Pictured left to right: Dan Ellis (39), Pekka Rinne (35)
For most NHL teams, there is a clear definition of goaltender roles in terms of starter and backup. For Nashville however, the men between the pipes must learn to remain on their toes (or skates) at all times because the starting role seems to be continually up for grabs, no matter who was awarded the role at the beginning of the season. History over the past season and a half has lent itself to this formula, much to the chargin of the fans and goalies alike.
At the start of the 2007-2008 season, Chris Mason was deemed our starting goaltender, with training-camp-surprise Dan Ellis in the backup role. As the season wore on, Mason’s nerves began to be pushed to their limits as he was pulled from games time and time again, in favor of Dan Ellis. Predators head coach Barry Trotz used the system of “ride a goalie while they’re hot and then bench them when they lose.” or what I like to call the Dance of the Rotating Goalies. While this makes sense in theory, it doesn’t translate well to the players who are constantly in the dark about whether or not the coach thinks they are good enough to stay in their current roles. Late in the season when it appeared as though Trotz was fed up with both Mason and Ellis’s performances, he threw yet one more obstacle into things. The organization called up Milwaukee Admirals starter, Pekka Rinne to take the place of one of the two netminders on the bench for a while. Due to a snowstorm and misplaced equipment, Pekka never got a chance to start his scheduled game. Coach Trotz put all his faith in Dan Ellis that night and the Predators found themselves on the winning side of things from then on out. This move proved too much for Chris Mason, whose confidence was shaken beyond repair and viewed most every game for the rest of the season from the comfort of the bench.
This led to Chris Mason being traded to St. Louis after the season was over, leaving room for Dan Ellis to rise to the starting goal tender role. However, with Pekka Rinne starting the first year of his one-way contract, Ellis’s fate was not so certain. Dan Ellis and Pekka Rinne both competed for the backup role to Chris Mason just one year prior so there were definitely questions as to who would be handed the starter title at the end of pre-season. Ultimately, it was awarded to Dan Ellis, with Trotz saying that he and Pekka would probably split the games 60/40. At this point in the season though, it seems Trotz is starting to get inside Ellis’s head, much like what he did to Mason just a season ago. And honestly, I’m sick of it. This in-and-out rotation does not work to any goaltender's advantage because they can not gain consistency if they are being pulled from games and benched for week-long stretches.
In my opinion, both Ellis and Rinne are of starting goaltender caliber. However, just like Chris Mason, Dan Ellis and NOT Pekka Rinne was awarded the starting position. Dan Ellis might have had a few off nights this season but then again, so has Pekka Rinne. So basically what I’m saying is: if this trend continues, no young goalie in their right mind will want to come to the Predators organization. Well, maybe they’d be okay with coming here but they should probably only ever strive for the backup position, and not starter. Because eventually, every one of our backups becomes our starters once Coach Trotz decides the starter is no longer good enough.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The Curse of the Starter
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tim Thomas = The Flying Fish
I am a big fan of goalies, and the Bruins' Tim Thomas is no exception. During Saturday evening's loss against the New York Rangers, Thomas was even more acrobatic than usual. But what else can you expect from the guy who has spoken several times during the past week about his practice of yoga?
Ladies of the HLOG and our devoted followers, I present to you a new yoga pose, one which Thomas unveiled during the first shot of the shootout - The Flying Fish:
Although the Bruins lost the shootout, Thomas really has established himself as one of the top goalies in the league, especially following tonight's 3-2 win against Toronto. Several hockey writers, including Mike Brophy in the yoga article I linked to above, mentioned that Thomas seems more controlled this season. While I agree, you still always want your goalie to throw himself in the air and contort himself into crazy moves to make a spectacular save. And Thomas definitely did that on Saturday night.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Hockey Hottie Dreamy Team
First off, thank you everyone who voted over the last week in Goalies, Round One. Winners were: Cam Ward, Carey Price, Vesa Toskala, and Ricky DiPietro.
On to round 2 ladies AND defensemen. that's right. Get those eyeballs and ovaries fired up and cast your vote!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Hockey Hottie Dreamy Team
because hockey withdrawls are dangerous. so get out and vote, ladies!
