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By Mark D, May 26, 2012 3:39 am

Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers is one of the elite goalies in the league. He’s single-handedly carried the Rangers to the playoffs in every seasons except for one. The season the Rangers missed the playoffs, they were only 1 point out. With an offense that actually scored on a regular basis, it’s not surprising that they had a good season. Lundqvist is one of the nominees for the Vezina this year for best goaltender and will likely win because the sportswriters don’t watch the West or Jonathon Quick.

At the same time, Roberto Luongo was once on the same level of being an elite goalie. Yet because he is so good it is always on his back when the Canucks fall short in the playoffs. So how long until the press starts clamoring that Lundqvist can’t take the pressure of the playoffs? That he’s fine when nothings on the line, but during the playoffs he disappears. Would it be fair? probably not, but neither is the relentless attacks on Luongo about the playoffs either. Hockey is a team sport.

Ironically you might be wondering why I decided to compare Luongo and Lundqvist. Well just take a quick look at their playoff career stats (not including last nights loss for Henrik)

Henrik
GP      W      L   T     GA          SA         SV      SV%   GAA SO

Luongo
GP      W      L   T     GA          SA         SV      SV%   GAA SO

They are nearly identical. Except that Luongo has a higher GAA (by .23) a lower SV% (by .01) and more wins in 7 more games. If your going to claim that Luongo is a bust, or that he is a flop in the playoffs, you can make the same claim for Lundqvist. Who can forget 2008-2009 when the Rangers were up 3-1 against the Capitals, and proceeded to drop the next 3 games. Couldn’t he have stolen one game from them?

I’m sure since Lundqvist is probably going to get his hands on the Vezina, sportswriters will just ignore his playoff stats (or that the Rangers had the most blocked shots in the post season). But the second that Luongo gets traded, all you’ll hear about is his failures in the playoffs. Both players have had similar playoff careers, but arguments can be made that the team around them struggled too. Where was Gaborik? In the loss to the Devils he had 1 goal and no assists.

I’m going to love seeing what the headlines and stories are. Especially given NYC’s media love affair with Henrik. I’m sure that Gaborik and Richards will get most of the beating in the press about the loss. It’ll be rare to see someone actually point to Henrik’s 4 losses all involving a SV% below .900. He got outplayed by a 40 year old Martin Brodeur. People thought Marty should have retired 2 seasons ago. Marty meanwhile only dipped under a .900 SV% once, and it was during a win anyway.

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By admin, February 21, 2010 11:39 pm

These are mostly from the last two decades or so. It seems like there are always a few goalies who the powers that be proclaim to be the next big thing. Yet goalie is one of the most interesting positions in any sport. Your the only player who plays the whole game, just about every minute.  Sometimes a team and a goalie just don’t mesh, sometimes a backup is just meant to stay backup. Here are some of the more memorable ones.

Damian Rhodes

People were talking about him just needing a chance for a while. That chance wasn’t coming with Felix “The Cat” Potvin in net. He eventually made his way to the awful but improving Ottawa Senators. Splitting time with Also-Ran Ron Tugnutt it slowly became clear that Rhodes had peaked while Tugnutt continued to improve and won the job. He was then picked up by the Thrashers, who proceeded to be one of the all time worst expansion teams. Although it can be argued that his struggles weren’t all his fault, his time in Atlanta was the end of his career. From promising Backup to out of the league in only Six years.

Eric Fichaud

Another former Leaf. The 16th overall pick in 1994 was talked of as the “Next Roy”.  By now that’s almost a warning sign not to pick up a goalie. Although impressive in the AHL, Milbury had told anyone that would listen that this kid was the future of the franchise. He was called up far too early, and through three years on the Island he lost the starting job to Tommy Salo. Following his last season as an Islander he never again reached double digit games and became the quintessential journeyman goalie a team picked up when it needed a cheap backup or third stringer. His last NHL playing time was in 2001, meaning another goalie from promising elite to out of the league in only six years.

Dan Cloutier

Growing up in NYC, I never heard the end of it about Cloutier. He was the next big thing, and the overrated Goon and his run in with Salo always annoyed me. I knew his trade to the Lightning was going to be his ending. It would have been a majority of the time. Two seasons with a sub .900 sv% looked like the end of the road for him. Unfortunately the Canucks grabbed him off the scrap heap and put a NHL caliber team in front of him. He still struggled as a starter before being shipped off to the Kings when the team got Roberto Luongo. Out of hockey now, he’s so infamous for being a bad goalie that there’s a picture of him with a beach ball in the net.

Garth Snow

The Poor Flyers. Every few years their backup gets hot in the playoffs, they think they have finally taken care of their weak goalie position, he ends up being a bust the next season. Snow was highly touted in the time between his being drafted and making the NHL. He had an incredible run. Ending up in Philly behind Hextall,he got hot and helped lead the Flyers to the Confrence finals. The following year there was High expectations, but he didn’t really pan out and Hextall was back as starter. A few more years in Vancouver, Penguins and finally a few years (with one outstanding season) for the Islanders before calling it quits. He is far above expectations when it comes to being a General Manager.

Marc Denis

Another one of those “Next Patrick Roy” he was helped by playing behind Roy himself. A Former first rounder, he had two really good seasons behind Roy before being tagged in the expansion draft by Columbus. In four years in Columbus he did have two outstanding seasons, but could never get to the 30 Win plateau. After being traded to the Lightning he hit career lows with a .889 SV% Followed by a .859 and a later stint with Montreal he only managed a .857 SV%. His career is all but over already.

