blah I get that you like Bob. But the objection to his salary is what sticks out. He is the 10th highest paid goalie, and has the 6th highest sv%. You can't argue that he is overpaid relative to his peers.
Robert
Foligno family
Bob is 13/14 in wins/SV% (over 10 games)... That meets my expectation, had he started a tad better he could have been the top five in the league..
Best goalie we've ever had including Tugnutt..
Best goalie we've ever had including Tugnutt..
Jackets Fan
Registered User
Yeah, he may have been a bit inconsistent this season, but look what he did last night in Dallas, look what he did against NYI, look what he did against Philly. He has stepped up in the games that have mattered most.
His record is 31-20-5. His G.A.A. is 2.39. His save % is .922. He has put up 5 shutouts which is tied for 3rd most.
All of his numbers are at or around the best in the league. In my opinion, his play overall has proved last season wasn't a fluke.
He has more than earned that contract.
His record is 31-20-5. His G.A.A. is 2.39. His save % is .922. He has put up 5 shutouts which is tied for 3rd most.
All of his numbers are at or around the best in the league. In my opinion, his play overall has proved last season wasn't a fluke.
He has more than earned that contract.
LetsGOJackets!!
Registered User
Bob has been great, & is the reason for CBJ playoffs
Bob has been good enough since joining the Jackets that he makes the team believe they have a chance to win. Is that worth the money? Are you kidding me? Of course he is. They could have given that money to another dried up stiff, but they believed in a good young goaltender. I am old enough to have seen that be a foundation decision for many franchises.
Bob has been good enough since joining the Jackets that he makes the team believe they have a chance to win. Is that worth the money? Are you kidding me? Of course he is. They could have given that money to another dried up stiff, but they believed in a good young goaltender. I am old enough to have seen that be a foundation decision for many franchises.
Viqsi
"that chick from Ohio"
Call it an advance investment, then. The market for goaltenders is crazy like that nowdays.
Then again, I'm pretty sure we had this particular debate already.
Considering the expectations he had to live up to, which I understand he put upon himself with a tremendous season last year, the answer is a resounding yes. He's one of the best in the game and team MVP. What more would you want?
HockeyGuy1964
Registered User
- Oct 7, 2013
- 4,286
- 5,129
I say let's trade him back to Philly for Mason then we could have something real to whine about.
The problem with this debat is the OP. The question on the poll is not "Has Bob been worth the money this year", rather its "Has Bob met your expectations".
Worth the money? Yes.
Met my expectations? No, I expected him at least be on the fringe of the Vezina conversation this year. The good news is, he's been top 5 since New Year's and is playing great atm, but as other pointed out, the first 30 games were poor by his standards.
Xoggz22
Registered User
Bob was every bit what I expected based on his full body of work. If you really look into his season you will see that October and November were not very good at all but Since January (he only played 1 game in December due to injury) he has been one of the best AGAIN in the league. I would argue Vezina worthy once again.
October - 10 Games, 2.60 GAA, 0.916%, 0 shutouts
November - 12 G, 3.00 GAA, 0.896%, 1 shutout
January - 10 G, 2.31 GAA, 0.926%, 1 shutout
February - 5 G, 2.42 GAA, 0.931%, 0 shutouts
March - 13 G, 2.15 GAA, 0.928%, 1 shutout
April - 6 G, 1.80 GAA, 0.945%, 2 shutouts
So after the early season stumbles (Bob or team?) he's been playing at a very high level. Especially recently. His numbers since March are outstanding and at a time we needed him most. He seems to be a pressure player. Let's see what happens in the playoffs
As for how he did against the Eastern Conference? Yeah, pretty darn good there too...
37 G, 2.11 GAA, 0.932%, 4 shutouts
Again, probably where it mattered most. Against the direct competition. Personally I never expected Bob to repeat his 2.00 GAA and 0.932% but his last 4 months (34 G) were pretty darn close to that level of play.
He appears to be a keeper. Next question will be what does his next contract look like and will CBJ have ANY leverage with another young goaltender in the ranks.... I'd like to see him locked up longer term (5 years?) but worry about the price.
