When Cam Ward isn't 'on', he's a terrible goaltender

snakepliskin

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Jan 27, 2005
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cant believe i am saying this but im glad JR is GM and not the posters in this thread. i know a couple of you guys are over 15 but how many? ward has the skillset of an upper tier goalie last game he was crap but prior to the collarbone shot he was solid the last several games. same old story though we have a weak D corps and our goalie (whoever he may be) gets frequently abused. same story different year.
 

Anton Dubinchuk

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cant believe i am saying this but im glad JR is GM and not the posters in this thread. i know a couple of you guys are over 15 but how many? ward has the skillset of an upper tier goalie last game he was crap but prior to the collarbone shot he was solid the last several games. same old story though we have a weak D corps and our goalie (whoever he may be) gets frequently abused. same story different year.

Nice, original chirp.

I'm not sure what pisses me off more on the internet, the actual 15 year olds, or the people who systematically accuse everyone of being 15 year olds.

I agree with the rest of the posts. Just tired of ad hominem after ad hominem...
 
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Lazyking

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Oct 15, 2011
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First off - lay off the personal attacks - I watch Hockey every night and have been a season ticket holder for over 30 years.
And probably went to 30 games a year when I was a kid.

Niemi has been the better goalie since he has been in the league - Don't watch SJ much, I guess. (past your bedtime?)

At best, Niemi is slightly below Ward. if he had a terrible defense like Cam has had alot of nights, he would probably be out of the league. Cam is having a really bad stretch but Niemi is just not on his level. The Sharks could win with him but the canes could not.. even at his best.
 

Anton Dubinchuk

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Niemi is horrible. He couldn't outplay Micheal ****ing Leighton in a playoff series.

Vokoun, Brodeur and Nabakov are all old and broken down. Read: inconsistent.

Corey Crawford lost his starting job twice to Ray Emery.

Fasth has 9 NHL games.

Yep, that.

You guys should be excited for Dan Altshuller. Kids a workhorse, one and off the ice, good kid and tons of talent. He's gonna be a player, that's for sure.

I'm quite excited, don't worry. We replaced a giant goalie reentering the draft with TWO giant goalies at the end of the draft. Should be fun to watch going forward!
 

Citizen Cane

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So you're saying that despite ALL the claims otherwise, Ward has been an above average goaltender the past 4 years? And considering the defense we've iced in that same time span...

My god, it's almost like he's *gasp* a good goaltender.

I love the overreaction this board has sometimes. Ward has one game where he can be blamed solely for the loss (a very short list that is DWARFED by the amount of games he's solely responsible for the win), and suddenly Ward's a bottom-feeder?

He's had a rough year. There's no denying that. But a rough year doesn't suddenly negate the enormous amount of good he's done for this team in recent years.

Thank you. I worry about Cam sometimes, and he isn't where he needs to be (positionally and maybe mentally) right now, but his body of work is pretty strong, especially considering how poor we've been in our own zone for, what, years now. He's not where I thought he might be five years ago, but he is hardly worth panicking over.

BTW, to poster who mentioned Altshuler, I agree. Lot of potential.
 

Beardy*

Guest
3 games in a row that Cam opens it with a terrible goal...

Lol and 3 games in a row now with multiple bad goals...
 
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normalpsychology

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Oct 27, 2011
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I'm not saying Ellis is great right now but anything is better than Ward at this point. Ellis' game yesterday wasn't that bad. he still blocked around 40 shots. I just can't understand starting Ward out there right now.

Ward just looks completely out of it out there. I don't know if he needs an awakening by being sent to the AHL or if we should contemplate trading him before his value around the league goes much lower.

Even icing 6 forwards may be better at this point
 

Finlandia WOAT

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May 23, 2010
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You should probably learn from Kahz to not have an opinion hedged entirely on the fact that said player is in a slump and is playing behind the far and away worst (injury riddled) defense in the League.

As soon as Cam gets back to form, or strings together a couple of good games together, you're opinion goes away, invalidated...
 

