The future of Steve Mason

[blahblah]

I just don't feel our goaltending is the reason we are losing.

One of the most over use phrases out there and while it is my issue, not yours, it bothers me.

We want to look for "the problem" in a team game. There are a lot of problems with this team, goal tending being among them. While, in most games, they aren't losing it for us, they really haven't stole one yet either. Sure, most of the goals they are giving up are excusable, but they aren't playing like #1's either.

We need better and even if we state their are bigger problems with the team, goal tending is still an issue that needs addressed. I don't think the solution is to trade for Luongo, for example. That could very well create more problems than solve, but our next GM has to be smarter than starting a season with two questionable goal tenders, hoping that "competition" makes them bother better. That is setting yourself up for failure.

We look at a game and we go "We only scored two goals", instead of looking at the game and stating "We were one big save away from taking this to OT". It is a much different game playing with a tie in the 3rd as opposed to being a goal or two down.

 

[ThisIsMyAlibi]

I think Bob has looked pretty damn good, all things considered.

 

[Viqsi]

I just don't feel our goaltending is the reason we are losing. Did they miss some saves they should have? Yes. But they've also made some they shouldn't. I just feel this is not the season to move or worry about goaltending. Go into the offseason focused on improving offense, and if a deal comes across that moves a goaltender that we can't resist I wouldn't be against it. I feel Bob is our guy going forward.

Concur. The goaltending isn't doing thievery for us, but that's not the big issue this year.

 

[cslebn]

One of the most over use phrases out there and while it is my issue, not yours, it bothers me.

We want to look for "the problem" in a team game. There are a lot of problems with this team, goal tending being among them. While, in most games, they aren't losing it for us, they really haven't stole one yet either. Sure, most of the goals they are giving up are excusable, but they aren't playing like #1's either.

We need better and even if we state their are bigger problems with the team, goal tending is still an issue that needs addressed. I don't think the solution is to trade for Luongo, for example. That could very well create more problems than solve, but our next GM has to be smarter than starting a season with two questionable goal tenders, hoping that "competition" makes them bother better. That is setting yourself up for failure.

We look at a game and we go "We only scored two goals", instead of looking at the game and stating "We were one big save away from taking this to OT". It is a much different game playing with a tie in the 3rd as opposed to being a goal or two down.

This absolutely. BB also mentioned before that the team is working harder. Last night's game is a huge example of that. We still had two huge duh moments that lead to 2 of the 3 goals. Is that on the goalies? Not completely. Could they have pulled a huge one out when seeing the team was fighting so hard? You would expect a true #1 to do that. Especially the Holland goal, Bob even reacted like he knew he should have stopped that.

I'm not saying Bob should go or be gotten rid of. I'm saying he's not a permanent solution (I don't think anyone is saying that). But if we are talking about what we are doing this summer and next season, the time to start planning is now.

How long until our prospects are ready? We hear how Dansk, Forsberg, and Korpi are the future. Is that future 3 years, 5 years, never from now? We need to constantly explore these kinds of options to do whatever we can to improve int he long term and short term.

 

[CBJx614]

One of the most over use phrases out there and while it is my issue, not yours, it bothers me.

We want to look for "the problem" in a team game. There are a lot of problems with this team, goal tending being among them. While, in most games, they aren't losing it for us, they really haven't stole one yet either. Sure, most of the goals they are giving up are excusable, but they aren't playing like #1's either.

We need better and even if we state their are bigger problems with the team, goal tending is still an issue that needs addressed. I don't think the solution is to trade for Luongo, for example. That could very well create more problems than solve, but our next GM has to be smarter than starting a season with two questionable goal tenders, hoping that "competition" makes them bother better. That is setting yourself up for failure.

We look at a game and we go "We only scored two goals", instead of looking at the game and stating "We were one big save away from taking this to OT". It is a much different game playing with a tie in the 3rd as opposed to being a goal or two down.

