Sparks is an NHL goalie for sure.

[saltming]

Unfortunately the better Sparks plays the more annoying this will all be as all the former detractors will say they have to give credit to Sparks for “turning it around” after the worst start to a season by a backup in the history of the nhl.
Instead of admitting they were wrong and overreacting these people will double down on the opinion Sparks play in the first 5 games was ECHL quality.

Firstly people are allowed to change their opinions especially when proven wrong, that's maturity. Secondly, I dont recall anyone saying sparks was ECHL level.
Than said, Sparks struggles when the pressure is on. When teams move the puck well in our zone or recover rebounds sparks has difficulty.
The game against the flyers was very lopsided for the leafs. I'm glad he did well, but he wasn't tested at all in that game, so my thoughts on him are not yet changed.

 

[DarkKnight]

Firstly people are allowed to change their opinions especially when proven wrong, that's maturity. Secondly, I dont recall anyone saying sparks was ECHL level.
Than said, Sparks struggles when the pressure is on. When teams move the puck well in our zone or recover rebounds sparks has difficulty.
The game against the flyers was very lopsided for the leafs. I'm glad he did well, but he wasn't tested at all in that game, so my thoughts on him are not yet changed.

I think he looked more composed last night, which was a good sign. You're right about not being tested, and I thought the same with the Anaheim game to be honest. When we see a game where we face some sustained flurries, pressures I'll be more comfortable making definitive judgements.

 

[1specter]

GSAA measures the number of goals allowed by a goalie compared to the number of goals that hypothetically would have been allowed by a league average goalie facing the exact same number of shot and exact same quality of shots etc. So instead of just looking at shots against, it looks at location of shots, high danger, medium danger, low danger, and looks at shots in different situations such as 5v5, 3v3, PP etc. I don't know how well it works, but it's purpose is to try to put all goalies on an even footing - the goalie who plays for a team with great defence that doesn't allow many high danger shots against and takes few penalties, compared to the goalie who plays for a team that has poor defence and does allow a ton of high danger shots against and takes many penalties (shooting percentage is way up on PPs compared to 5v5, so this can make a big difference).

So in the case of Sparks - he has let in 13 goals against this year, but based on the quality and quantity of shots against the average goalie NHL would have allowed roughly 16. In the case of Freddie, he has allowed 42 goals against this year, but based on the quality and quantity of shots against the average goalie would have allowed 55. In the case of Pickard he has allowed 31, but the average goalie would have allowed about 20.

Thanks for sharing this. I'll be honest, I thought the Leafs D helped him out a lot last night and against Anaheim, but I'm glad he's still outperforming in terms of GSAA.

 

[saltming]

I think he looked more composed last night, which was a good sign. You're right about not being tested, and I thought the same with the Anaheim game to be honest. When we see a game where we face some sustained flurries, pressures I'll be more comfortable making definitive judgements.

Exactly.
When the heat picks up can he keep his net? That would be the first thing I would like to see him accomplish, then better puck tracking skills.
Imo when he gets those 2 down while under pressure, he will be a NHL backup for sure

 

[Morbo]

Unfortunately the better Sparks plays the more annoying this will all be as all the former detractors will say they have to give credit to Sparks for “turning it around” after the worst start to a season by a backup in the history of the nhl.
Instead of admitting they were wrong and overreacting these people will double down on the opinion Sparks play in the first 5 games was ECHL quality.

lol

The guy has been bad in his NHL career up until this season. flat out bad. he also did not make the team on the basis of his terrible training camp, but rather his AHL performance.

there's no need to pretend that things didn't happen when they did.

on a team with any kind of goaltending depth at all, Sparks is unquestionably in the minors right now after that camp. he did not earn a spot.

having said that, good on the guy for putting a stable few starts together with an above .900 percentage for the first time, and not imploding. that's basically the bare minimum of what we're looking for here.

 

[Joey Hoser]

The guy has been bad in his NHL career up until this season. flat out bad.

His only appearance was 17 games, 3 seasons ago, when he was still developing and clearly not ready, because they were tanking.

It's frankly absurd to use that to evaluate him. You know better than that.

