to start either of those games.

 

[Til the End of Time]

the controversy is that fleury is still on this team.

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

Nothing against him but Zatkoff hasn't even proven he can carry the load even if they wanted him to, and while I don't think he has a problem with softies he's currently operating around the same "softies-to-games played" ratio that Fleury used to.

 

[Pens1566]

The answer is no.

 

[wolffy66]

If we had a backup goalie with experience, yes theres a controversy. We don't so we are stuck with MAF. Sadly it wont matter who our goaltender is either way.

 

[radapex]

If we had a backup goalie with experience, yes theres a controversy. We don't so we are stuck with MAF. Sadly it wont matter who our goaltender is either way.

The biggest fear right now is that they do buy Fleury out then go throw something insane like $7- or $8-million per year at Ryan Miller, because it's not going to matter as long as Bylsma remains as coach.

 

[Sidgeni Malkby]

The bigger question should be...
If Fleury falters in the playoffs...will they even give Zatkoff a shot?
and more importantly, should they?

My opinion...
If see a black hole (aka we'd doomed), then Zatkoff will get a game in. Fleury was on a shorter lease with Vokoun behind him.

I don't think it will be the same for Zatkoff.

 

[blueliner18]

...at least Fleury hasn't let Kyle Okposo score on him twice from below the goal line this season (last years playoffs it happened twice in two games). IMO Fleury is a different goaltender this year, still tries to play the puck a little to often, but overall better. What goaltender in the league isn't going to let in 3 or 4 goals when they face 35 to 40 shots a game??? I think we need to save all the "judging" for the playoffs. If he's letting in 5 goals on 10 shots, then we'll hang him publicly at Point Park, let the kid have one more shot at resolving his playoff demons before you crucify him.

 

[blueliner18]

Also, don't forget the Penguins played absolutely awful in front of Fleury the past 3 years in the playoffs. Very similar to how they are playing right now (defensively). Bylsma might be able to coach regular season hockey, but his teams crumble defensively in the playoffs. In the Philly series (2012 playoffs) it was a firing range, and fans blamed Fleury for not stopping 40 out of 40 every game. They said nothing of how the Penguins lacked dicipline defensively and missed assignments all over the defensive zone.

 

[MeticulouslyDishevel]

This team has more than enough problems. Fortunately an imaginary goalie controversy isn't one of them.

 

[Gold Diamond]

No. Fleury is a very good goaltender, warts and all.