Read More......Sunday, June 08, 2008
Blue Jackets Goaltending
x-posted on Bethany's Hockey Rants
I decided to take a close look at the Blue Jackets individual positions, so here is a look at the CBJ goaltenders.
Pascal Leclaire took the number one goaltending job, and ran with it. Pazzy ended the season with a record of 24-17-6, with a 2.25 GAA, and .919 save %. While I had my doubts about Pazzy entering the season (with good reason) he proved me wrong. He was second in All Star voting and really should have been in the All Star Game. Scott Howson and Pascal Leclaire are still in negotiations with Leclaire's contract. Look for him to be the number one goaltender next season.
Fredrik Norrena had a bit of a rough season. He finished the 2006-2007 season as the number one goaltender and the first CBJ goalie to finish above .500. This season he was on backup duty and went 10-19-6 with a 2.73 GAA and a .896 save %. Norrena is in the last season of his contract. I think it really depends how Steve Mason does in the AHL next season if Norrena gets another contract with the CBJ.
Steve Mason, our prized goaltending prospect. He is our goalie of the future, beyond Pazzy. I expect him to succeed in Syracuse, and get called up when Pazzy or Norrena is injured. I can't wait to see him in a game to see what he can do.
Dan LaCosta, Adam Munro, Karl Goehring, and Tomas Popperle. It is expected that Popperle will return to Europe next season, however he is an RFA so he may not get a qualifying offer. LaCosta is under contract so he will be back. Goehring signed to a tryout on December 14, 2007, due to all the injuries with the CBJ goaltenders. I know he had to sign another tryout contract, but I was unable to find anything, about him being back next season...so I don't think he will. I was unable to find any information on Adam Munro's contract for next season, my guess is he won't be back.
Allen York was named Top Goaltender at the 2008 RBC Cup. He was drafted last year, so we still own his rights.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Decisions, Decisions: A Tale of Three Goalies
The only position I left for myself to mull over for the Predators this post-season is goalie. With just one decision to make, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal: either sign Dan Ellis before he hits UFA status in July or let him go. Simple enough, right? Well, not exactly…
After last off-season’s shocking trade of Tomas Vokoun to Florida, the team, coaches and fans alike looked to backup goalie Chris Mason to show himself worthy of the starter position he was (essentially) automatically rewarded. The Predators took their first step of faith by signing him to a two year, $6 million contract extension. And in the month leading up to the start of the season, Chris Mason looked as strong as he had been in the ’06 playoff run and the 2006-2007 regular season. His performance during training camp and the pre-season exhibition games gave everyone reason to hope that we could still hold our own, even without our beloved Czech in net.
Meanwhile, the backup netminder position, vacated when Mason was re-signed to the starter role was all but guaranteed to be filled by Pekka Rinne. The 6’5”, 207 lbs 25 year old Finnish goalie, a two time AHL All-Star for the Milwaukee Admirals, had been touted as the “future of our goaltending” by the entire organization since he was drafted into the system in 2004. With two AHL seasons as starting goaltender under his belt going into training camp, Pekka had every reason to feel confident that he would be seeing a lot of more of the NHL come October.
Enter the wrench. Signed as a free agent on July 5th, 2007, 6’0”, 185 lbs 27 year old Dan Ellis was more than likely signed to be Pekka Rinne’s replacement in Milwaukee. What no one expected, I suspect, was that Ellis would end up giving Rinne a run for his money. Before being signed by the Predators, Dan had played just one NHL game with the Dallas Stars organization; most of his time was spent with their AHL-affiliate in Iowa. Ellis had even been quoted as saying that he was ready to pack it up and head to Europe because it looked like his hopes to play in the NHL were slowly slipping away. In any case, whether it be through sheer luck or pure determination, Dan Ellis managed to snatch the backup goalie position right out from under Pekka Rinne’s skates during training camp and sent him back to Milwaukee for (at least) one more year. Elly then plucked Chris Mason from his lead role in net down the stretch in our push towards the playoffs and solidified himself as our new number one heading into the WCQF’s.