October - 10 Games, 2.60 GAA, 0.916%, 0 shutouts
November - 12 G, 3.00 GAA, 0.896%, 1 shutout
January - 10 G, 2.31 GAA, 0.926%, 1 shutout
February - 5 G, 2.42 GAA, 0.931%, 0 shutouts
March - 13 G, 2.15 GAA, 0.928%, 1 shutout
April - 6 G, 1.80 GAA, 0.945%, 2 shutouts
So after the early season stumbles (Bob or team?) he's been playing at a very high level. Especially recently. His numbers since March are outstanding and at a time we needed him most. He seems to be a pressure player. Let's see what happens in the playoffs
As for how he did against the Eastern Conference? Yeah, pretty darn good there too...
37 G, 2.11 GAA, 0.932%, 4 shutouts
Again, probably where it mattered most. Against the direct competition. Personally I never expected Bob to repeat his 2.00 GAA and 0.932% but his last 4 months (34 G) were pretty darn close to that level of play.
He appears to be a keeper. Next question will be what does his next contract look like and will CBJ have ANY leverage with another young goaltender in the ranks.... I'd like to see him locked up longer term (5 years?) but worry about the price.
Call it an advance investment, then. The market for goaltenders is crazy like that nowdays.
Then again, I'm pretty sure we had this particular debate already.
Yeah, I kind of covered the fact that JK was handcuffed in a later post. It might be a crazy market, but Howard's and Scheider's were reasonable. The former had a much better resume.
I still think the contract was ridiculous. You kind of backed that up with reference to the market.
Bob's 25, so a long term deal isn't quite as scary. But I'd still be really nervous with some 40 million+ contract sometime next year.
- Jan 12, 2011
- 14,453
- 10,877
You know most boardline playoff teams that squeak in with starting goaltender over the course of existence can make that exact claim. If we have Quick or Rask, as an example, maybe we have 100+ points right now and are the #2 seed. It's kind of a meaningless statement. Generally if you make the playoffs by a couple of points, you are going to credit the starting goaltender. There are exceptions obviously. Are we going to say "No Johansen, no playoffs" to justify a 6.5 million contract this offseason?
We went through some growing pains with Bob for 1/4+ of this season and took until game 80 to secure a playoff spot. Don't be so quick set the bar low because we've made the playoffs for the second time in our existence.
Keep the year in context, look at existing contracts and compare bodies of work. If you look at it objectively; it's fairly easy to make a case that we did overpay for Bob and that, in turn, did affect our flexibility against the cap. So did signing an player to a large contract that was going to miss close to half the season.
Let's keep in mind that Bob's stats didn't separate much from McBackups until the last six weeks.
At this point, I think I'm just saying the same thing(s) over and over again. I'm probably just boring people at this point.
great post, great digging on the numbers.
He's been a stud since the new year, and I think its coming together nicely for him in April.
theD86
Winging it
To be fair 2 things happened early on.
1. Defense was still a work in progress
2. Bob was hurt
Of all goaltending stats, GAA is the worst. It is a team stat more than it is tied to individual goalies. If he faced 40 shots a night because the team stunk and had a GAA of 3.00, he'd have a cool .925 SV%.
So his strained groin in December affected his play in October and November? Defense was a "work in progress" was it? I remember Prout being injured early on.
Can't say I agree.
- Jan 12, 2011
- 14,453
- 10,877
I guess I'm not on board with a couple of your points. I don't know that we would bang to point totals you reference with Rask or Quick, but if your point is we would have gotten there with either of those two, that may well be. But that is the point - our team needs a top flight netminder to be a playoff team. A top goalie - and especially a Vezina winner - costs money. So teh contract was fair. Without Bob (or top level goalie), we would not have been a "borderline team" as I am pretty sure we would have not been in the playoff hunt. Rather we would have plodded thru another "wait til next year" season.
All that said, I think the post by Xzoggs22 does far more justice to the issue than anything more I can add.....Let me say to Xzoggs22 - Great Post!
