News Article: THW: Red Wings’ Nedeljkovic Is the Top Goaltender in Detroit

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Andersen has been pretty good too this year to be fair

still though yeah Ned is 6 years younger and making 1.5 million less

Andersen has been very good but look at the statistical differences.

Frederik Andersen Stats | Hockey-Reference.com
16 GP, 0.928 save percentage, 2.08 GAA, 9 quality starts (starts where his save percentage is higher than his average) with an average of 27.8125 shots against per game.

Alex Nedeljkovic Stats | Hockey-Reference.com
15 GP, 0.923 save percentage, 2.58 GAA, 9 quality starts, average of 31.133 shots against per game.

I don't believe for a second that Ned would not or could not have been as good or better than Andersen, especially when you look at that Carolina defense.

 

[19 for president]

Howard was a fine starter until his last few seasons. By the end he shouldn't have been starting at all. He was never elite but during his prime he was pretty consistently top half of the league. Also I think Bernier was pretty fantastic in his last 2 seasons here. Greiss has had his ups and downs, but Bernier carried this team last year for a lot of our wins.

With that said, Ned's play outside of that 1st game has been great. I love having a goalie that can handle the puck well. Howard was especially bad there. I like have an athletic goalie again, as it is just more exciting to watch. Ned only being 25 is also awesome, because I hope that between him and Cossa the Wings won't need to worry about a goalie again for a long time.

 

[raymond23]

Who is our goalie coach? He seems to be doing a great job with all the new guys we bring in

 

[emptyNedder]

The way he’s played this year should have his name planted firmly in the discussion, and yet that quarter pole Calder vote that NHL.com put out didn’t have him on the map at all.

Pretty sure your analysis is correct--however, there is the fact that since becoming the #1, Ned has put up three excellent games. While it was published this week, the voting may have occurred before Ned's last three appearances. He was 4-3-3 with.916 now he is 7-3-3 with .923. Those numbers are getting close to the other goalies who finished high in Calder races.

I don't believe for a second that Ned would not or could not have been as good or better than Andersen, especially when you look at that Carolina defense.

I expect Ned's numbers to be as good or better than Andersen when this season is over. Even in front of the Canes' D, Ned "started slow" last season. His progression was: 2-2-1 .914, 6-1-1 .934, 5-1-1 .941, 2-1-0 .936. I fully expect his Nov. #s (6-2-1 .934) to continue for the remainder of the season.

 

[deca guard]

im speculating that cane managment has come to see it as modern day goalies need to be a certain size and figured theyd get something for ned before the new wore off . notice they also let go another smallish tender in mrazek

 

[ricky0034]

Who is our goalie coach? He seems to be doing a great job with all the new guys we bring in

Jeff Salajko

currently in his 6th year in the role, was the Goaltending Coach in Grand Rapids for 3 years before that

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

im speculating that cane managment has come to see it as modern day goalies need to be a certain size and figured theyd get something for ned before the new wore off . notice they also let go another smallish tender in mrazek

They looked at their goaltending as a weakness but replaced younger, quicker goalies with a bigger more technical goalie in Andersen and a downgrade backup in Antti Raanta. I don't know if I would call it a real improvement in net for them.

 

[CalumetHockeyTown]

oh noes!
he had a series as a rookie where he had a .919 save percentage including a shutout and 2 one goal games?
say it isn't so!

Plot out his stats year over year. I'm not a big fan of a rollercoaster ride.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

They looked at their goaltending as a weakness but replaced younger, quicker goalies with a bigger more technical goalie in Andersen and a downgrade backup in Antti Raanta. I don't know if I would call it a real improvement in net for them.

The move in goaltending by Carolina is a bit of a headscratcher.

One explanation I can sort of see is Andersen is a proven starter in the NHL, even if unexceptional. Ned has never played more than 23 starts in a season.

Hopefully he will have a long and terrific career but as we've seen there's a big difference between looking like a starter for 20 to 30 games a season and actually being the starter. Either way it's still a great low risk/potentially high upside move by Yzerman.

 

[Al48]

People can throw whatever Jimmy Howard stats they want out there. I don't care. The guy never came up with a big save towards the end of a game when it was needed. I don't know how many damn games where he would be lights out until the last 5 minutes of a game, and you just knew he was going to give one up.

 

[r0bert8841]

As for the Calder, I hope he plays well enough to be in the discussion, but I think it’s almost a guarantee that he won’t receive many votes at all. I feel like the voters are going to intentionally leave him out of the discussion because of his finalist status from last year. The loophole will be his undoing. The way he’s played this year should have his name planted firmly in the discussion, and yet that quarter pole Calder vote that NHL.com put out didn’t have him on the map at all.

I am so confident he won't get the Calder attention he should just because of last year. Although goalies rarely get Calder momentum till near the end of the season anyways.

 

[CalumetHockeyTown]

People can throw whatever Jimmy Howard stats they want out there. I don't care. The guy never came up with a big save towards the end of a game when it was needed. I don't know how many damn games where he would be lights out until the last 5 minutes of a game, and you just knew he was going to give one up.

I witnessed this far too many times.

 

[CalumetHockeyTown]

Now back to the OP. This guy (Ned) is great and gives the team a chance to win every night. Great puck handler as well.

 

[golffuul]

Now back to the OP. This guy (Ned) is great and gives the team a chance to win every night. Great puck handler as well.

To me, the puck-handling is the game changing part of his game that gives us a lot more for other teams to have to worry about. That he has Price/Smith level of puck-handling makes our team that much harder to defend on dump-ins and opposing team clearing attempts when we're on the PP. He can send it right back and force teams to not get full changes.

 

[NickH8]

Jimmy Howard was solid.
B+ goalie, nothing special, but did enough to give the team a chance to win. End of discussion. No more Howard slander

 

[theYman]

Jimmy Howard was the blue collar goaltender. That's it.

 

[FMichael]

Jeff Salajko

currently in his 6th year in the role, was the Goaltending Coach in Grand Rapids for 3 years before that

A fellow Serb?

 

[FMichael]

Jimmy Howard was solid.
B+ goalie, nothing special, but did enough to give the team a chance to win. End of discussion. No more Howard slander

Yes he was...

 

[CalumetHockeyTown]

Jimmy Howard was solid.
B+ goalie, nothing special, but did enough to give the team a chance to win. End of discussion. No more Howard slander

Slander? Just facts. B+ is way too high. He was never considered equal with his peers. C+ at best middle of the pack.

 

[Henkka]

Why there's two threads for Ned?

Could someone merge them?

 

[ColdToiletSeats]

Howard was always trash

 

[nhlisawesome]

People can throw whatever Jimmy Howard stats they want out there. I don't care. The guy never came up with a big save towards the end of a game when it was needed. I don't know how many damn games where he would be lights out until the last 5 minutes of a game, and you just knew he was going to give one up.

This 11110% I never trusted Jimmy Howard ever

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Yes he was...

Jeez...when was this? I'm in better shape than that guy.

 

[nhlisawesome]

Jeez...when was this? I'm in better shape than that guy.

this was the offseason going into like 2014-16 one of those years. Showed how little Howard put into keeping fit even while being under contract. He didn’t have what it took to be a champ here.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

this was the offseason going into like 2014-16 one of those years. Showed how little Howard put into keeping fit even while being under contract. He didn’t have what it took to be a champ here.

Yet we got rid of Mrazek for a bag of peanuts.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Howard had conditioning issues going back to his college days. And I also remember reading somewhere that Wallstedt also wasn't in great shape at the end of the season. Maybe it gave some of the Wings brass PTSD flashbacks and that's why they went with the beanpole Cossa?