Is Braden Holtby done as an NHL starter?

HansonBro

Registered User
May 3, 2006
4,906
3,468
Oh how the mighty have fallen. After an impressive career in Washington, sans his last 3 years, winning a Stanley Cup, Vezina, Jennings, 5 x allstar and tied with the great Brodeur for most wins in a single regular season (48), he just cant seem to regain his form in Vancouver.

Currently sits with 12gp 4wins and owns a .894 save% and a 3.57gaa.

He was brought in as insurance for Demko, but its actually been the reverse, as Demko has easily stolen the crease.

Holtby will be around for 1 more season, but if this trend continues, is he cooked in the NHL? Any fans have any insight as to why his play has dropped so badly?
 

M2Beezy

Objective and Neutral Hockey Commentator
May 25, 2014
45,287
30,123
I dont think hes played bad in Vancity. Hes been average, Demko has been stellar. Our defense and defensive structure and coach are savagely bad. If Holtby was say in Carolina or Tampa or other good team his numbers would look good but wouldnt be good enough to win it all.

Been in a bad situation makes him look all that much worse
 

Chips

Registered User
Aug 19, 2015
8,309
7,053
He was done as soon as his team won the cup. The season after he fell off hard, had slightly declined before that. He was never good for the Reirden era caps, looked mentally weak a lot of games
 

Hisch13r

Registered User
May 16, 2012
32,892
32,065
NJ
I dont think hes played bad in Vancity. Hes been average, Demko has been stellar. Our defense and defensive structure and coach are savagely bad. If Holtby was say in Carolina or Tampa or other good team his numbers would look good but wouldnt be good enough to win it all.

Been in a bad situation makes him look all that much worse

He had an .897 on the Caps last year. Are you really sure he’d still have good numbers on a good team?
 

Connor McConnor

Registered User
Nov 22, 2017
5,243
6,011
He was done 2 years ago with the Caps, a much better team than Vancouver. To think he'd come to a team with a bottom 5 defense and succeed was ridiculous and very short-sighted of Benning. I understand the expansion draft concerns so you couldn't just ride 2 young goaltenders (DiPietro) but couldn't you have found someone that isn't completely shot for less than $4.3m?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Oryxo

Advanced stats

Registered User
May 26, 2010
11,641
7,526
I think it's about time to acknowledge that goaltender burnout is a real thing.

Off the top of my head, Holtby, Andersen, Price, Bobrovsky and Rinne all have a ridiculous amount of games played in the span of a few seasons and then fall off significantly within a couple years.

Goalies that play a tandem method or less games in general seem to age much better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeremy Hronek

ClydeLee

Registered User
Mar 23, 2012
11,715
5,263
He was worse 2 of the last 3 years. Health wise could do it in for him.

It's also normal. Most goalies that have bits are really good 4 years with a bad year between and have up and down average real bad years lingering in their career. Look at the careers of lots of goalies who won cups but are HOF elites, that's how it goes.
 

The Macho King

Back* to Back** World Champion
Jun 22, 2011
48,610
28,847
I think it's about time to acknowledge that goaltender burnout is a real thing.

Off the top of my head, Holtby, Andersen, Price, Bobrovsky and Rinne all have a ridiculous amount of games played in the span of a few seasons and then fall off significantly within a couple years.

Goalies that play a tandem method or less games in general seem to age much better.
Or it's time to acknowledge that players get worse as they age.

All of those guys you listed are over 30. And with the exception of Rinne, all of the players listed had pretty short peaks and aren't really in the discussion of "All-Time greats". Lundqvist was good with a heavy workload for a long time. As was Rinne. And of course guys like Roy, Brodeur, and Hasek were good well into their 30s. But those guys *have always* been the exception, at least in recent eras. Guys over 30 get worse no matter what position they are (with a handful of very notable exceptions).
 
  • Like
Reactions: DaveG

PettersonHughes

Registered User
Aug 26, 2020
1,537
652
Will Vancouver ride out his final year, buy him out, or try to bribe a team to take him?

The plan was always to expose him to Seattle anyways and protect Demko as the heir apparent (hence why Vancouver let Markstrom go to Calgary, since he wanted a NMC and term). For a short term hire in a Cup winner (Holtby) who can make spot starts and potentially offers mentoring for a star pupil (Demko), that's not a bad pickup for $4.3 million and 2 years. Sadly he probably is done as a starter unless he goes to a true bottom feeder (he's got better stats than both the Sens' top goalies in Murray and Hogberg and is only a bit worse than Thomas Greiss), though if he got the chance to play behind a defensive system he'd probably improve a bit.
 

Pinkfloyd

Registered User
Oct 29, 2006
70,238
13,611
Folsom
The plan was always to expose him to Seattle anyways and protect Demko as the heir apparent (hence why Vancouver let Markstrom go to Calgary, since he wanted a NMC and term). For a short term hire in a Cup winner (Holtby) who can make spot starts and potentially offers mentoring for a star pupil (Demko), that's not a bad pickup for $4.3 million and 2 years. Sadly he probably is done as a starter unless he goes to a true bottom feeder (he's got better stats than both the Sens' top goalies in Murray and Hogberg and is only a bit worse than Thomas Greiss), though if he got the chance to play behind a defensive system he'd probably improve a bit.

Yeah but Seattle won’t take him so then what? The Sharks would probably take him off your hands if you also gave them a 2nd.
 

GetFocht

Indestructible
Jun 11, 2013
9,077
4,373
Yeah but Seattle won’t take him so then what? The Sharks would probably take him off your hands if you also gave them a 2nd.

It doesn't matter, he's only signed to one more season at 4.3 million. It's an easy contract to digest and specifically signed for two reasons, insurance in case Demko falters and protects Demko in the expansion draft.

All Canucks have to do is stay the course for 1.5 more seasons and their cap structure is going to be beautiful with buyouts, buried salary, and bad contracts coming off the books.
 

Mickey Marner

Registered User
Jul 9, 2014
19,225
20,758
Dystopia
Sure looks like it. I think he could probably rebound for a year or two as a 1B on a contender, but I doubt anyone gives him a starting gig. Too bad he fell off so rapidly because he's not far off from being a hall of famer.
 

Regal

Registered User
Mar 12, 2010
24,545
13,840
Vancouver
Or it's time to acknowledge that players get worse as they age.

All of those guys you listed are over 30. And with the exception of Rinne, all of the players listed had pretty short peaks and aren't really in the discussion of "All-Time greats". Lundqvist was good with a heavy workload for a long time. As was Rinne. And of course guys like Roy, Brodeur, and Hasek were good well into their 30s. But those guys *have always* been the exception, at least in recent eras. Guys over 30 get worse no matter what position they are (with a handful of very notable exceptions).

It does seem like goalies tended to age better in the past but it could be that the pad size increases masked their waning athleticism and the smaller pad sizes recently have had a more negative effect.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->