What to expect from Steve Mason?

[Random Forest]

I just hope mason is the bridge to Stolarz. I don't think you can win a cup with mason, atleast with our D. However i have a lot of hope that stolarz can be the guy.

No reason to believe he can't be. Crawford, Fleury, and Niemi are all Cup winners. None of them are elite. They just got hot at the right times. Remember how Mason started the year? If he has a similar run while our team is playing like it has been recently, that's a serious threat.


Not to mention the fact that he is 25. That is really young relative to most #1 goalies in this league. Like, really young. He can still grow as a goalie.


And Stolarz is 20. He isn't going to be a guy you can win anything with (as your starter) for a minimum of about five years...

 

[Flyerss]

well at least if Stolarz doesn't pan out you still have a good #1Goalie.

 

[dats81]

We actually HAVE a #1 goalie right now. Not elite, no Vezina worthy standout but still...that's more than we had for a long long time!

 

[BackWithaVengeance]

So true.

After the Bryzbacle I am more than happy to have a guy like Mason between the pipes. He's young, a team-first guy and very happy to be here besides the fact of being capable to steal us games.

 

[Hiesenberg]

8 games left and the guy has posted a 2.50 & .916 SV %.

Elite company? No.

Capable #1? Yes

Cup Potential? Yes

Non-Bryz? Yes

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

8 games left and the guy has posted a 2.50 & .916 SV %.

Elite company? No.

Capable #1? Yes

Cup Potential? Yes

Non-Bryz? Yes

Spot-on. The guy is not going to win a Vezina any time soon, but he's a solid goalie. He is at least as good as for what we hoped.

 

[Hiesenberg]

Spot-on. The guy is not going to win a Vezina any time soon, but he's a solid goalie. He is at least as good as for what we hoped.

Agreed.

I think he has the skills to be a Vezina, maybe one year he throws it all together he could be in the discussion.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

Agreed.

I think he has the skills to be a Vezina, maybe one year he throws it all together he could be in the discussion.

Yeah, if the defense greatly improves and he can rack up the win totals, I could see him being in the hunt. It would be a long shot perfect storm type of situation, but he's capable if everything happens. But even if he doesn't. As long he is hovering at .915 and above, I'm cool with it.

 

[Cmoneyflyguy]

He was sooo good and sooo bad yesterday.
(that said, the first one Rask gave up was pretty weak too)

 

[shipwreck]

Is he perfect, no? But, he is a good goalie, and one of the best that have been on this team for years. I forget what thread it was on (maybe it was earlier on this one) - but someone posted a chart of Lunquist's stats over the course of several years. Even a fantastic goalie has ups and downs.

There will be bad games - he is human. And, it's easy to sit and complain after a bad game. But overall, I am happy Mason is the goalie this season. I can't really say anything bad about his game, because he has bailed out the team so many times in the past. No one can do it all the time.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

He looked shakey today with the routine stuff. He doesn't seem to have much confidence in his glove hand. It looked like he was ducking on high shots. He made some big saves to keep the game with in 1 though.

I thought his glove was good yesterday actually.
the last goal was bad but the other 2 were tough shots.
the toepad save on Chara was a beaut

 

[Appleyard]

His SH SV% is 6-7th amongst starters in the NHL.

His EV SV% is 16th amongst starters.

His PP SV% is 2nd worst amongst starters.

His overall is 14th amongst starters.

If he plays like this next year he will be playing above his salary... as he will be paid like the ~20th best starter in the NHL.

He is heading for the 5th best SV% season in Flyers starter history... after 3x Cechmanek (.925, .921 and .921) and 1x Biron (.918.)

I know the SV% records are only worth anything from the mid 90's... but still.

 

[FLYguy3911]

I thought his glove was good yesterday actually.
the last goal was bad but the other 2 were tough shots.
the toepad save on Chara was a beaut

He made some gloves saves, but he didn't look confident or comfortable doing so. It looked like he was fighting a lot of shots up high. At the end of the day it only matters if he makes the save or not, but that was my observation from the game.

 

[Curufinwe]

His PP SV% is 2nd worst amongst starters.

The Flyers have given up a lot of shorthanded odd man rushes and goals this year.

Only Bernier (8) has given up more SH goals than Mason (6), and Emery has given up 5 in only 24 games.

 

[Beef Invictus]

The Flyers have given up a lot of shorthanded odd man rushes and goals this year.

Only Bernier (8) has given up more SH goals than Mason (6), and Emery has given up 5 in only 24 games.

While they Flyers do give up a lot of SH rushes, it's not like Mason has been all that great on them, either; it's a bad combination. He looks like Bryzgalov out there a lot of the time. It's kind of bizarre how he can do a decent job on breakaways and odd man rushes during ES play, but on the PP he gets all weird.

 

[ILoveStephanieBrown]

I just wish he would fix his lack of rebound control. It's REALLY bad. Either he's not working on that during practice or he is and he just does not have the ability to get better at it. Either way, it's concerning. Other than that, I think he's solid.

