Harding vs. Backstrom?
- Thread starter Evgeny Oliker
- Start date
i think backs let in one "soft" goal. Is this one of those things where you read it or said it so many times you actually think it's true? Like Parise is being held back by not having a good setup man?
Backs lets in soft goals. That's pretty much an established fact of life at this point.
see!
ah, HF Wild, where opinion has become fact.
Because it doesn't happen all the time?
He's good for at least one a game, and it seems if he goes one game without, he makes up for it the next game...
His lateral movement sucks and it's just going to get worse with these repeated lower body injuries, he drops too early, he's incapable of bailing himself out if he over-commits. These are facts.
Really? Because Backstrom was great last year until we gave him a break and a game off, leaving him in Minnesota while we played an away game. The more he plays, the better he gets. That's fact.
Victorious Secret
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Not fact. I go the other way and great with Vashanesh. Honestly, during last year I thought he might even retire the way he struggled moving in the net and I am still believing he won't make it through his 3 year deal. He's terrible at moving and thats not going to change.
He only lets in weak goals because he doesn't put himself in the position to give up other ones. Backstrom was never a supremely talented goaltender and knew that. He was just smart enough to get by on just that, his smarts.
I just plain don't agree with that.
He knew how to succeed in a JL system. He was great in those years, on those teams.
We're not a JL team anymore, and he's exposed. That 3 year deal looks bad to me now, I can't imagine how bad it's going to look 2 years from now.
I really think this team's goaltending is it's weakest point. Harding has been unreal -- WAY better than I could've ever hoped for -- and I'm happy beyond words that he's having success. I've always wanted him to be our starter. But the fact remains that he's a ticking bomb. I hate to say it, ****, I hate to think it... It might be a few months from now, it might be years from now. But the fact remains that we need to look at a long-term solution.
Is that Kuemper? Gus? Free agent? Harding as long as he physically can? Or are we going to be ok with mediocrity from Backstrom for another 2+ years?
Victorious Secret
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Either way, too many teams have won recently with sub-par goaltenders to believe that a goaltender is the one key. Anything more than 3-4m for a primtime tender and you're paying too much.
To each his own. I think he can be a decent to good starter for us. I just don't see him being completely done yet. We have to keep in mind, well, I don't know how Harding got hurt but I've heard that he had a problem with his left leg. I'm pretty sure when he started having MS symptoms he had burning in his left leg. Let's hope he will be alright. I have to agree though, he does worry me, and Backstrom isn't capable of playing as much as he used to. We need a tandem, two healthy goalies. I know Bryz is still available, but that seems like a big risk. Heard mixed things on him and who knows if he will ever return to form.
I think that Bryzgalov is a better option than Backstrom. And he'd be a hell of a lot cheaper right about now. FFS, his time at Philly is just pointless to compare. They eat goalies alive.
Perfect example, the last time they went anywhere, who was their starter? Michael freaking Leighton. Where is he? The KHL.
That team is just cryptonite to goalie supermen.
Maybe we could get a solid tandem in Bryzgalov/Backstrom. That is if Harding is going to have some bad complications. I'm hoping its not the MS that affected his leg tonight.
bryz is a ****show distraction the team doesn't need. everyone is on the same page--they got rid of all the malcontents mostly because they were malcontents. he might do alright in the pipes the way the team was playing up until the Canes game but not worth it.
What are you talking about? Bryz is a perfectly good goalie. Philadelphia has a well deserved reputation of throwing goalies to the wolves and the philly media has an even bigger reputation of going for your juggular if they so much as smell blood. Remember, this is a town with people who booed santa claus and threw snowballs at him. And since the santa was from philly he agreed with them!
Imagine me multiplied to the size of a large city. That's Philadelphia and it's sports fans.
Much as Bryz intrigues me, it just doesn't work here. Only way I see it being a possibility is if Backs (or Harding) suffers a big time injury that will sideline him for the whole season, not just his usual couple week injuries.
Multiple Sclerosis.
Harding's health can be great one day then absolutely crap another. His health can get very inconsistent or stay great then drop off. Sucks to think about and say, and I am not trying to be the party stopper here but it just worries me. Our goaltending is questionable right now especially after that game that Kuemper just had.
You've got a point. Plus considering Kuemper needs more seasoning and we have yet to see Gustaffson at the NHL level, we will probably need some kind of stop gap next year unless Harding really really earns himself another year. And even then I don't like Backstrom going forward.
Umm... no, it was dizziness, not leg issues.
Also not true. Generally early on with someone like Harding's situation, it takes a while to get the meds right (what we saw last season), then they may not have issues for YEARS. Then suddenly they will have an attack and have to totally rework the meds again. MS is a series of plateaus generally... not a lot of inconsistency until later on.
http://www.msif.org/about-ms/symptoms/pain.aspx
I remember Harding on this last Becoming Wild saying he had burning in his legs, dizziness and saw black spots.
sounded like i meant Bryz was a malcontent, which wasn't what i was going for--just that we purged the guys that didn't fit. Bryz is definitely strange and I have serious doubts he'd fit in the locker room.