Vagrant

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I can't help but watch that goal he let in against Montreal and say.... you have to wonder if that is still hanging around in his head. Far too early to say Toskala or Salo..... but he's not looking nearly as confident out there as normal.
 

garnetpalmetto

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Jul 12, 2004
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So in today's GDT, somebody suggested trading Ward and signing somebody else in the offseason. Here are the goalies who are UFA's this offseason:

Niklas Backstrom
Brian Boucher
Peter Budaj
Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers
Ray Emery
Mathieu Garon
Thomas Greiss
Jimmy Howard
Henrik Karlsson
Nikolai Khabibulin
Jason LaBarbera
Michael Leighotn
Joey MacDonald
Chris Mason
Curtis McElhinney
Al Montoya
Evgeni Nabokov
Christopher Nihlstorp
Mike Smith
Danny Taylor
Jose Theodore
Tim Thomas (assuming he chooses to leave his bunker next season and rejoin the NHL)

So which goalie is it on this list that never has a bad game, never lets in a soft goal, and who would be willing to give up money that their current team would offer to resign?
 

Anton Dubinchuk

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So in today's GDT, somebody suggested trading Ward and signing somebody else in the offseason. Here are the goalies who are UFA's this offseason:

Niklas Backstrom
Brian Boucher
Peter Budaj
Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers
Ray Emery
Mathieu Garon
Thomas Greiss
Jimmy Howard
Henrik Karlsson
Nikolai Khabibulin
Jason LaBarbera
Michael Leighotn
Joey MacDonald
Chris Mason
Curtis McElhinney
Al Montoya
Evgeni Nabokov
Christopher Nihlstorp
Mike Smith
Danny Taylor
Jose Theodore
Tim Thomas (assuming he chooses to leave his bunker next season and rejoin the NHL)

So which goalie is it on this list that never has a bad game, never lets in a soft goal, and who would be willing to give up money that their current team would offer to resign?

I've literally never heard of this guy, so he might as well have never played a bad game.

I haven't either.
 

tarheelhockey

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The only goalies on that list that even seem viable are Howard and Backstrom. I don't know about Backstrom, but it's hard to imagine Howard wanting to leave Detroit.
 

garnetpalmetto

Jerkministrator
Jul 12, 2004
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I've literally never heard of this guy, so he might as well have never played a bad game.

I haven't either.

He's a British goalie originally drafted by the Kings and now in the Flames system. He's played 2 NHL games in his career - one as a King in 2007-2008 where he played 20 minutes, posting a 6.00 GAA, .800 sv percentage, letting in 2 goals on 10 shots faced.

His last NHL game was this season for the Flames. Played a full game this time - 4.00 GAA, 0.892 sv percentage, stopping 33 of 37 shots in and earning the loss for Calgary.
 

Anton Dubinchuk

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He's a British goalie originally drafted by the Kings and now in the Flames system. He's played 2 NHL games in his career - one as a King in 2007-2008 where he played 20 minutes, posting a 6.00 GAA, .800 sv percentage, letting in 2 goals on 10 shots faced.

His last NHL game was this season for the Flames. Played a full game this time - 4.00 GAA, 0.892 sv percentage, stopping 33 of 37 shots in and earning the loss for Calgary.

Ah, Flames, that's why. I've made a personal promise that I will never know a single Flames goaltender except Kipper until he retires. Hadn't heard of Karlsson until he went to Chicago haha. Irving is an exception. Couldn't tell you who's up as their current backup right now.
 

StormCast

Registered User
Jan 26, 2008
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Raleigh, NC
This whole conversation based on stats is moot without more attention paid to contextual matters such as D schemes and styles of play. Systems like the ones Hitchcock, Trotz and Tippett run will consistently produce better goal-tending stats than the more aggressive, wide-open style of Laviolette, Muller, etc.

Take Bryz for example. Even accounting for the Philly atmosphere he got hung out to dry much for frequently for the Flyers than he ever did for the Coyotes. Or compare Mike Smith's time in Dallas and Phoenix vs. his time in TB. Clearly there are variables such as different D corps in front of you but if you put Ward in net in Nashville over the last couple of years, it's hard to imagine his stat line wouldn't be better than it's been here.

Make no mistake, he's played poorly in too many games this year and he is accountable for it but to talk about how he compares with others is a little more complex than has been presented.
 

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