What we have here is quite the situation: (a) Chris Mason; locked up for two more seasons at $3 million a year, as he is/was the Predators starting goaltender (b) Pekka Rinne; who starts the one-way portion of his contract with the Predators at the start of the 2008-2009 season before becoming an RFA in the summer of 2009 and (c) UFA Dan Ellis; the no-name guy who first knocked out heir-apparent Rinne for the backup position and then stood on his head when we needed it the most and stole the starting job away from Mason.
And it’s this situation that has everyone scratching their heads trying to figure out how it will all go down. Truth be told, I have a soft spot in my heart for Mr. Dan Ellis so maybe my opinion doesn’t hold much weight. However, this girl’s got a dream; and in this dream she sees Ellis as the starting goaltender, with Pekka Rinne watching from the bench. Now I don’t want to say that we should just up and toss Mason away because he had a bad season. He has proved his worth in times past when called upon to take the lead between the pipes. But...how does one team handle the possibility of having three goalies on their roster who would all have to clear waivers to be sent down to the AHL? There are other teams out there fishing for a new goalie (Ottawa, especially) who might be more than willing to buy out Mason’s contract and give him a fresh start at being number one.
So the questions still remain: does this off-season bring about the changing of the (pipe) guards yet again for the Preds, with Mason out and Ellis in? Or do we let Ellis go to be a superstar somewhere else and take our chances that the right decision was made?
UGH...see, this is why my name is not David Poile.
My prediction: Absolutely no freaking idea. I wish I had a clue but I’m at a complete loss for any thought as to how this will play out.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Chomp chomp... Sharks anyone?
(x-posted to Musings of a Radical Redhead)
Friday, December 21, 2007
Bettman's Latest Bad Bargain.
It seems to me that this has been the Half-Season of the Hockey Shootout, and I, for one, have had it just about up to here with that.
Now, I don't claim to be a statistician or an analyst or even someone who usually cares about the numbers outside of PIM and goals/assists, but take a look at just the stats for the Penguins. As of their game against Boston, 12/20/07, they had been in SEVEN shootouts out of 34 games. That's close to 1/4 of their games that have ended in a glorified rookie training game.
The way I see it, going to shootout is almost a punishment for being too evenly matched with your opponent. Seriously, why is that a punishment? Isn't the NHL looking for a series of non-lopsided really good hard hockey games with all of their teams working as hard as they can? Sure they are, because that's what fans want to see. So why then, do they penalize them by forcing them into the shootout at the end?
As a fan, I detest the shootout with a burning passion usually reserved only for people who talk at the movies and take up more than one parking space with their giant gas-guzzling cars. If I wanted to see guys shoot one after another, I'd go watch a practice. The entire idea of a shootout really defeats the concept of enjoying hockey as a team sport. Instead of emphasizing the skill of the team as a whole, it breaks it down to being "player X" won the game. I don't care how big a fan you are of Player X, there was an entire team behind him, and there's no reason he should be the do-or-die of the entire game.
Also, the poor already-slightly-neurotic-goalies. The guys have already faced 60 minutes of action and stuff flying at them from all over, and now they're expected to pull out all the stops against the top three shooters on each team without any backup? Even though it may not look it, I'm sure those goalies rely on every single one of their teammates to keep the puck away at any given moment, and I'm sure there's still at least a minor feeling of dread when faced with a shootout. If Player X can win a a game for the entire team, Goalie Q will almost undoubtedly shoulder a good amount of the blame if his team loses.
Honestly, the shootout has got to go. I don't care if we replace it with playoff-esque continual periods until someone scores, I don't care if we just let them tie, hell, I'd be okay with some sort of skills competition that took into account the whole team, but if I came to see my entire team play, goddammit, I want my entire team to win together, not on the basis of how skilled one guy is at deking, faking, and finding the five hole. That's not a hockey game, that's training camp.
Also at Talk Hockey To Me
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Goalies: Hello My Name Is...
If you've reviewed the list of NHL goaltenders, I'm sure you've noticed a pattern.
Kristin, the Ookies and I have commented on it among ourselves several times. Sherry, maybe it has occurred to you as well. Cat, I'm sure you've noticed it tonight.
- Philadelphia goalie: Martin "Marty" Biron
- New Jersey goalie: Martin "Marty" Brodeur
- Ottawa goalie: Martin Gerber
- Dallas goalie: Marty Turco
It's been especially hard for the Flyers-Devils rivalry. Consider the additional coincidences:
- Both our Marty's last names start with "B."
