2009-10 NHL Thread

Good. Scott Walker has always been a standup guy, and he and Aaron Ward made peace before this season.

Whalercanes have now won seven in a row. Someone forgot to tell them that after dealing seven players that they were supposed to accept their fate. It's still a big stretch, but making the playoffs wouldn't be a miracle at this stage.

 

Was thinking the same thing about the Caps last night. I'm with you on Chicago, as well.

 

I'm tired of the talk about the goaltending in Chicago not being sufficent. Niemi carries the third best GAA in the league and his .910 save percentage is more than reasonable and holds a remarkable 17-4-1 record. They are not going to need a goalie to steal the cup for them, they just need one who is not going to lose it. They are built and play much the same way Detroit was through the 90s and 00s where they will do their best to lead the league in shots for and fewest shots against, and right now they do both. It should be no surprise that the Bowmans are running the show in Chi-town. Yes Niemi is inexperienced come playoff time, but everyone has to have their post-season cherry popped at some point. I wouldn't condem him until his gives you a Dan Cloutier reason to be condemed. Hell some of the teams out there who are considered to be rock solid in net I consider just as big of a question marks in the playoffs: Luongo in Vancouver, Brodeur in New Jersey, Miller in Buffalo and Nabakov in San Jose.

Washington should be fine once Varlamov gets healthy, and although Jose Theodore is 11-0-2 in his last 13 starts, I still don't trust him as far as I can throw him.

My biggest surprise goaltending wise is that Philly seems to be betting their season on Michael Leighton without even a reliable plan B in place *cough* Roloson *cough*

 

Beef.

A .910 Save % makes Niemi 24th. His Save % is 2.26 which ranks him 4th.

I don't think anyone's condemning him but I'm not sure I'd want to put my hopes on a guy who's played a grand total of 26 games over the last two seasons. And he doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same paragraph as Luongo or Miller.

 

JR, the 1971 playoffs are calling. They want to talk with you about a guy with six career regular season games under his belt.



(I know, I know, Niemi is no Dryden. But, hey, who knows? )

 

I think the Kari Lehtonen Era officially began in Dallas last night.

 

So on one hand, we've got Ken Dryden. And on the other, we've got pretty much every other team in the history of the game that thought they could win a title with a rookie between the pipes.

The Pens fanboy in me would like to thank Washington and Chicago for standing pat.

 

I was thinking as I was writing my post, "Some nerd is going to bring up Dryden"

You win, Double J.

Yeah, once every 40 years or so is a real trend.

 

Well, it happened again for Montreal in 1986. And then Marty Brodeur was a super soph in 1995.

 

Cam Ward, anyone?

 

Well .910 may not be among the league leaders it is certainly a very passable save percentage. And I stand corrected on his GAA, he is fourth, was just reading off the front of the league leaders page on NHL.com and somehow missed the guy on top with his picture -- Tuuka Rask. Also was not comparing him with the Bordeurs, Luongos, etc only to say he is far from the only goaltending question mark heading, in fact there are others with much larger resumes that have huge questions about their play in the playoffs heading in.