Yes I played goalie for many years actually. Also boxing, some soccer, I've played many sports.
I'm not sure this is really a qualification we should look at. I mean, I could claim I'm a goalie in ice hockey, field hockey, and soccer and defend Ramo and we'd be at an impasse.
Actually, let's do that. As a goalie, I really try to keep track of the style of the goaltender of teams.
His poor lateral movement was one of the first things I noticed about him, and he's shown it plenty of times.
I'm not sure it's lateral movement as rebound control. A lot of Ramo's shots go easily 20 feet out in nice shooting positions and he's forced to scramble. After years of Kiprusoff, I'm not sure some people are used to seeing goalies who scramble without that incredible calm and poise we saw from #34. What you may be thinking about is that he doesn't have the Kiprusoff god-like mobility and is still readjusting to the NHL shot speed. You can that he has problems tracking the occasional shot because it came earlier than expected.
Also, I never said he has no fire or compete, just not on the same level as Mac. J-Mac has it in spades which is one of the best qualities a goalie can have. His will to stop the puck compensates for his crazy style in the same way that it does for Thomas and Hasek. Of course he's not on their level but it takes a lot of fire to make those types of saves.
No goalie likes letting goals in. I think that's a fair claim for me to make.
On the miracle saves side, Ramo has done just fine. There were some games he has had lots and lots of quality opportunities against and shut the door. It's easy to say after a single game that he's a train wreck because he didn't stop that one chance that he could have had if he had seeming omniscience like the top 5 goalies in the league. It's harder to claim that he does that when we consider games like Washington as well. He is an up and down goalie, yes. Most are. It's rare to see a goalie who can be on top of things literally every single night. But he seems to average out around the starter level of his pay...let's not forget, Ramo is on a 3 million dollar salary. He's on Nabokov, Neuvirth, Bishop type money, going by contract start year. We shouldn't expect a miracle maker out there...just a guy who can be used as a starter. I think if we placed any of the former 3 to the same scrutiny, they'd look fairly soft as well.
Ramo is being paid like a mediocre starter and his stats seem to reflect that.
Some goalies have it by brimstone in their play, I agree. Thomas, Hasek, MacDonald all play with a bit of that unusual edge to them. But that's not to say that calm and composed goaltenders don't have drive either. Reimer is composed, but I wouldn't say that he isn't an noncompetitive goalie. The big difference for me is that MacDonald really lacks fundamental skills. The way he plays, he often loses track of his net and that puts him in a bad position. And that hurts him a lot...all too often, he has to fight on easy saves and it puts players on edge. Is this the shot that is going to cause a scramble in front? He's a great guy, but seems too willing to abandon his style. Thomas and Hasek were a little different...they had the fundamental skills built in and knew when to save with wild abandon as oppose to keep the (loose) system intact. MacDonald seems to lack that aspect a bit more in his game. And it's a bit too late for him to learn it.
Honestly, I find the heart attack sequences are far less common with Ramo.
...Not to mention, the fact that we are 3rd party observers hurts our ability to judge too.