 

[DarkKnight]

Exactly.
When the heat picks up can he keep his net? That would be the first thing I would like to see him accomplish, then better puck tracking skills.
Imo when he gets those 2 down while under pressure, he will be a NHL backup for sure

It is a positive he's had a couple very tame evenings, will help with his confidence and gaining some from his teammates. I'm always pragmatic, but I don't change opinions based on small sample sizes, particularly when my "issues" are still an open question. Steal me a game kid and I'll be the first to applaud. After all, there is nothing more pathetic than hoping your team fails so you can say "told ya". I want to catch TB, that's all that matters in the end.

Have I changed my opinion McBackup is better. No I haven't, sue me. Open for revisions.

 

[Guided by Veseys]

Why everyone being bothered by my post?
I wasn’t talking about people who are gracious enough to admit (at least to themselves) they were proven wrong
My post was precisely about those people that won’t admit they were wrong but will rather pretend suddenly Sparks turned into an nhl goaltender somewhere around game 5 this year. Many posters acted like professional goaltending experts and claimed Sparks was not an nhl goalie, no need for me to find quotes, they were numerous.
Looks like Sparks always was capable and just needed a bit more patience and experience.

 

[Morbo]

His only appearance was 17 games, 3 seasons ago, when he was still developing and clearly not ready, because they were tanking.

It's frankly absurd to use that to evaluate him. You know better than that.

absurd? I watched all those games. he wasn't good.

so you're just going to cut out the rest of my post?

you know what people should know better than to do? start posting callouts and crowing on a sample size that is 5 games or less.

 

[Morbo]

Why everyone being bothered by my post? Many posters acted like professional goaltending experts and claimed Sparks was not an nhl goalie, no need for me to find quotes, they were numerous.
Looks like Sparks always was capable and just needed a bit more patience and experience.

how does it look like that?

 

[saltming]

It is a positive he's had a couple very tame evenings, will help with his confidence and gaining some from his teammates. I'm always pragmatic, but I don't change opinions based on small sample sizes, particularly when my "issues" are still an open question. Steal me a game kid and I'll be the first to applaud. After all, there is nothing more pathetic than hoping your team fails so you can say "told ya". I want to catch TB, that's all that matters in the end.

Have I changed my opinion McBackup is better. No I haven't, sue me. Open for revisions.

Yup!
In general I feel the team wins or loses, but the goalie can absolutely steal you a game or cost you a game.
Right now he's done neither so my jury is still out too.

 

[Guided by Veseys]

how does it look like that?

Probably his record and stats this season. Eye test says he isn’t the next Carey Price or Hasek but he’s doing the job as an nhl backup. A lot of people felt he wasn’t a good choice by Dubas but all signs point otherwise.

 

[DarkKnight]

lol

The guy has been bad in his NHL career up until this season. flat out bad. he also did not make the team on the basis of his terrible training camp, but rather his AHL performance.

there's no need to pretend that things didn't happen when they did.

on a team with any kind of goaltending depth at all, Sparks is unquestionably in the minors right now after that camp. he did not earn a spot.

having said that, good on the guy for putting a stable few starts together with an above .900 percentage for the first time, and not imploding. that's basically the bare minimum of what we're looking for here.

The thing I don't get is people accusing others of rooting against him. Does anyone recall the goalie poll we had here at the end of camp just prior to waivers? Sparks got 14 freaking percent in the poll as to who would get the gig, McBackup around 80 okay. That was based on what we had seen, that's how bad Sparks looked, pretty much all of us thought the same thing.

He looked awful in camp, he then looked like dogshit early on, so that was something to get behind? Or was that something to acknowledge and be concerned about? Again 14 percent of us thought he would get the gig, he was that bad, so let's not play this "haters" game, nobody has an agenda, but we have observations.

Moving forward, if you're cheering against them, then that's your defect. The rest of the "detractors" as far as I could see where just Leafs fans concerned with performances that did nothing to install any level of confidence. His abysmal rebound control and positioning were striking, that isn't a bias but an observation. Now, if he settles down, "matures", will that be less of a concern, let's hope so and it is encouraging his poise has improved, no question.