- They are both French Canadian.
All of this leads me to the following plea to Canadian parents (Swiss ones, too, in Gerber's case):
Please, for the love of heaven, if your son's name is Martin/Marty (or any other spelling variant of "Marty") and he is a goalie, have him use his middle name! Let's try for diversity, folks. :)
Read More......Monday, October 08, 2007
Not that anyone but me cares....
Update on everyone's favorite BABYGOALIE/NOTMACHESNEY from Caps camp.....
Kris Mayotte is NOT amused. 
(from a Royals forum member Rich. See more of his pictures of the Royals at http://www.richshockeypics.smugmug.com/)
There was also a good article in the Reading Eagle about the "goalie glut" the Royals have- they took Pietrasiak from Hershey (but he may get called back up there, depending on how Machesney heals and whether or not Cassivi spends any time in Washington) and then got given Jonathan Quick from LA. Supposedly at this point Quick is pretty much a shoe-in for one spot, so the other three are duking it out for the second position
From what I'm hearing out of the Reading fans on the messageboard, it's sounding a lot like nobody quite knows what's going on... Quick is the only guy I've heard a vocal outpouring for, and with my @%(@(%)$#&*!!! schedule keeping me from getting down there and actually SEEING a practice OR a pre-season game, I'm having to get it all second hand.
The Eagle seems to like Mayotte though, giving us this;
Mayotte, 24, grew up in the Pittsburgh area. After four stellar seasons at Union College, the athletic Mayotte started last season in the AHL with Albany before settling in the Central Hockey League with Arizona.
“He had unbelievable numbers in college,” Taylor said. “He set the world on fire. And then last year he started really well and blipped a little bit. So he’s fighting back to get his nose in there and do what he needs to do.”
I'm still holding out my "Kris Mayotte Deserves A Chance" banner, but I'll admit I'm starting to get discouraged.
At least Mayotte's staying positive:
“My expectations are to outplay them and win the job,” said Mayotte, who was in camp with Washington (NHL) and Binghamton (AHL) this fall. “I think that’s everyone’s expectations, to outplay the other goalies and make the team and go on from there.”
Here's always hoping :-)
(also at talk hockey to me)
Friday, September 21, 2007
BWAHAHA!!! Nothing says getting your money's worth like a degree in Economics...
x-posted to Maple Leaf Mafia
I freakin LOVE Ebay! And I freakin love hockey fans even more...Yann Danis NHL Goalie in Need of a New Home - CHEAP!
Goalie of the future! All Yours for a low, low price!
Yann Danis:
Goaltender in Search of a Real Job & Career
Up for auction is the contract of Mr. Yann Danis, goaltender for the Montréal Canadiens and Calder Cup Champion Hamilton Bulldogs. In order to prevent him from reliving another season in the AHL, I have decided that the only way to do this is to raise enough money to buy out his contract and help him get a real chance to be the finest back up goalie the NHL has to offer.
At first glance, Yann Danis might be perceived as a small goalie but he comes bundled in a package of extraordinary value. After previously having been horribly robbed of his chances
to be a shining star of goalieness by both David Aebischer and Jaroslav Halak, now is your chance to assure that he gets the chance he deserves but sending him to another team more deserving of his phenomenal talent. He's king of the rookie shutout. I'll even throw in a crown! We don't need to talk stats here. Current Habs coach, Guy Carbonneau wouldn't call him up but now he's calling him the best goalie at camp and isn't that the best reason you can think of sticking it to that man and sending him somewhere that will appreciate him for at least a
couple of days a week, showering him with a defence capable of performing on cue?
As if being a superb little goaltender wasn't enough, he's a graduate of Brown University, home of the Annual Naked Donut Run and SexPowerGod party (no relation, you know, just in case there are any American police officers who might be reading this) and surely brings to the table a host of party skills that will keep your team entertained for hours in a non-debauchery
filled Ed Belfour manner because no one likes a jailbird. And hey, nothing says getting your money's worth like a degree in Economics.
Buy early. Buy often. Save this goaltender from a fate worth than death and by that I mean
St-Louis. And sorry, but no returns. He's untested but I'm sure he'll do a great job balancing your chequebook if it doesn't work out. Please email me at cedontonparle@gmail.com with any questions!