Mike Dunham

A lot of Jersey Goalies could take this spot. But Dunham, drafted the same year as Brodeur had a lot of fans and pundits predicting greatness. The Devils themselves went so far as to (Claimed by his agent) underplay him so either he couldn’t be a RFA or he wouldn’t be in the Expansion Draft. In the end he was picked up the expansion Predators. He had some good seasons too, but injuries would continually pile on. When the Predators gave up on him and went with Vokoun, things wouldn’t get better. Of his next four seasons after the Predators he only managed to get back above a .900 SV% once, and that was his first year with the Rangers. Like another goalie on this list, he finished his career on the Island and ended up moving to become a coach at the end of his career. Meanwhile Brodeur is still protecting the crease in Jersey.

These are almost all going off memory and some checking via Wikipedia and HockeyDB. If I got anything wrong feel free to comment, My memory is not that good.

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By Mark D, February 17, 2010 2:08 am

Watching the USA Vs Switzerland (Lets Go Swiss and Mark Streit!) this afternoon, I asked myself a question. Why is Milbury on TV? Your looking for analysts when you start up, but please NBC, consider his history. Consider the absolute path of failure he lead the Islanders to. Look at his disastrous trade after trade after trade. A complete lack of knowledge when it comes to current players. This was someone who traded you AND THEN you became an All-Star. Only after you left his reign of insanity did you become the player that everyone said you would become.

So why the rant this time? Obviously if you’ve been here before you’ve seen my many posts on Milbury and his destruction of the Islanders. Today during the second intermission of the USA-Swiss game the analysts began talking about Team Canada. The decision was made to go with Roberto Luongo over Martin Brodeur for today’s game. Milbury was immediately up in arms over the matter. Proclaiming that Brodeur was the greatest ever and there was no reason to go with Luongo. Thankfully the person in studio with him began arguing for Luongo to get the start, that at the very least they should see what Luongo could do or at very least give Brodeur a breather. Milbury was unrelenting on his Anti-Luongo crusade and saying that this was a bad move for Team Canada.

What doesn’t Milbury or anyone in studio mention during this rant? That Milbury originally drafted Luongo and after one season behind an awful Islanders team decided to trade him. That this trade is usually considered one of the worst trades in the history of the NHL. It’s no surprise really that Milbury would take a shot at Luongo. Could you imagine what Milbury might feel like if Luongo helps lead Team Canada to the Gold? Probably nothing because he’s a heartless spawn of the devil who was only created to ruin the New York Islanders for 10 years. But whenever someone goes into detail about Luongo they’ll talk about that trade. Point out that when Florida traded Luongo they had no choice because they couldn’t afford him. But Milbury’s trading of Luongo? It was insanity.

So thank you NBC for making Milbury an analyst again when no real network would touch him with a ten foot pole (He was fired from Hockey Night in Canada) unless they are in the Boston area. I hate you Boston. It’s amazing because NBC loves to bring in questionable analysts. With all the possible talking heads for Hockey and Football, NBC decides that Mike Milbury and Matt Millen are the two best qualified guys for the job. I would love to see those two team up together and take over a franchise. Then see how far they could bury said franchise into the ground. Please NBC, there are lots of other better analysts out there. There are lots of talented former NHL players around who probably know the league and the talent far better then Milbury.

In case you thought Milbury was right in his arguement, here’s a little something about Brodeur. Brodeur has a 2-3-1 record in February, has given up 18 goals in six games and played to a save percentage of .850 or below in three of them. I would also go with the seven year younger Luongo. Luongo also hasn’t been played to death like Brodeur has with the Devils. Lets go Luongo, win a gold for Canada!

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By admin, January 10, 2010 8:42 pm

Last year I did a blog about Brodeur compared to his backups. One of the reasons I did it was because of all the love being heaped upon Devils savior Scott Clemmensen. The fact of the matter was that Clemmensen was an average (at best) goalie who was playing for a defense first team. I was deathly afraid that the Islanders might be one of those teams that fell for his great run and sign him for a few years for too much money. Fortunately they went with Roloson who has been spectacular despite being 40 years old.

Instead it was almost surprisingly the Panthers who dished out money for Clemmensen while having the grossly underrated Thomas Vokoun as starter. Meanwhile they allowed Craig Anderson to sign with the Avalanche. So how did everything work out for all involved?

Vokoun continues to be silently spectacular. On a better team or a better market he would be appreciated.

Anderson has helped to bring the Avs back to respect and shortened their apparent rebuilding by leaps and bounds.

And Clemmensen? Before this season he only once managed a SV% over .900 and he’s at .888. His GAA went from 2.39 to 3.53 (Vokoun is 2.56 right now). In all his games, he’s only let in 1 goal once and has no shutouts. He’s been pulled from games twice in 11 starts. He has proven that he’s not a NHL starter or backup unless he’s playing for the Devils.

His replacement in NJ? Yan Danis only has 4 games this season, but currently has career highs in GAA (2.00) and SV% (.929). Considering that Danis couldn’t even hold onto a backup job with the worst team in the league last year, this once again proves the point that anyone can play behind the Devils defense and look good.

I wanted to add on that I hope Brodeur doesn’t make the Hall Of Fame. I know he has all the records. I know he’s broken records people never thought would be broken. I for one believe that just about any goalie who played for the Devils for the same period of time would have the same record. Its nothing against him, he’s had some great playoff runs and definitely won games others would ave lost. But statistically Brodeur matches all of his backups stats. It doesn’t matter, Marty will be a first ballot HoF’er and I’ll be here arguing that Osgood deserves to be in. At least Osgood played for other teams.