 

[Morbo]

Probably his record and stats this season. Eye test says he isn’t the next Carey Price or Hasek but he’s doing the job as an nhl backup.

yeah he's managed to put up a save percentage over .900 for a few games. it's a big step.

guess we'll leave it up to the studio audience to determine if that's enough to call him a capable NHL goalie.

 

[saltming]

Probably his record and stats this season. Eye test says he isn’t the next Carey Price or Hasek but he’s doing the job as an nhl backup. A lot of people felt he wasn’t a good choice by Dubas but all signs point otherwise.

Good teams find a way to win.
In general winning is a team result. On the occasion a goalie steals a game or loses a game. Looking back sparks has done neither

 

[Guided by Veseys]

Good teams find a way to win.
In general winning is a team result. On the occasion a goalie steals a game or loses a game. Looking back sparks has done neither

How many games on average is an nhl quality backup goaltender expected to steal every season?
He was shaky against Boston but likely wasn’t going to win that one anyways because Halek was on his game. Halek is $2 million more per season than Sparks so I would expect he puts up game stealing performances every so often.

 

[saltming]

How many games on average is an nhl quality backup goaltender expected to steal every season?
He was shaky against Boston but likely wasn’t going to win that one anyways because Halek was on his game. Halek is $2 million more per season than Sparks so I would expect he puts up game stealing performances every so often.

The thing is I'm not basing my opinion on his win/loss record. He is shakey when the other team moves the puck well or gets to the rebounds.
I'm judging him on his skills.
Can they improve? Yes. Will they improve? Time will tell

 

[Drytoast]

He looked much more confident last night.

He wasn't really tested and didn't have to battle much, but he didn't trip over himself.

He's 3-1 with a much more respectable 9.24 svp.

Thank f***ing christ this kid got it together.

 

[deletethis]

It really was a tidy performance last night. Almost no swimming for rebounds. There remains some underlying deficiencies I don't like but if you think it was an easy performance I've seen plenty of instances where one bad goal that cuts a big lead down and starts a comeback. That 1st period lead had the vibe of a game that could turn around in the 2nd period - the 1st period felt too easy - but Sparks didn't let that happen.

 

[Guided by Veseys]

The thing is I'm not basing my opinion on his win/loss record. He is shakey when the other team moves the puck well or gets to the rebounds.
I'm judging him on his skills.
Can they improve? Yes. Will they improve? Time will tell

That seems fine by me. My original post was simply talking about people that will pretend Sparks suddenly had some magical transformation around game 5 and became an nhl goaltender. I don’t assume you will be one of those people (should Sparks continue to excel).
I’m addressing the people posting in the future who pollute the conversation in defending their previous bravado rather than just taking the loss and moving on.

 

[saltming]

That seems fine by me. My original post was simply talking about people that will pretend Sparks suddenly had some magical transformation around game 5 and became an nhl goaltender. I don’t assume you will be one of those people (should Sparks continue to excel).
I’m addressing the people posting in the future who pollute the conversation in defending their previous bravado rather than just taking the loss and moving on.

 

[zeke]

The bottom line is that it is really damn hard to fluke a career AHL .927sv%.

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

I think the question that still begs to be answered is...why can't Philly find AND hold on to a franchise goalie? I mean it took us a while between The Eagle and Freddy but not over 30 years and counting. Hextall was their last one. Every year you hear "oh, this is the guy Flyer fans have been praying for." Draft pick, FA, flashy Euro star...nothing has worked. How can a franchise be so inept at this particular aspect of building a winner?

They have one in Elliot, its their defense that is horrid.

 

[Drytoast]

My thoughts on Pickard have certainly changed.

 

[hullsy47]

It really was a tidy performance last night. Almost no swimming for rebounds. There remains some underlying deficiencies I don't like but if you think it was an easy performance I've seen plenty of instances where one bad goal that cuts a big lead down and starts a comeback. That 1st period lead had the vibe of a game that could turn around in the 2nd period - the 1st period felt too easy - but Sparks didn't let that happen.