Jets goaltending discussion (part 3)

[ffh]

Chevy...

"I think we should focus on the now. These deals were about the now," he said. "We�ve got a fantastic guy we feel has been a No. 1 and is a No. 1 in the NHL, and is ready, willing and excited to help push the Jets forward."

I know. pretty obvious don't know why the media keeps insisting the exact opposite.

 

[Unholy goalie]

Yea if Mason returns to form I expect him to play 50-55 games if Helly struggles it could reach 60. If Mase is getting clearly outplayed by Helly by Christmas is where it might get interesting. I would like to see them establish a routine until Late November though to give Mason and Helly a full chance to settle into a rhythm.

The game share seems reasonable. I doubt that there will be any sort of challenge for top spot barring injury or a complete meltdown on the part of Mason.

Development for Helle this season will not be judged as much by wins/sv% but moreso by the technical changes he will be making and how he implements them. The org gave the reigns to Helle last season and got burned, so they are no doubt going to take the opportunity to work very closely with him this season. There were some patterns in his play that emerged last year, and one of the biggest excuses as to why it wasn't improving was that there wasn't enough practice time to do anything significant throughout the year.

So now, the org can go to Helle and say "we see you as the future starter of this team, but in order to do so you'll need to improve x,y,z. Mason is here to take the load off so all we want to see from you is improvement in those areas regardless of wins/sv%".

 

[Unholy goalie]

Chevy...

"I think we should focus on the now. These deals were about the now," he said. "We’ve got a fantastic guy we feel has been a No. 1 and is a No. 1 in the NHL, and is ready, willing and excited to help push the Jets forward."

Yep.

Full article from freep.

 

[YWGinYYZ]

Chevy...

"I think we should focus on the now. These deals were about the now," he said. "We’ve got a fantastic guy we feel has been a No. 1 and is a No. 1 in the NHL, and is ready, willing and excited to help push the Jets forward."

Rather forward statement by a guy who keeps his cards close to his chest. Validates my thinking that they transitioned into a "win-now" mode, and why they tried to keep the line-up together through the XD. Won't know for a bit if it works out, but I like the change in direction, especially in grabbing arguably one of the best goalies available in Free Agency.

 

[WerdnaG]

About time.

 

[Romang67]

well according to a hockey writers article just posted mason should get 30 or 35 games this year and be a somewhat iffy backup for hellebuyck.

Wasn't the hockey writers good once?

I'm almost as unimpressed as I am by all the people screaming overpayment, when 23 other goaltenders in the league makes more money than Mason.

To me, Mason has had a very interesting career. He started out with a great rookie season (statistically, it was arguably more like an amazing stretch, coupled with a weak rookie crop), and continued to be overrated for the next two years. Then he was rated fairly until he moved to Philadelphia, where he started playing really well. Only people haven't realized it, so they still think he's the same goalie he was in Columbus.

 

[ps241]

Yep.

Full article from freep.

Rather forward statement by a guy who keeps his cards close to his chest. Validates my thinking that they transitioned into a "win-now" mode, and why they tried to keep the line-up together through the XD. Won't know for a bit if it works out, but I like the change in direction, especially in grabbing arguably one of the best goalies available in Free Agency.

That quote really lays it out and is music to my ears.

 

[YWGinYYZ]

So we've had some talk about Holm and Berdin's ability to play the puck - what's Mason like in this regard?

 

[10Ducky10]

"In the final three months of the year, he was fourth in the NHL in save percentage (.926) and fifth in goals-against average (2.14)."

For those that are saying it is about time, which goalie should Chevy have signed last year in free agency?

 

[Unholy goalie]

So we've had some talk about Holm and Berdin's ability to play the puck - what's Mason like in this regard?

Couldn't find much from last season, but I think he's pretty well regarded based on previous work.

Here's some info from 2014 and 2015:

Flyers counting on Mason's puck-handling skills

"He's pretty good with the puck," captain Claude Giroux said. "He can start our power play. He can rim it, he can reverse it. He can do all those kind of things. When you have a goalie that can do that, it definitely helps the breakout."


Flyers goalie Steve Mason, the Wayne Gretzky of summer ball hockey, wants NHL goal

"Mason has become perhaps a top three goalie in the NHL handling the puck, arguably behind only Mike Smith of the Arizona Coyotes and Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens now that Devils great Martin Brodeur is retired."


Post 2 Post: Puckhandling - an underrated skill for goalies

"THE QUARTERBACK: These are guys who really skilled with the puck and are capable of making complex plays and direct passes. They can clear the zone in a penalty killing situation and are generally the best in the business in handling pucks.
We're talking about Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Arizona's Mike Smith, Washington's Braden Holtby, Steve Mason of the Flyers, Pekka Rinne in Nashville and Montreal's Carey Price."