Who else would put their goalie up for auction on the internet's most famous auction site? With FREE SHIPPING, none the less. Current bid is $6.20... Something tells me Yann would require a bit more than that.
Monday, September 17, 2007
I-95 Highlight Reel
Not for the weak of heart or short of time:-)
As IPB has already given us the heartfelt and intelligent version of the Hlog I-95 meetup, I'm going to go the "Best Of!" route, and I'm going to attempt to do it in chronological order. This may get ugly quickly.
All images used within can also be found at my Flikr site
Your blog for tonight will consist of:Pookie, Schnookie, CapsChick, Elly, Steph and Shmee. Your team will be the Washington Capitals. (or the Hershey Bears.)
Friday:
I arrived at Shmee's apartment. If parking was truly lighter than other days, DAMN, I am NEVER moving to D.C, as I went around a 6 block area for about 20 minutes looking for somewhere I could park Turco's ample posterior. (Turco is my 1997 green Subaru station wagon. Big. Slow. Green..... he sort of named himself.) After the pleasantries and introductions, we decided to go punish our livers in the rainbow district nearby.
Enter Gay Danny Briere. No joke. Little guy, button down shirt, dark hair cut into that awful shaggy-wedgy-wants to be a gymnast style, and I couldn't stop laughing. I believe there was a text message to the CapsChick/Steph party about him, but I was rather fermented at that point, and can't be sure. After soaking ourselves up in a little greasy fried stuff, we moseyed our way home, and crashed for the night.
Saturday:
We got going late, the Metro hung us up, and we stopped for Starbucks, so we didn't actually get to Kettler until around 10:40. Once there, it quickly devolved from "Get to know You" to "World's Loudest Hockey Fans Invade D.C. Mall, Details At 11." For whatever reason, one of the recurring weirdness of the weekend became Elly and my desire to make as many of the Caps as possible bastard love children of the Pens and to figure out their parentage. Our crowning glory was as follows:
This also allowed me to coin the phrase, "He's Maloney in the eyes."
Of course, later on we decided that all hockey players had a variation on one of about 12 heads, which is why so many of them look so similar... then every 20 years they bust up all the molds and make a new batch. But more on that later, when we get to Fluffy and BabyMalkin on Sunday.
It turns out that the Caps were also not the only team there. The Canucks had sent their forward scout, Comrie "Thorguld" Sedin. This poor guy got the dreadedly unsubtle 'turn and stare' from all of us, and was sufficiently creeped out enough to avoid making eye contact for the rest of the day. Of course, as far as weirdness levels go, Cape Dude was the hands down champion.
After the rookie scrimmage, (that's Scott Barney from Hershey) we wandered across the lobby en mass to the other ice rink, where we found the big boys doing drills. (and lost Elly to one of those dumb crane games.) It's ridiculously thrilling to me to be standing literally on the other side of the glass as two people attempt to shove one another through it, so I was having the time of my life. This was also the longest time we saw Ovechkin practice for the entire weekend. He and Semin seemed to have this idea that because they were the big names, they didn't really need ice time that badly.
Onwards, there was lunch (nachos and dip and chips and beer... some people had sandwiches), over which we discussed the role of the female fan, and how you couldn't really wear a Sidney Crosby jersey or and Ovechkin jersey and be taken seriously. Schnookie got the winning quote from that conversation when she brought it home with "We're sports fans...who objectify." I managed to challenge her quote supremacy later on the way back to Shmee's house, when we had to climb 2.5 stories on a dead escalator out of the Metro and nearing the top I whined "I'm getting Sidney Crosby butt from this!"
Shmee greeted us with a drink that went from being named "Rachael Ray's Spiked Pink Lemonade" to "Pink Drink of Firey Death" and the evening went downhill from there. Between Rocky-Horrorizing The Cutting Edge (we even had the SIDE PONYTAILS, come on) and Shmee recounting her adventures in supposedly skanky clothing, the evening could really only end with a field trip. And where else would one go on a field trip than to the Verizon Center?
