Speculation: Goalie Depth

[Rorschach]

I always felt like Bernier was the value of three goalie prospects since we all feel that he panned out, it seems. Now he's gone and replaced basically by one unproven prospect in Scrivens who will be UFA soon. Plus the organization jettisoned Gibson.

And we all should know that DL loves having multiple quality goalies across the board so they can compete with each other. I think he's proven that this method works. That being said, we look very thin in net after Quick in the pipeline.

How many goalies do we need to be healthy again? I could totally see us drafting at least two after the second round and I could see us even trading for a decent prospect who is a year away using our quality but numerous bottom six players and maybe that Toronto 2nd and other stuff.

What you guys think?

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[Fishhead]

Perhaps a mid-round pick on a European goalie. There are some great players in those leagues, you can get quality for relatively low prices.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I don't think it would be too difficult for the Kings to retain Scrivens. I could see them locking him up at some point. I guess we could consider this season as his trial period as a backup to Quick.

He seems to be well liked by his peers and is eager to come in and accept his role as the #2 guy, so I'm hopeful that things will workout with Scrivens in LA. He'll also get some good goaltending advice from Bill Ranford and who knows, he might strive as a backup with the Kings.

 

[Reclamation Project]

And he'll be playing in a great defensive system that should allow him to succeed. His attitude has been fantastic thus far. Hopefully he has a great year.

 

[Rorschach]

I don't think it would be too difficult for the Kings to retain Scrivens. I could see them locking him up at some point. I guess we could consider this season as his trial period as a backup to Quick.

He seems to be well liked by his peers and is eager to come in and accept his role as the #2 guy, so I'm hopeful that things will workout with Scrivens in LA. He'll also get some good goaltending advice from Bill Ranford and who knows, he might strive as a backup with the Kings.

Do you mean "thrive?"

I think of course we will include Scrivens in there but he's a doubly-wild card in being a UFA and being unproven. I like to be dealt more cards, as many as possible if I can get them for cheap.

 

[Rorschach]

Perhaps a mid-round pick on a European goalie. There are some great players in those leagues, you can get quality for relatively low prices.

Ersberg was decent for us for a while...didn't he come from Europe? Basically we can use another Ersberg and some prospects who are developing but won't show up on the cap.

 

[KingKopitar11*]

Perhaps a mid-round pick on a European goalie. There are some great players in those leagues, you can get quality for relatively low prices.

DL isn't a Europe guy sadly, excluding Russia.

 

[CNS]

I'm not all that sure on Scrivens. Willing to give him a chance but there's a few issues I see in his game that really worry me, even as a backup. We definitely need to add someone. If we're just going off descriptions, I want Dean to draft an 18 year old European who's at least 6'4". There's a few actual prospects out there that I like but it really all depends who falls where and who is still on the board.

 

[Telos]

Scrivens isn't garbage. I've seen a bit of his play, and while he isn't, nor will never be, a #1 and Toronto was starved in goal (think of how we were when we were fighting over Ersberg and Labarbara). He is still a good backup and could develop into a great one. He has some potential.

As far as depth, it is beyond obvious that we will be taking at least one goaltender in this draft, maybe two, and then we'll be right back to normal in depth.

A "scouting report" on Scrivens: http://networkedblogs.com/MzLcI

 

[YP44]

I am ok with giving Scrivens a shot as backup. If he doesn't work out it should not be hard to get a decent back up.

 

[HolyShot*]

I'm upset dean let gibson go. He was our future and insurance. What if quick's career ends early? We're ****ed.

 

[Trolfoli]

I'm upset dean let gibson go. He was our future and insurance. What if quick's career ends early? We're ****ed.

Don't Panick... if Quick goes down for a long time kings could pick up a vet back up to fill patch until prospect is ready in worse case... We haven't even seen how Scrivens looks behind LA'd defense either...Losing Berneir sure does make you feel naked doesn't it....

 

[Scottkmlps]

I'm upset dean let gibson go. He was our future and insurance. What if quick's career ends early? We're ****ed.

Gibson was the Kings future? Really?

 

[Reaper45]

I'm upset dean let gibson go. He was our future and insurance. What if quick's career ends early? We're ****ed.