Would be curious to hear from some flyers fans though.

 

[YWGinYYZ]

Well, that's positive - thanks for gathering up those quotes! As a Jets fan, I'm not sure what it's going to be like to have a goalie that doesn't treat the puck like a live grenade.

 

[Guffman]

Chevy...

"I think we should focus on the now. These deals were about the now," he said. "We�ve got a fantastic guy we feel has been a No. 1 and is a No. 1 in the NHL, and is ready, willing and excited to help push the Jets forward."

It makes sense to take that approach now. Vets are still playing at a high level and our young guys are driving much of the play. This is a great opportunity to push this team hard. It's not a time to develop players, like Hellebuyck, at the expense of wins.

I think Mason playing 50ish games makes sense to me.

 

[Aavco Cup]

Nice visual representation here (5 on 5 sv%)

 

[Puck Hawerchuck]

I couldn't disagree with you more. Hellebuyck has dominated every level he has played INCLUDING outplaying Rinne as the world championship goalie of the tournament two years ago.

If Myers didn't get hurt last year we don't even have this conversation.

Montreal fans thought Halak was better than Price in 2010 as well. A little patience and a complete overhaul of our PK to a high pressure system will do wonders for our goalies.

You'll see...

I couldn't disagree with you more. Hellebuyck has dominated every level he has played INCLUDING outplaying Rinne as the world championship goalie of the tournament two years ago.

If Myers didn't get hurt last year we don't even have this conversation.

Montreal fans thought Halak was better than Price in 2010 as well. A little patience and a complete overhaul of our PK to a high pressure system will do wonders for our goalies.

You'll see...

 

[Puck Hawerchuck]

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you All-Star Connor Hellebuyck! Told ya...

 

[RandomJetsFan]

so hutch is apparently called up one of helle or mason hurt?

 

[TheGovernment]

Just saw that on twitter

 

[HPsauce]

When Mason is back... Is this a case of trading Mason or trading Hutch?

 

[Guffman]

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you All-Star Connor Hellebuyck! Told ya...

I honestly did not expect this coming at all. It’s rather nice having competent goaltending for once (but our defensive play also has a big piece of this too).

When Mason is back... Is this a case of trading Mason or trading Hutch?

The call up has no relation to a trade, though I am glad the Jets called up Hutch over “Crazy Eyes” Comrie.

That said, I really would like to say Hutch get another opportunity with the Jets. His stats in the AHL has been incredible this year.

 

[ERYX]

Interesting comments from Hutch as he breaks his media silence and speaks to the press after being recalled (again): Angry Hutchinson out to prove Jets wrong

“If you get demoted in your job you’re going to be pissed off,” he said. “Being sent down is getting demoted. There’s no way of sugar-coating it. It sucks. I was pissed off. There’s still days when you come to the rink and you’re still pissed off that you’re down there.”

...

“There’s two ways you can go about it,” he said. “You can just sulk and let your game turn to crap, or you can use it as motivation and to prove the people that put you there wrong, and show that you should be up at the NHL level. So that’s what I’m trying to do, is prove people wrong.”

 

[ERYX]

I’ve got a bit of mixed feelings on Hutchinson’s comments to the press. While on the one hand I like that he has some fire in his belly and is using the situation as motivation to play better (which seems to be working). On the other hand, it seems a bit ... I don’t know what the word is ... but I don’t like it that he seems all pissy at management for sending him down as if he’s the victim of some injustice. He sent himself down by playing like **** ever since the All Star break in 14/15.

Regardless I hope this leads to great play. I suspect he’ll be the backup goalie for quite a while. Mason will be out for a bit I imagine. Chevy’s patience in not trading Hutch is paying dividends. If he’d traded Hutch he’d now he scrambling trying to find a trade partner for a Mason replaceent because Comrie clearly isn’t ready.

 

[SensibleGuy]

yeah it's fine for him to not be happy about being sent down as long as he recognizes the rationale behind it. It's not reasonable for him to expect the organization to just "take a chance" on him playing better after the way last year went. There is too much at stake at the pro level for them to say "well he was pretty bad last year but let's just go with him again and see if he can do better." I mean they could make that decision, but it's certainly not shocking they decided to bring in more of a veteran presence and Hutch needs to understand that its business...If they'd gone with Helly/Hutch again this year and Hutch crapped the bed there'd have been lynch mobs out for Chevy.

 

[trebendan]

It would be too bad, but I wonder if Mason may have to think about retiring, for the sake of his long term health. I wonder if he's thinking about that, and/or if the Jets are?

 

[jets2020champs]

Has the Jets 1.0/2.0 ever have a goalie that went to the all stars?

 

[Jimby]

A great interview! Beware that he actually credits Flaherty with his improvement. Watching this video may challenge some preconceived notions.