Sparks needs to be better...

[ACC1224]

Only the 4th goal was soft. The 1st was terrible defense, the 2nd deflected multiple times, the 3rd was a great one timer and the 4th I would have stopped. No matter what you can't win if you don't score.

It’s also harder to play from behind.

 

[diceman934]

Only the 4th goal was soft. The 1st was terrible defense, the 2nd deflected multiple times, the 3rd was a great one timer and the 4th I would have stopped. No matter what you can't win if you don't score.

All were soft. Any goals that go threw a goalie are soft. His stick is very poor as he gets scored on 5 hole a lot. These are preventable as you simply keep your stick there.

The out come of games have a lot to do with the score. We had horrible goaltending they have fantastic goaltending. We lost they won.

Deflections when the puck changes complete direction are not as easy to stop that was not the case in this game.

Pucks went right through him. Even the one timer was a stoppable puck as he was down and made him small and he got beat high as he failed to square up to the puck, he was there in place early enough but way to deep in his net. His technique is very poor and his save selection is the worse in the NHL constantly using the wrong piece of equipment to stop the puck.

Who knows what the out come of the game would have been had he stopped some of those goals.

 

[nsleaf]

Honestly, your points are rarely clear or worth reading.

I don't like Sparks, but he is a rookie.

Agree his posts are confusing and all over the place. I suspect this poster is also posting as someone else as well.

 

[diceman934]

Not quite the same. It happens to every goalie yes, but the frequency at which it happens defines good from bad.
Sparks is very leaky, andersen is not

They go through him a lot or he gets beat high. He does not square up to pucks and plays to deep. He us simply put not an NHL goalie at this present time nor do I think he ever will be.

If we put him on waivers I highly doubt he would get claimed as pro scouts are very aware of his short comings.

 

[saltming]

Sparks wasn't great last night but I struggle to see why he's the one getting kicked in the teeth right now when every single skater we had played as badly as they have all season in front of him

You've got your backup playing a b2b because of injury so they needed to stand up and make his life easier, we didn't, in fact I'd say we made his job significantly harder with our lack of urgency and unwillingness to get the basics right

Sparks isn't perfect but him getting the lions share of blame after that debacle pisses me of
It's on our coaches, skaters and goaltending but I'd like to point out that Sparks is a backup playing a b2b, what's everybody else's excuse for sucking last night?

Players play differently if they don't trust the goalie.
Though the goals were difficult ones, if his technique was sound he would probably have stopped 3 or maybe all of them.
Yes he started back to back, but the game before was pretty easy, but if you're giving it as an excuse for sparks play, then you have to give it to the whole team as they too played back to back.
Personally I think sparks has played better in the past 2 games. He has not been as scrambly and only lost his net 3 or 4 times a game, which is an improvement.
However he still struggles with all the other aspects of the game and last game showed how he cannot close up his holes fast enough

 

[saltming]

They go through him a lot or he gets beat high. He does not square up to pucks and plays to deep. He us simply put not an NHL goalie at this present time nor do I think he ever will be.

If we put him on waivers I highly doubt he would get claimed as pro scouts are very aware of his short comings.

We agree. I said from the start of the season that he would probably clear then, even more so now

 

[The CyNick]

Our young GM doesn't seem to have an eye for good goalies. Fortunately our previous GM made sure to acquire a good one.

 

[diceman934]

That’s true of every goalie, including Andersen.

The goals go through on every goalie.

lol but it happens all the time. He is either well out of the play or pucks go through him and he gets beat high.

He chases puck which takes him out of position.

Pucks go through every goalie which is true, that is why you will hear a goalie say they need to tighten up. Same as when an announcer states the goalie is battling...meaning they are struggling with technique but still attempting to stop pucks. This is not a compliment at all.

 

[AreBe]

I have very little confidence in him. He’s not terrible, but he’s definitely a weak backup. Too bad that we let a terrific backup walk to retain him, probably Dubas’ biggest mistake so far.

We need to have the rock bottom cheapest at that back up goalie position
Sparks was an outstanding AHL goalie and not subpar
Kordic for Courtnal? No! We keep our future Vezna trophy winner - it’s not an imposition
the hard salary cap means handful of fat-cats and the rest the cheapest conceivable and thems be the facts! We have to accept it, come join me, I’m Drinking heavily at the bar!

 

[saltming]

We need to have the rock bottom cheapest at that back up goalie position
Sparks was an outstanding AHL goalie and not subpar
Kordic for Courtnal? No! We keep our future Vezna trophy winner - it’s not an imposition
the hard salary cap means handful of fat-cats and the rest the cheapest conceivable and thems be the facts! We have to accept it, come join me, I’m Drinking heavily at the bar!