I look at it like this. We are rebuilding, brick by brick. And we have two bricks who are capable of keeping us standing(for the time being) they are keeping us in games and we don't want to mess with that. Let's build our offense brick by brick so that they can become the load bearing wall before we decide to replace our current load bearers (mason and bobrovsky) not saying they need to be ignored, just they are serving they're purpose this year.

 

[JacketsDavid]

Goaltending is the one spot on the team that we COULD fix very quickly. This is one player added and one player subtracted that could take us from below average to above average.
I could not imagine any reason to bring back both Mason and Bob next year. I could envision neither coming back or I could easily envision just bringing back one.
If you go out and get a legit #1 NHL goalie and back him up with Bob (again I'm not sure Bob is better than Mason but I think Mason needs to move on) AND continue building from the net out it makes us a better team next year. We would still struggle to score goals, but at least the team would have an identity - strong in net, tough to score on. Right now the identity of the team is weak in net, struggles to score goals (or basically they play defense but their goaltending is suspect which is the worst identity I could imagine a defensive team to have).

 

[blahblah]

I look at it like this. We are rebuilding, brick by brick. And we have two bricks who are capable of keeping us standing(for the time being) they are keeping us in games and we don't want to mess with that. Let's build our offense brick by brick so that they can become the load bearing wall before we decide to replace our current load bearers (mason and bobrovsky) not saying they need to be ignored, just they are serving they're purpose this year.

Let us never use the phrase "brick by brick" ever again, unless you are calling Mason a brick. Having said that I can look at the team and realize the areas we need improvement it. I don't need to wait. I can multitask. What you propose is Howson type of thinking and I complained about that from (almost) day one of his tenure. This is a player by player evaluation and not some "Well he might play better if we play better in front of him" analysis. An owner doesn't spend 50+ million on players to let the goalie learn on the job. Wait... Not one but TWO goalies.

I have confidence that a lot of our existing bricks are going to find themselves thrown from very tall buildings here very quickly. I don't think you will go into next season with a Mason/Bob 1/2 unless something miraculous happens to end the season and JK can't smash one of those two bricks into a billion little pieces.

As I said the biggest thing I hate about JD coming is this lemming approach to use of the phrase(s) "brick by brick" and "going north". If you go too far north you'll just end up freezing your ass off and eventually heading south and end up in a Siberian prison. That is unless a polar bear doesn't make you a meal first.

 

[CBJx614]

Let us never use the phrase "brick by brick" ever again, unless you are calling Mason a brick. Having said that I can look at the team and realize the areas we need improvement it. I don't need to wait. I can multitask. What you propose is Howson type of thinking and I complained about that from (almost) day one of his tenure. This is a player by player evaluation and not some "Well he might play better if we play better in front of him" analysis. An owner doesn't spend 50+ million on players to let the goalie learn on the job. Wait... Not one but TWO goalies.

I have confidence that a lot of our existing bricks are going to find themselves thrown from very tall buildings here very quickly. I don't think you will go into next season with a Mason/Bob 1/2 unless something miraculous happens to end the season and JK can't smash one of those two bricks into a billion little pieces.

As I said the biggest thing I hate about JD coming is this lemming approach to use of the phrase(s) "brick by brick" and "going north". If you go too far north you'll just end up freezing your ass off and eventually heading south and end up in a Siberian prison. That is unless a polar bear doesn't make you a meal first.

I'm not saying we go into next season with both of them. Just that we need to let other pieces fall into place before we can make changes there



And no we can't instantly make a one for one player trade and instantly upgrade mason. It would take multiple pieces for us to unload him.

 

[blahblah]

I'm not saying we go into next season with both of them. Just that we need to let other pieces fall into place before we can make changes there

I'm sorry, what? This makes no sense to me. Certainly not within the context of your other post(s).

 

[CBJx614]

I'm sorry, what? This makes no sense to me. Certainly not within the context of your other post(s).