If Quick gets a career ending injury of course we'd be ****ed just like if any teams #1 had a career ending injury but how or better yet why do you think that letting go of Gibson was a mistake? He has horrible fundamentals and has not shown since he was drafted that he has taken any steps towards becoming anything resembling a number 1 goaltender.

 

[CNS]

I'm upset dean let gibson go. He was our future and insurance. What if quick's career ends early? We're ****ed.

You ever see him play? I was never sold on him, even immediately after the pick. He didn't progress at all. Lots of holes in his game. He's the future of nothing, especially not this hockey team.

Scrivens isn't garbage. I've seen a bit of his play, and while he isn't, nor will never be, a #1 and Toronto was starved in goal (think of how we were when we were fighting over Ersberg and Labarbara). He is still a good backup and could develop into a great one. He has some potential.

As far as depth, it is beyond obvious that we will be taking at least one goaltender in this draft, maybe two, and then we'll be right back to normal in depth.

A "scouting report" on Scrivens: http://networkedblogs.com/MzLcI

No one said Scrivens is garbage. Still, I'm not sold on him. Doesn't mean I think he's garbage. I just don't know if he can really be a reliable backup for a cup contending team is all. We had the luxury of having the best backup in the league the last few years. The backup position is criminally underrated.


Side question: is our strength coach any good? It's not something that's talked about a lot. One of the things I noticed is that even in his highlight reel of saves, Scrivens ends up on his ass a LOT. That's a sign he needs to strengthen up his thighs a bit and work on his positioning when down butterfly. It's pretty easily correctable. That glove drives me bat **** insane though. My goalie coach would rip my head off if I ever did that.

 

[rajuabju]

Wow I had forgotten all about Gibson. Yea, after watching a few of his games, letting him go was no loss for us, at all. I'm assuming the person who is sad about Gibson is also sad about letting go of Zatkoff? heh

1) Jones might be ready for NHL backup duty as early as the 2014-2015 season
2) Signing vet backups on the cheap is relatively easy.
3) I expect us to use at least one, if not two, of our 4 round and later picks on G prospects to help restock the pipeline.

 

[tigermask48]

There are very few teams in the NHL that would be able to handle an injury to their starting goaltender and remain a top team. If it happens then guys like Doughty, Kopitar, Brown, Richards, and Carter need to start winning some games for the goalie and not the other way around...

As far as depth goes, the rumor mill is saying that the Monarchs signed Mathias Neiderberger from the Barrie Colts. Solid young goalie that could be a replacement for Gibson and goes a decent way to giving the pipeline solid depth. Add in a draft pick or two from the draft or even a college/euro free agent and the Kings depth looks fine.

Side question: is our strength coach any good? It's not something that's talked about a lot. One of the things I noticed is that even in his highlight reel of saves, Scrivens ends up on his ass a LOT. That's a sign he needs to strengthen up his thighs a bit and work on his positioning when down butterfly. It's pretty easily correctable. That glove drives me bat **** insane though. My goalie coach would rip my head off if I ever did that.

Not worried about this if Scrivens is willing to work on it. Remember how bad Quick's positioning was when he was first called up? He would always end up out of position and have to rely on his reflexes and athleticism to make saves. Now it's the other way around, he uses great positioning to be able to make saves, but still has the reflexes and athleticism to make a save if there's a redirection or rebound chance.

Bernier had a similar (not as extreme as Scrivens) ready position where he held his glove hand, very high and almost straight up and down and it was tweaked into what he uses today.

Ranford seems to be pretty good at taking what isn't broke in a goalies game and building something that works around those strengths. Sometimes things just work differently for different goalies. I know i was never comfortable with the straps on my pads loose because I felt like it restricted my mobility on rebound after I made the first save.

 

[Primakov!]

You ever see him play? I was never sold on him, even immediately after the pick. He didn't progress at all. Lots of holes in his game. He's the future of nothing, especially not this hockey team.

When I was looking online to see who the Kings drafted that year and I saw the last name "Gibson" I thought, "John Gibson? Sweet!"

Then when I saw it was "Chris" Gibson I found myself saying, "Oh..."

Kind of like with that ESPN commercial where all these people are left feeling disappointed when they meet Michael Jordan and it wasn't *the* Michael Jordan.