The vitriol directed at Husso over his tendency to give up early goals has probably bothered me more than it should have, and it is certainly deserved to a degree, but I thought I would throw some numbers out into the discussion for some perspective about his larger body of work so far.
His numbers in 9 starts so far in his career are 5-3-1 (.611 points %) with a 3.04 GAA and a .893 SP. Not great and certainly not what you would hope for in any goalie.
If we suspend reality a little bit and give him a mulligan on his first start, his numbers in his last 8 starts are 5-2-1 (.688 points %) with a 2.78 GAA and a .900 SP. Still below average, but borderline passable for a backup, especially one so early in his career.
Further bending reality, assuming that the first goal he gives up is an average of 3 minutes into the game and on his 2nd shot faced, his numbers after giving up the 1st goal would be a 2.14 GAA and a .923 SP. That's the goalie we've been looking for and, hopefully, the one we will see going forward.
Obviously it would be really nice for him to be locked in early, NOT give up the early goal, and perform for the entire game like he does after giving up the early goal. I just feel like a little more experience and some coaching about being ready for early game defensive breakdowns might reveal a more-than-adequate backup, even if he never pans out as a starter like we've hoped he would. I just think these posters who want to throw dirt on the grave of his NHL career after 9 starts are doing so prematurely. The fact that Berube keeps throwing him out there instead of going to Gilles should be enough to indicate that the coaching staff sees something worth waiting for. I expect he'll get the Friday start against Anaheim so hopefully he can start strong there and build on that experience.