People seem like they want to move a goalie now. I'm saying it's not going to happen until after the draft, at the earliest. I think we might possibly try to move mason at the deadline but I doubt we'll get a reasonable offer.

 

[blahblah]

People seem like they want to move a goalie now. I'm saying it's not going to happen until after the draft, at the earliest. I think we might possibly try to move mason at the deadline but I doubt we'll get a reasonable offer.

Now is between now and next season. Both are going to be RFA's and there is no urgency to move one at the dead line. There isn't anything magical about it or nothing that "needs to fall into place". We might as well continue on evaluating them, JK is just going to be coming up to speed.

Bob probably has more value at the dead line, but I don't see how we move him.

Your first response seemed to indicate that we needed a better team in front of these guys to evaluate them properly. That is what I had the issue with. That won't be fixed between now an the end of the season. Sure we could clean it up in front of them, but there is no evidence to suggest we are moving in that direction. We are still making some really big mistakes with consistency. Whether it's taking a risk to keep the puck in to taking poor penalties, we run the full range of self destructive behavior.

What isn't that much of a problem is getting stuck in our own zone. We are getting much better in that regard. Sure it will happen, but it happens to every team at certain points during the average game.

 

[OldGoaltender]

I don't think we'd get much if anything for Mase. Bob should be getting the majority of starts. We know what we have in Mase but Bob could be a legit number one.

 

[blahblah]

I don't think we'd get much if anything for Mase. Bob should be getting the majority of starts. We know what we have in Mase but Bob could be a legit number one.

Perhaps, but to this point I haven't seen the evidence to support this hypothesis. Certainly neither goalie is making a case to be the #1 nor is either goalie making the case they don't belong in the NHL either.

I've seen this type of scenario play out since the Jackets became a team. With this and other teams.

 

[JacketsDavid]

I don't think we'd get much if anything for Mase. Bob should be getting the majority of starts. We know what we have in Mase but Bob could be a legit number one.

I guess I shouldn't allow stats to get in the way but:

One guy (BOB) is 2-5-2 with a Save % of 89.7%.
Other guy (MASE) is 2-5-0 with a Save % of 90%.

Both about the same age.
Mason has had 1 great partial year and 2 below average years.
Bob has never been the starter until this year but played bad enough last year that Philly decided to go in another direction for the goalie of the future.

Again in my mind they both still have potential, both young guys especially for goalies. I agree Mason needs to move on to likely get afresh start but no idea how anyone could say Bob has a much brighter future than Mason. Neither has shown the ability to seize the opportunity (except Mason's rookie year).

 

[CBJx614]

I don't think we'd get much if anything for Mase. Bob should be getting the majority of starts. We know what we have in Mase but Bob could be a legit number one.

Agreed 100%. Bob HAS shown (albeit 1 season) he can start and put up far better numbers AS a starter.

 

[CapnCornelius]

I guess I shouldn't allow stats to get in the way but:

One guy (BOB) is 2-5-2 with a Save % of 89.7%.
Other guy (MASE) is 2-5-0 with a Save % of 90%.

Both about the same age.
Mason has had 1 great partial year and 2 below average years.
Bob has never been the starter until this year but played bad enough last year that Philly decided to go in another direction for the goalie of the future.

Again in my mind they both still have potential, both young guys especially for goalies. I agree Mason needs to move on to likely get afresh start but no idea how anyone could say Bob has a much brighter future than Mason. Neither has shown the ability to seize the opportunity (except Mason's rookie year).

I'm not any higher of Bobrovsky than I am on Mason. I just as soon start fresh with a new tandem.

 

[CBJx614]

I guess I shouldn't allow stats to get in the way but:

One guy (BOB) is 2-5-2 with a Save % of 89.7%.
Other guy (MASE) is 2-5-0 with a Save % of 90%.

Both about the same age.
Mason has had 1 great partial year and 2 below average years.
Bob has never been the starter until this year but played bad enough last year that Philly decided to go in another direction for the goalie of the future.