 

[Flyrs21]

Here is a list of goalies that won the cup after Brodeur:

Khabibulin
Cam Ward
Giguere
Chris Osgood
Fleury
Antti Niemi
Tim Thomas
Quick
Crawford


Not exactly HOF material. Jury is still out on Quick, but can the Flyers win with Mason, of course.

 

[Flyerfan4life]

Here is a list of goalies that won the cup after Brodeur:

Khabibulin
Cam Ward
Giguere
Chris Osgood
Fleury
Antti Niemi
Tim Thomas
Quick
Crawford


Not exactly HOF material. Jury is still out on Quick, but can the Flyers win with Mason, of course.

we almost did with Boucher and Leighton.. so i'd say hell yes you can win with Mason...

 

[Prongo]

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=712586&navid=nhl:topheads

Steve Mason says he was ready to walk away from hockey. The game he'd loved since childhood had become a chore.

As the conclusion of the 2012-13 season approached, Mason was at a crossroads. Tossing his goalie pads in the trash seemed like the best, perhaps only, course of action.

"My mind was so beat up that I truly did not enjoy playing hockey anymore," Mason told NHL.com. "It had definitely crossed my mind to consider other options. I was just so beat up mentally that hockey was becoming more of a chore than a passion and something that was fun. … I hadn't thought about what I'd do, but it definitely crossed my mind to hang the pads up and focus on other aspects of life because hockey was something that was making life not enjoyable."

Mason was overwhelmed by the losing and fell into what he called "some dark places."

"Mentally, emotionally, it was really wearing on me," he said.

Mason consulted with a sports psychologist but said he found it difficult to share his emotions with a stranger. He realized the only thing that likely would help was leaving Columbus.

"Probably a year or two before the trade actually happened it was probably time for a change of scenery and a fresh start," he said.

The partnership with goaltending coach Jeff Reese also helped. Reese made changes to Mason's game, among them moving Mason deeper in the crease, especially off the rush, to better make use of Mason's 6-foot-4 frame. But more than technical adjustments, Reese helped ease Mason's mind.

"A lot of me feeling better was [Reese] expressing confidence from him and the coaching staff and the management here in me," Mason said. "That's not something I felt for a long time. For an organization of this magnitude to come in and say we believe in you after the couple years I had struggled said a lot to me personally."

One problem I always have around here is when people blame Reese for the goalies struggles or not making them better. He has turned around Mason's career and gets no love. When things go south though he is one to get blamed pretty quickly around here.

Some nice quotes from the article though. Hopefully he keeps his game up to par and can remain our #1 for the length of the contract.

 

[Hiesenberg]

You are a different person @ 26 then you are @ 22. Stuff like that gets to you easier. Mason has been around for a while now, a lot longer than he probably should've been. He knows that if he has a bad stretch of games, it can be turned around. When you are 21 and hit a skid, you over correct, you over compensate, this get out of whack and then get even further and its hard to save.

That's what happened to Mason in CLB I believe and it didn't help they weren't fielding the best team around him either.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

Something was pointed out on the radio the other day that people (or at least I) seem to be overlooking. Not only has Mason resurrected an otherwise thought to be dead career...he did it in Philly, where goalies go to die. That's pretty impressive in and of itself, even if he craps out in the playoffs or doesn't do much other than being an average starter.

 

[Sombastate]

Interesting article. Glad he didn't hang them up

 

[BackWithaVengeance]

"Mase" is a team-first player and seems to be a very fair and square guy. I am happy as a Flyers fan he plays for the O&B and believe he deserves every bit of the turnaround.

 

[PALE PWNR]

You are a different person @ 26 then you are @ 22. Stuff like that gets to you easier. Mason has been around for a while now, a lot longer than he probably should've been. He knows that if he has a bad stretch of games, it can be turned around. When you are 21 and hit a skid, you over correct, you over compensate, this get out of whack and then get even further and its hard to save.

That's what happened to Mason in CLB I believe and it didn't help they weren't fielding the best team around him either.

This cannot be overstated. He was too young to play for a franchise that had no intention of winning for years upon years upon years. Mason was rushed into CLB and proclaimed savior of the franchise after his rookie year. He had the talent to be the franchise goalie but was thrust into that role way too early. When he struggled he got ripped apart by their fans and took all the blame for a terrible team over many terrible seasons. While it sucks that that happened to him. The Flyers are going to be the benefactors of that. He gets a fresh start here on a team built to win, that's only going to get better.

 

[Sniped]

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=712586&navid=nhl:topheads

One problem I always have around here is when people blame Reese for the goalies struggles or not making them better. He has turned around Mason's career and gets no love. When things go south though he is one to get blamed pretty quickly around here.

Some nice quotes from the article though. Hopefully he keeps his game up to par and can remain our #1 for the length of the contract.

Great quotes, thanks for posting Prongo.