Sunday:
Up and at it on time this time. Loaded into Turco, picked up the rest of the troops, and headed out the the rink again. This time, we settled in for the drills and actually watched what was going on, about three rows back from what we were guessing were Ovie's parents. Ovie and Olie were in rare form from the beginning, scrapping verbally during a shootout drill then each dancing when they managed to best the other. However, Olie's game disintegrated from there, and by the time they were done he had cracked his stick and wound up throwing it off the ice at one of the equipment people. CapsChick started edging away from us early this time, especially after Steph asked in true Steph loudvoice "Is Olie looking especially creaky today?" The rest of the first round players were in high spirits, however, and two of them wound up horsing around amusingly as well.
After a slight Zamboni break (and a chance for us to go raid the Caps store for the *right* team's stuff, we went back out to watch the prospies. Enter Fluffy, BabyMalkin, Backcountry Pyatt and NotMachesney. (in reality, Jay Beagle, Dan Kronick, Tyler Sloan(I think) and Kris Mayotte) interestingly enough, Alexander Semin was also lumped in with this second group, but spent more of it lounging on the boards and looking disinterested than he did actually playing. It was interesting to see the prospies go through the same drills that the big boys had just finished, because you could tell that these were the guys who were really WORKING to do well and make the team, not the guys that knew they were already there. Frederic Cassivi (Hershey's goalie) was down in the same net Olie had been in earlier, and wasn't doing much better. He seemed to be overcommitting to one side of the net and disregarding anyone not in his immediate line of sight. We debated getting him a flowerpot to improve the chi of that end of the rink, but decided that probably wasn't gonna be enough to help him. The other goalie, Kris Mayotte or NotMachesney, (as he was NOT Daren Machesney from Hershey the way we thought he was, but a potential Machesney backup, as Machesney broke himself at some point in the near past) was doing much better overall. After finding out that he was an import from the Arizona Sundogs, I really hope that they decide to keep him around and send him up here to Central PA to play with the Bears... not only was he showing some real promise, but he seemed to be meshing with all of the other prospies pretty darn well.
As all the prospies were packing it in for the day, we also got the treat of getting to watch Puck Handling 101, which was pretty downright amazing.
And of course, as we were leaving for lunch, we wandered into the other rink and watched the last period of a local hockey club's game, which was really much less GAME and much more FIGHT. I think I actually physically squee'd when the two dudes started pummeling each other directly in front of us, and I took way too many pictures, just proving my previously known goon slut tendencies.
All in all, I couldn't have come up with a better way to spend a weekend. Except maybe Pens camp, but even then, I wouldn't have wanted to spend it with a different group of people. I think the I-95 meetup may well become a half-yearly thing, and Elly and I are already plotting towards the Ice Bowl in Buffalo.
Oh, and when you thought it couldn't get much better? Hershey Bears open practices start Thursday.
I'll see you there! Read More......
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Survivor: Coyotes Edition
I've never actually watched Survivor but from what I've heard, there's a lot of backstabbing and feeding each other to the sharks (no pun intended) so I'm looking forward to seeing who will be the first to cry... I know, I know, I have a mean streak in me. All I can say in my defense is that I love these guys to death, even the ones I don't really know yet; as soon as they put on that Coyote uniform, they steal my heart and I will go to bat for them, no questions asked. That being said, I want them to fight for it. I am sick of guys coming here simply to retire (and because we have good golf); I want them to come here because we are using a winning system and they want to be a part of it.
So who's it going to be? Will it be our backup from last year, Mikael Tellqvist? Will it be one of the two new guys brought in to duke it out for the top spot, David Aebischer or Alex Auld? Will David Leneveu finally have his shot at the big club or will this be the end of his run in our organization? Where will my boy Josh Tordjman rank in this line up? Will he continue to be San Antonio's backup or will he move up and become their number one, shaping him to show up for us in the next year or so?
So many questions with no answers. They should, at the least, give us all a good show at training camp next month. Whoever is chosen, though, should know that they can't just coast through. "Oh, it's only the Coyotes, they're not going to the playoffs anyway, I'll just take tonight off." Nay, goalie, nay. You'll have to prove every night that you deserve to be here... we're not taking any shit from anyone. Or at least I hope we're not...
(X-Posted to TrueCoyoteLove & Bleu Blanc et Rouge)