Again in my mind they both still have potential, both young guys especially for goalies. I agree Mason needs to move on to likely get afresh start but no idea how anyone could say Bob has a much brighter future than Mason. Neither has shown the ability to seize the opportunity (except Mason's rookie year).

Bobrovsky played half a season asva starter and put up fantastic numbers.

Seriously, Bobrovsky hasn't played 15 games in a union jersey and people already want to trade him. We all knew this was going to be a rough season. There's no need to trade him.

 

[OldGoaltender]

I'm not any higher of Bobrovsky than I am on Mason. I just as soon start fresh with a new tandem.

The two are as different as night and day to me. Bob is athletic and very agile. He doesn't try to use his size to make saves, not quick to go down but lightning quick. Mase uses his size by sprawling across the crease.

I like Bob's style. It's more conducive to being more successful.

 

[db2011]

you go too far north you'll just end up freezing your ass off and eventually heading south and end up in a Siberian prison. That is unless a polar bear doesn't make you a meal first.

are you speaking from experience?

 

[Jacket]

I agree with all that we have important questions to address in net this season. My humble suggestion would be that we sign Bob-o to a short contract and another tender (cagey vet, experienced vet, vet, veterinarian) to short contract. If Bob-o doesn't do well we have this to look forward to...

http://capgeek.com/free-agents/?year_id=2014&team_id=-1&position_id=G&fa_type_id=2

 

[Viqsi]

I agree with all that we have important questions to address in net this season. My humble suggestion would be that we sign Bob-o to a short contract and another tender (cagey vet, experienced vet, vet, veterinarian) to short contract. If Bob-o doesn't do well we have this to look forward to...

http://capgeek.com/free-agents/?year_id=2014&team_id=-1&position_id=G&fa_type_id=2

This sort of prognostication happens all the time and nothing comes of it. Most of the real quality names there will have extensions by the time July 2014 rolls around.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

This sort of prognostication happens all the time and nothing comes of it. Most of the real quality names there will have extensions by the time July 2014 rolls around.

We need to clear cap space to make a run at LeBron.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

The NHL is only a third of the season underway and it's already "garbage time" for the Jackets. They can't make the playoffs.

With 10 points in 16 games, they'd have to go 21-11(.656) in their remaining 32 games to get my projected 52 point minimum to qualify for the post season. Ain't gonna happen.

That being said, Mason has given another sub par performance. .900 save percentages don't cut it in the NHL. He hasn't had a save percentage better than .901 since, yes, his rookie season. Whatever he does from this point forward (garbage time) this season, shouldn't alter any decision. Mason has demonstrated again and again and again that the NHL is not a good place for him to demonstrate his "skills".

While Bobrovsky's stats mirror Mason's, he hasn't exhausted his welcome. I wouldn't pain me in the least to see him replaced, but a reasonable case can be made for going forward with him as a Jacket. No reasonable case can be made for Mason. None.

If the incompetent Howson hadn't met his just fate, I'd be concerned that the Jackets wouldn't act in accordance with reality. Since that's not an issue anymore, I can type with supreme confidence that the April 27th game vs. Nashville will be the latest possible game that anyone will be able see Sieve Mason in a Jackets sweater. For those interested in witnessing this historical moment, good tickets are still available at the Nationwide box office.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

This sort of prognostication happens all the time and nothing comes of it. Most of the real quality names there will have extensions by the time July 2014 rolls around.

Given the declining cap, there will be some situations where players simply cannot be signed due to salary cap constraints.

One can reasonably expect more movement than in the past due to this factor alone.

 

[Jacket]

This sort of prognostication happens all the time and nothing comes of it. Most of the real quality names there will have extensions by the time July 2014 rolls around.

I agree with your second sentence. There are some exciting goaltenders at the top and the teams should try and sign them to extensions. In retrospect, it was a rookie mistake not to quote the conversation earlier in which it was mentioned that the "pickins" were slim this year for UFA goalies.

Also, how many points do you get for prognostication?