GDT: Mambo Sauce vs. Chowder

[Hivemind]

As an aside, the Caps have lost their mojo drafting goalies. It's been bleak since they moved on from Sammy and Vanecek.

Have they lost their mojo at drafting goalies? Or have they lost their mojo at developing the goalies they've drafted? The two are obviously linked heavily, and it's hard to isolate them entirely. But I feel the latter (development) is at least as big a part of their goalie pipeline slowdown as the drafting. The Dave Prior and Mitch Korn regimes were excellent at developing goalies. It's been since Korn left that things have taken a sharp turn for the worse.

 

[Kazer]

Re; Shepard in the AHL

AHL goalies always split starts thanks to the nature of the AHL scheduling loading up games on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Having a Martin Jones or whoever else in the AHL would still lead to Stevenson splitting starts. There's maybe 1 goalie per season in the AHL who hits 50 starts.

This is a very good point. I would revise my prior post to say that Stevenson would be more of a clear starter rather than a true 50/50 split.

So, last year was 36 (Stevenson) - 34 (Shepard) - 2 (Gibson). Rather than 50 plus, I would look for something akin to 45 (Stevenson) - 25 (Gibson) - 2 (ECHL fill ins). Stevenson would also be first in line for playoff starts. 45 starts would put Stevenson in line with what other prospect goalies played last year (Knight, Blomqvist, Wallstedt, and Askarov all played around 44-45 games last year).

It's also much harder to hit 50+ games played now that the AHL season is 72 games rather than 80 like it was when Cassivi hit 61 GP in 05-06.

 

[SherVaughn30]

You want to cut our star AHL goalie because of 1 1/2 NHL preseason games? Have you lost your mind?

Nope.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Have they lost their mojo at drafting goalies? Or have they lost their mojo at developing the goalies they've drafted? The two are obviously linked heavily, and it's hard to isolate them entirely. But I feel the latter (development) is at least as big a part of their goalie pipeline slowdown as the drafting. The Dave Prior and Mitch Korn regimes were excellent at developing goalies. It's been since Korn left that things have taken a sharp turn for the worse.

Stevenson/Shep were never drafted. Stevenson/Gibson look to be developing along nicely. Shep has looked bad in 2 preseason games. Just get the vibe he wasn't gonna backup Lindgren after they acquired Thompson, so it was like, "not gonna make the Caps roster so I will just go back to Hershey and do my thing". Shep is supposed to be the 3rd string goalie for the Caps, but I think he's soured on them. I'm dead serious that Caps might have to look for a better 3rd option goalie. Lindgren/Thompson have a bit of injury history, and I aint confident Shep can step in even for a few NHL games. Stevenson/Gibson need to the ones getting the workload for Hershey this coming season.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Shepherd is fine, gang. He will play some for the Caps this year, and will probably play to the level of the team.

Meaning, if they are good, and are solidly meshed from D to O, he won’t lose them games, IMO. He isn’t yet at the Lindgren/Thompson level, but he’s ok.

If they aren’t that good/structured, then he also won’t bail them out, and he will look rather pedestrian.

Shepherd is the type of goalie that doesn’t stand in the way of a really good team — yet he sure doesn’t lift up bad ones either.

He’s fine. It’s that simple.

 

[TheSmokingMan]

I've never really been in the Shephard camp. He makes unorthodox saves that look nice to an untrained eye, but his fundamentals are lacking. He can get away with it in the AHL, but that style of play only works in the NHL if your name is Hasek. He can fill in for a few games in an emergency, but I don't trust him for more than that.

BMac made a very savvy move acquiring Thompson and not making Shephard the backup. After this season, I think it's time to move on from Shephard. Stephenson needs more starts so we know what we have and we need to make room to get the next crop of goalie prospects moving up.