Speculation: Who will be better next year, Kuemper or Grubauer?

[Colorado Avalanche]

I think it’s an unfair question given teams they play behind. If both are healthy and on the same team I’d expect their stats to be pretty similar but I’m taking the guy behind Colorado’s group over the guy behind Seattle’s.

This. Kuemper will be similar to what GRU was.

 

[Nihiliste]

Kuemper will play 20 games, Frankie will play zero, and we’ll be running a Jojo/Miska tandem for 62. Was that pick lottery protected in the end?

 

[Vaslof]

I think it’s an unfair question given teams they play behind. If both are healthy and on the same team I’d expect their stats to be pretty similar but I’m taking the guy behind Colorado’s group over the guy behind Seattle’s.

We could compare to Grubauer's stats from last season as well.

 

[shadow1]

All signs point to Kuemper.

He's going from a team who gave up 734 scoring chances to a team that gave up 358. Colorado won't have as easy of a schedule next year and the club did make some changes on the blue line, but the big-3 (Girard, Makar, Toews) + the kid (Byram) remain in tact.

I think Grubauer will have a solid season though. Ron Francis has done a questionable job with the Kraken (considering the players available to him), but their defense should at least be respectable - especially in a division loaded with mediocre teams.

 

[CharlesPuck]

Darcey and its not even close.

 

[henchman21]

I think Grubi is really going to surprise a lot of people. He's likely to get hammered with shots and HD chances, but he's shown to excel in those areas... plus more shots with NHL goalies typically means higher Sv%. Even if Seattle really sucks, I expect his numbers to be pretty solid.

 

[SaltySkywalker]

I'd like to think that Kuemper takes a modest contract if he plays well this year to stay on a good team that also traded significant assets to get him. I'm sure he'll get paid regardless, but it'd really make me feel good if he shows he can stay healthy, play well, and then sign a better contract to stick it to grubs.

 

[Pokecheque]

Not even gonna try to predict this. Somehow Varlamov managed to be less injury prone than Grubauer the last two seasons so there's just no sense in trying to anticipate what's going to happen next. I just hope it's an improvement in what matters most, and that's making that extra stop in the postseason. That's the thing Groob couldn't do.

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

Gru flat out stole some big games. Like that last regular season game vs Vegas. He can win big games and steal a win when the team plays like crap in front of him.

 

[Grackle Party]

Gru flat out stole some big games. Like that last regular season game vs Vegas. He can win big games and steal a win when the team plays like crap in front of him.

He also let big games slip by high, glove side...

 

[Belgican]

Driedger will become the Kraken starting goalie, it won’t be long

 

[lakai17]

no Johansson option?

 

[Tweaky]

He also let big games slip by high, glove side...

Or five hole from the point...

 

[Grigowski]

Gru flat out stole some big games. Like that last regular season game vs Vegas. He can win big games and steal a win when the team plays like crap in front of him.

So can we talk about Game 3, 4, 5 and 6 against Vegas in the playoffs? These are the "big games".....

Playing behind one of the best D is one thing, but playing behind "that" Kraken-D and team will be another... Same for Kuemper.

I still voted equal. Grubauer is a very good goalie, so is Kuemper.

The one thing, that pisses me off is the fact, that we had to slightly overpay for Kuemper because we didn´t set a deadline on Grubauer. I really hope Sakic learned his lesson.

 

[tucker3434]

Kuemper is a little bit better goalie playing being a much better defense. If he doesn't post better numbers, we're screwed.

Also, I think we sign him before the season starts.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

I don't exactly remember Dave Hakstol running a tight defence in Philly. He did run a relatively tight defence in Toronto last year though if it's true that he was responsible for the Leafs' defence. He's got decent depth in Seattle and their forward group seems defensively solid as well so we'll see.

I just think it's an unnecessary debate caused by indecision/p***yfooting or cheapness from Sakic. Like yes, Kuemper COULD be as good or better than Grubauer behind our defence. But you know who we already knew and had proof was Vezina-nominee level good behind our defence? Phillip Grubauer.