The amount is irrelevant - its the % of cap, term, and eligibility at the end of the deal.
10th highest paid goalie in the league, 2 year term, still RFA at the end of the deal.
Last season: Vezina*
This season: 6th highest SV% for goalies with 40+ starts (starters)
If you are basing his performance over the beginning of the season, then yes, he played poorly. Then again, if everything was judged by those standards, the playoff picture would look different as well.
All I was saying is that another starting goal tender could get us there. Others, around the same dollars, might have gotten us even more points.
I know we love the Vezina reference. I don't know how many times I can say it. He has a tarnished Vezina and he doesn't have the resume of a typical ex-Vezina winner. His agent will use it for leverage and I would. But this was barely half a season.
All he did was show the splits that I referenced on dozens of different occasions. It's fine, but it should have been well known what his splits were by now.
Look, the Jackets fans have a long history of falling in love with their goaltenders. We always cheer them more than anyone on the ice (the starter at least). This is the best one we've had. I get the support. I'm carefully optimistic that he can be everything we want. However, the valid criticisms I've made, both during the offseason and the first couple of months of the season and into the final stretch were objective. They are not meant to tear him down.
This fan base gets overly protective of their favorite players. Any critiquing of a players weaknesses will set them off. I guess I just have to accept that and move on. I like a good debate, but I don't think I'm going to get many when most just get defensive and think I am tearing the player down.
Bob has been big at times but has had plenty of head scratching moments. If you're going to give out recognition to one certain player for making the difference from last year to this year for getting us in to the playoffs, it has to be what Ryan Johansen has brought to the table. He is the team MVP this year!
Crede777
Deputized
- Dec 16, 2009
- 14,841
- 4,558
Have the Jackets ever had a consistently average starting goaltender? I think finding one has always proven difficult for this team.
In fact, many teams right now would have killed for a statistically average goaltender. So saying "another starting goaltender could get us there," while an accurate one is not entirely valid. It makes the assumption that the Jackets could identify and get their hands on one which is proving and has proven to be a difficult task for many teams including themselves.
If Bob is average or slightly above average and if the fans really like him, isn't it worth it to overpay even if just slightly? Factor in the competing offers from Russia, his Olympics selection, and his Vezina win and I think the pay is fairly well justified.
Further, Bobrovsky has demonstrated a willingness to work and improve his game regardless of the situation. That means if/when he is confronted with a problem, he works to overcome it. That's a trait I think Steve Mason lacked and is one which I think will allow Bob to have a measure of guaranteed success even if it's just league average.
HockeyGuy1964
Registered User
- Oct 7, 2013
- 4,286
- 5,129
Bob is the real thing.
He's Kiprusoff all over again. As an Oiler fan I hate the Flames but I was certain he was the real thing about a month after the Flames got him from San Jose for the reasons listed below.
He's always ready early, he's always square to the shooter, he never gives up on a puck & tracks it well, he plays big & is "quiet" in the net, he has really good rebound control.
In other words he's everything you want in a goalie.
He's Kiprusoff all over again. As an Oiler fan I hate the Flames but I was certain he was the real thing about a month after the Flames got him from San Jose for the reasons listed below.
He's always ready early, he's always square to the shooter, he never gives up on a puck & tracks it well, he plays big & is "quiet" in the net, he has really good rebound control.
In other words he's everything you want in a goalie.
Double-Shift Lasse
Just post better
I've not weighed in here yet despite the fact I'm sure you're all desperately waiting for my thoughts on Bob.
They are these:
1) I haven't made up my mind about him long-term. Things are promising.
2) He's probably a little overpaid this season. That said, I was OK with a two-year deal rather than long-term.
3) Any assessment of Bob "this year" is pending as far as I'm concerned. What he does in the playoffs will go a long way in determining my take on his season.
They are these:
1) I haven't made up my mind about him long-term. Things are promising.
2) He's probably a little overpaid this season. That said, I was OK with a two-year deal rather than long-term.
3) Any assessment of Bob "this year" is pending as far as I'm concerned. What he does in the playoffs will go a long way in determining my take on his season.