I hope you are in Europe if you're drinking heavily at the bar as its 1136 it Toronto

 

[DarkKnight]

We agree. I said from the start of the season that he would probably clear then, even more so now

Found Babs comments fascinating post game. First time I've heard anyone admit in the organization they were surprised both goalies were picked up on waivers, only expected to lose one of Mc or Pickard, not both. Also said the lack of goalie depth has been an issue all year, they've been trying to address. So, we did miscalculate at the beginning of the year, that's probably why we didn't go with 3 goalies to start, we didn't see both getting picked up.

Not sure if Sparks clears or not, but I know we wouldn't get a 5th rounder for him.

 

[saltming]

Found Babs comments post game fascinating. First time I've heard anyone admit in the organization they were surprised both goalies were picked up on waivers, only expected to lose one of Mc or Pickard, not both. Also said the lack of goalie depth has been an issue all year, they've been trying to address. So, we did miscalculate at the beginning of the year, that's probably why we didn't go with 3 goalies to start, we didn't see both getting picked up.

Not sure if Sparks clears or not, but I know we wouldn't get a 5th rounder for him.

Ya it's impossible to tell if he would have been picked up, but my thought process was that he was the only one with a no NHL success in his resume, so team would be less likely to go for him.
If we really wanted to send 2 down Pickard would have been claimed but I really think sparks would have passed through.
But I can say that forever and we will never know.

 

[DarkKnight]

Ya it's impossible to tell if he would have been picked up, but my thought process was that he was the only one with a no NHL success in his resume, so team would be less likely to go for him.
If we really wanted to send 2 down Pickard would have been claimed but I really think sparks would have passed through.
But I can say that forever and we will never know.

So we made a miscalculation of not realizing the market for our goalies, which has now cost us a 5th to rectify. If we did get the correct feel for the waiver market, wonder if the 3 goalie angle would have been considered, rather than carrying 8 D we never use anyways.

Sparks was awful preseason, the worst of the three. He may have passed waivers, but someone just might have taken a chance on him.

 

[saltming]

So we made a miscalculation of not realizing the market for our goalies, which has now cost us a 5th to rectify. If we did get the correct feel for the waiver market, wonder if the 3 goalie angle would have been considered, rather than carrying 8 D we never use anyways.

Sparks was awful preseason, the worst of the three. He may have passed waivers, but someone just might have taken a chance on him.

In retrospect I guess it's a good dilemma to be in; your team is so good all around you are going to lose players no matter what.
Holl might have cleared, but I think teams would rush to take a big body good skating rhd. Marincin? Why not for free. He had a great year with the marlies last year and has shown he can have good stretches in the NHL.
So at that point it's about calculated risks, so maybe the fear of losing sparks due to age and cost won the coin flip?

 

[DarkKnight]

In retrospect I guess it's a good dilemma to be in; your team is so good all around you are going to lose players no matter what.
Holl might have cleared, but I think teams would rush to take a big body good skating rhd. Marincin? Why not for free. He had a great year with the marlies last year and has shown he can have good stretches in the NHL.
So at that point it's about calculated risks, so maybe the fear of losing sparks due to age and cost won the coin flip?

Only caveat, Marincin already cleared waivers last year. Point taken he had a good Marlie run.

 

[saltming]

Only caveat, Marincin already cleared waivers last year. Point taken he had a good Marlie run.

Also the timing of sending him down last year was good. Other teams were set and nobody at that time was looking

 

[Muston Atthews]

That was really his chance to instil some confidence in the club and he puts up that effort. Ugly. He didn’t have to win the game just not... that

 

[Joey Hoser]

Found Babs comments fascinating post game. First time I've heard anyone admit in the organization they were surprised both goalies were picked up on waivers, only expected to lose one of Mc or Pickard, not both. Also said the lack of goalie depth has been an issue all year, they've been trying to address. So, we did miscalculate at the beginning of the year, that's probably why we didn't go with 3 goalies to start, we didn't see both getting picked up.

Not sure if Sparks clears or not, but I know we wouldn't get a 5th rounder for him.

IIRC, didn't one of Carolina's goalies get hurt on like, the same day they were placed on waivers?

 

[Muston Atthews]

Reimer 2.0....

 

[Mikeyg]

What does Analytics have to do with Sparks?

i was just saying how his ridiculous ahl stats mean abso f***ing lutely nothing.

 

[Mikeyg]

Reimer 2.0....

get this guy the f*** out of here, moral victories are for losers. Stop a puck bozo.

 

[BertCorbeau]

get this guy the **** out of here, moral victories are for losers. Stop a puck bozo.

His 2018:

- Won a Calder Cup
- Was voted AHL's top goaltender
- First team AHL all-star
- Fulfill his dream of making the NHL

But yes those are "moral victories"

 

[DarkKnight]

I'm sure his NHL teammates are impressed every time they wonder if he's NHL caliber then see his AHL champion mask. I mean seriously.

 

[Menzinger]

Come on guys, of all the things to be critical of a player, having a healthy/positive attitude is about the last thing we should talk about.

You think having him wallow in self pity would be better?

 

[TheBigThree]

Ian scott is probably light years better than sparks at this point. Dubas really shart the bed on letting mac go