 

[Pokecheque]

I don't exactly remember Dave Hakstol running a tight defence in Philly. He did run a relatively tight defence in Toronto last year though if it's true that he was responsible for the Leafs' defence. He's got decent depth in Seattle and their forward group seems defensively solid as well so we'll see.

I just think it's an unnecessary debate caused by indecision/p***yfooting or cheapness from Sakic. Like yes, Kuemper COULD be as good or better than Grubauer behind our defence. But you know who we already knew and had proof was Vezina-nominee level good behind our defence? Phillip Grubauer.

But we also know in 2 out of 3 second round playoff series, he simply wasn't good enough. And we have no idea how he would've been in that second year because he got hurt.

Sakic failing to lock down Grubauer may, in hindsight, have been a mistake. Time will tell. But it's not like there was no reason Sakic was unwilling to give him Markstrom money.

 

[Joe Sakic]

Grubauer will be better.

 

[cinchronicity]

Gru flat out stole some big games. Like that last regular season game vs Vegas. He can win big games and steal a win when the team plays like crap in front of him.

I'm not trying to be a jerk here. But throughout the entire season, I was constantly amazed that Grubi DID NOT steal any games. Vegas played with 15 skaters in that last Avs game. Hard to say Grubi stole anything when the other team is doing the Bednar Blender on steroids.

In fact, until the last 8 games of the season, I was hard pressed to fins any more than a single save in any game where he 'stole' a goal. Regardless, I think it is safe to say he fumbled more games than he stole.

 

[frog]

The same, Grubauer was very very solid for the avs I think kuemper will be very good as well.

 

[cinchronicity]

I don't exactly remember Dave Hakstol running a tight defence in Philly. He did run a relatively tight defence in Toronto last year though if it's true that he was responsible for the Leafs' defence. He's got decent depth in Seattle and their forward group seems defensively solid as well so we'll see.

I just think it's an unnecessary debate caused by indecision/p***yfooting or cheapness from Sakic. Like yes, Kuemper COULD be as good or better than Grubauer behind our defence. But you know who we already knew and had proof was Vezina-nominee level good behind our defence? Phillip Grubauer.

We also knew that in 6 years, he was absolutely not going to be Vezina quality.

I think a huge part of his Vezina recognition was due to the fact that 75% of the GMs in the league never saw him play this year. With no eye-test, they went by stats, which were seriously impacted by the team he was behind.

 

[Richard88]

I'm not trying to be a jerk here. But throughout the entire season, I was constantly amazed that Grubi DID NOT steal any games. Vegas played with 15 skaters in that last Avs game. Hard to say Grubi stole anything when the other team is doing the Bednar Blender on steroids.

In fact, until the last 8 games of the season, I was hard pressed to fins any more than a single save in any game where he 'stole' a goal. Regardless, I think it is safe to say he fumbled more games than he stole.

To be fair to Grubauer he didn't really have that many opportunities to steal games given how often the Avs won.

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

I'm not trying to be a jerk here. But throughout the entire season, I was constantly amazed that Grubi DID NOT steal any games. Vegas played with 15 skaters in that last Avs game. Hard to say Grubi stole anything when the other team is doing the Bednar Blender on steroids.

In fact, until the last 8 games of the season, I was hard pressed to fins any more than a single save in any game where he 'stole' a goal. Regardless, I think it is safe to say he fumbled more games than he stole.

That Vegas team with 15 skaters managed 37 shots on goal. The full Avs squad had about 20. And the only Avs who scored were Compher and Bura.

MacK Landy Rants and Makar didn't make the score sheet. But we're used to MacK not scoring in big games by now right?

 

[Pokecheque]

Yeah I don't really recall many games apart from some matches against the Knights both regular and postseason that Groob got seriously tested. But conversely, I don't recall many games apart from one matchup against the Wylde when the entire team just looked completely exhausted and of course, those final two games of the series, where Groob looked particularly bad.