Pre-Game Talk: Week of travel (@NSH, @BOS, @MTL, @TOR)

[CobraAcesS]

Quite a bit less salary we could use elsewhere?

Edit: Sorry didn't read Colorado Avalanche's post for some reason. Not piling on.

That is very short lived though, and we are not putting all our eggs into one or two years. If Pickard plays like a starter, he'll expect a starter's contract. Which would hit in less than two years at this point.

Hell it does not even help us retain anyone, as we're well below the cap without Iginla's contract, and without anyone significant to sign. No one on the team is demanding huge money outside of Zadorov in the next two years.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

What's the upside though? Slightly better then he is now? I'm not seeing anything higher then average starting potential in Pickard. We're not going to get a 2013/14 season from Pickard like we got from Varly if that's the expectation.

But we're also certainly not getting that from Varlamov again either.


Varlys days here really should be numbered. Given the contracts, age difference, and current playing ability of the two, Pickard needs to be the goalie going forward and we either trade Varly at the deadline or expose him(Honestly losing him in the expansion draft wouldn't be the worst thing, 5.9M of cap space to spend elsewhere).


If we dont have confidence in Pickard being able to step up as the #1 right now that's fine(And a fair criticism that I agree with), but there's lots of good backup options to target for a 1A/1B role next year with Pickard. Steve Mason, Neuvrith, Elliott, Greiss as well as potential trade targets in a Varlamov trade like Halak or Leghtonen. That situation would give Pickard a chance to fight for the #1 role with another guy and gives him a fair opportunity to earn the role. While having a solid tandem regardless of who's starting and backing up.


And the great thing is in a couple of years if that's not working out, we've got Martin marinating in the AHL who could very well prove to be the best of the bunch at that point.

 

[CobraAcesS]

But we're also certainly not getting that from Varlamov again either.


Varlys days here really should be numbered. Given the contracts, age difference, and current playing ability of the two, Pickard needs to be the goalie going forward and we either trade Varly at the deadline or expose him(Honestly losing him in the expansion draft wouldn't be the worst thing, 5.9M of cap space to spend elsewhere).


If we dont have confidence in Pickard being able to step up as the #1 right now that's fine(And a fair criticism that I agree with), but there's lots of good backup options to target for a 1A/1B role next year with Pickard. Steve Mason, Neuvrith, Elliott, Greiss as well as potential trade targets in a Varlamov trade like Halak or Leghtonen. That situation would give Pickard a chance to fight for the #1 role with another guy and gives him a fair opportunity to earn the role. While having a solid tandem regardless of who's starting and backing up.


And the great thing is in a couple of years if that's not working out, we've got Martin marinating in the AHL who could very well prove to be the best of the bunch at that point.

I also have a theory that Varlamov does not deal well with competition for the starting role.

The reason he left Washington (or held up negotiations) is because he wanted to be the clear cut starter, and he'd been to inconsistent with two young goalies (Holtby & Nv) climbing up his ass for Washington to really want to commit to him as their starter.

The best hes been is when he had a veteran mentor as a backup, that had no chance of taking his job.

Now again he is struggling the more traction Pickard gets. Now it may just be injury inconsistency, etc.. We may never know, but it's just a hunch.

The mental game thing really makes no sense, especially with how well he played during his off-ice issues. This is just looking at past history and all..

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

I also have a theory that Varlamov does not deal well with competition for the starting role.

The reason he left Washington (or held up negotiations) is because he wanted to be the clear cut starter, and he'd been to inconsistent with two young goalies (Holtby & Nv) climbing up his ass for Washington to really want to commit to him as their starter.

The best hes been is when he had a veteran mentor as a backup, that had no chance of taking his job.

Now again he is struggling the more traction Pickard gets. Now it may just be injury inconsistency, etc.. We may never know, but it's just a hunch.

Perhaps.


I honestly just think he's a pretty average goalie who had a really hot year in 13/14. Happens all the time in the league. Seemingly every couple of years you'll find a different goalie play exceptionally well that year just to never repeat it again.


I think he struggles with positioning, and with his focus. His positioning can sometimes be solved by his fantastic athleticism which can help him when he gets out of position, but other times he just lets in goals that should be very standard for starters in the league. The focus is something you see signs of his struggles with when it comes to the long range shots he seems to let in more frequently then normal without any traffic or deflections, etc. Also part of why he struggles with consistency so much.



With Pickard, his best I dont think will ever be as good as Varlamov's best(Very few goalies are at that level), but I also dont think Pickards lows are ever as low as what Varlamov can do.


Even in this season where Pickard has had a couple rough starts, they haven't been nearly as bad as some of the efforts Varly has had.

 

[Pokecheque]

For various reasons I won't shed a tear if/when Semyon Varlamov departs the organization. That said, they better do this right. I don't want to see years of futility between the pipes like other organizations have gone through, with a few exceptions the Avs have done all right when it comes to goaltending.

 

[henchman21]

For various reasons I won't shed a tear if/when Semyon Varlamov departs the organization. That said, they better do this right. I don't want to see years of futility between the pipes like other organizations have gone through, with a few exceptions the Avs have done all right when it comes to goaltending.

From Roy to Varly was a lot of years of futility.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I guess no Landy tonight.

Btw, need someone to make the Leafs GDT for Sunday. That one should be easy to make so don't be shy.

 

[Pokecheque]

From Roy to Varly was a lot of years of futility.

Nowhere near as bad as what we've seen in Philly. The bottom didn't drop out until they went with the Raycroft/Budaj tandem. They at least got some unexpectedly good netminding from Anderson and Theodore during that time. Aebischer was obviously not great but he wasn't terrible either.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I wonder what they plan to do post-Allaire. Would be silly to abandon the system he's been teaching our goalies for 4 years.

 

[henchman21]

I wonder what they plan to do post-Allaire. Would be silly to abandon the system he's been teaching our goalies for 4 years.

I'm assuming JIF will take over and they will backfill with another goalie coach for the minors.

 

[CobraAcesS]

https://www.nhl.com/avalanche/news/landeskog-should-play-in-montreal/c-284555252

Below are the groupings from Friday's 30-minute session:

Mikko Rantanen - John Mitchell - Matt Duchene

Blake Comeau - Nathan MacKinnon - Rene Bourque

Gabriel Landeskog - Carl Soderberg - Mikhail Grigorenko

Cody McLeod - Andreas Martinsen - Joe Colborne - Jarome Iginla



Tyson Barrie - Nikita Zadorov

Fedor Tyutin - Patrick Weircioch

Francois Beauchemin - Cody Goloubef / Eric Gelinas


Calvin Pickard

Semyon Varlamov

Actually don't mind that lineup based on what they did against Boston. That line with Mitchell is weird as hell lol, but Mitchell actually passed the puck and didn't kill every play trying to over handle the puck.

Hopefully Landeskog gives Soda a boost too, because he was better against Boston. If we can get more of that from him, then we might be in business for something less painful every night.

 

[McMetal]

Well, we went .500 on this road trip. I think we can say that the week was definitely better than we expected.