ShelbyZ
Registered User
- Apr 8, 2015
- 3,896
- 2,709
As far as having a crowd in net behind his NHL options, I can kind of see where Yzerman would want to play it safe depth wise:
-Rightfully so, GR decided pretty early on last season that they didn't want to have to rely on Brattstrom or Fulcher whenever possible, so they ran Pickard into the ground until he got called up by the Red Wings and then injured. They then had to toss a largely untested Brattstrom to the wolves who, to his credit, did play somewhat better after getting a regular role (.903 after 2022 started). But then they still didn't want to play Fulcher if they didn't have to, so they ran Brattstrom into the ground as well and had no other option than to hope Pickard could get healthy and take back over after Hellberg came in to give them insurance at the NHL level.
-All 3 options outside of the NHL guys are or are pretty close to unknowns at the AHL level (where contrary to popular belief, the team is trying to win games and be successful and doesn't solely exist for NHL prospects to sink or swim):
Olkinuora: Sure he's played great to fantastic overseas, but he hasn't played regularly on NA ice in over 6 years, and his AHL/ECHL resume from back then isn't much better than Fulcher's... It's certainly possible that he could struggle in the AHL like others that have come over from long tenure's overseas (Liv, Sateri, etc.) and open the need for someone else to take over.
Cossa: He's 19 years old and coming over from Jr. His start in the pros could be all over the map. Anywhere from stellar or all the way down to what happened the last time the Wings took a goalie from Jr's in the first round (I can't be the only one that remembers).
Brattstrom: He's the only real known quantity at the AHL level (and not a great one at that), yet still largely not established.
I certainly wouldn't view Cossa being sent to Toledo as disappointing... He has more opportunity to move up than if they had simply sent him back to the WHL as an overager. And he'll likely get more playing time in Toledo than if he started in GR as Olkinuora's back up (while still having a worthwhile challenger there in Lethemon). He's also likely the first called up to GR when an injury happens there or in the NHL.
And if no injuries happen but he tears it up in the ECHL, he probably won't stay there long. Yzerman has a pretty good track record of making the necessary adjustments when guys seem to outgrow the farm team (see Vasilevsky, Andrei and Kucherov, Nikita as examples). And I trust that more than some Lowe/Tambellini/MacT stuff like simply entitling spots to guys because of where they were drafted.
-Rightfully so, GR decided pretty early on last season that they didn't want to have to rely on Brattstrom or Fulcher whenever possible, so they ran Pickard into the ground until he got called up by the Red Wings and then injured. They then had to toss a largely untested Brattstrom to the wolves who, to his credit, did play somewhat better after getting a regular role (.903 after 2022 started). But then they still didn't want to play Fulcher if they didn't have to, so they ran Brattstrom into the ground as well and had no other option than to hope Pickard could get healthy and take back over after Hellberg came in to give them insurance at the NHL level.
-All 3 options outside of the NHL guys are or are pretty close to unknowns at the AHL level (where contrary to popular belief, the team is trying to win games and be successful and doesn't solely exist for NHL prospects to sink or swim):
Olkinuora: Sure he's played great to fantastic overseas, but he hasn't played regularly on NA ice in over 6 years, and his AHL/ECHL resume from back then isn't much better than Fulcher's... It's certainly possible that he could struggle in the AHL like others that have come over from long tenure's overseas (Liv, Sateri, etc.) and open the need for someone else to take over.
Cossa: He's 19 years old and coming over from Jr. His start in the pros could be all over the map. Anywhere from stellar or all the way down to what happened the last time the Wings took a goalie from Jr's in the first round (I can't be the only one that remembers).
Brattstrom: He's the only real known quantity at the AHL level (and not a great one at that), yet still largely not established.
I certainly wouldn't view Cossa being sent to Toledo as disappointing... He has more opportunity to move up than if they had simply sent him back to the WHL as an overager. And he'll likely get more playing time in Toledo than if he started in GR as Olkinuora's back up (while still having a worthwhile challenger there in Lethemon). He's also likely the first called up to GR when an injury happens there or in the NHL.
And if no injuries happen but he tears it up in the ECHL, he probably won't stay there long. Yzerman has a pretty good track record of making the necessary adjustments when guys seem to outgrow the farm team (see Vasilevsky, Andrei and Kucherov, Nikita as examples). And I trust that more than some Lowe/Tambellini/MacT stuff like simply entitling spots to guys because of where they were drafted.
