News & Notes XLIV: Revenge of the Seth

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Why are we people assuming Kochetkov is the better goalie?

 

[Derailed75]

Why are we people assuming Kochetkov is the better goalie?

Is anyone assuming that? Personally I think they are very close but Freddy has no more up side and has potential i jury concerns.
With that being said I think Freddy getting game one makes sense. He's much less likely to let a bad game hang over him so let Kooch get the game against a worn out team.

 

[WreckingCrew]

Is anyone assuming that? Personally I think they are very close but Freddy has no more up side and has potential i jury concerns.
With that being said I think Freddy getting game one makes sense. He's much less likely to let a bad game hang over him so let Kooch get the game against a worn out team.

Yea I don't mind giving the vet goalie the start in game 1...my guess is they're likely a 50/50 split like the end of last year unless/until Freddie gets hurt and Kooch gets more starts then. Even if Kooch has a "shit the bed" period he probably needs to still get 50%+ of starts so he can learn to play through and overcome those hurdles if we really want him to become our goalie of the future.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Is anyone assuming that? Personally I think they are very close but Freddy has no more up side and has potential i jury concerns.
With that being said I think Freddy getting game one makes sense. He's much less likely to let a bad game hang over him so let Kooch get the game against a worn out team.

It's certainly implied above in many posts above questioning why Freddie is in the crease for opening night, how we should hand over the reigns, how Pyotr should be getting more starts, how Freddie's salary is why he's starting, etc.. etc.

I agree with everything else you wrote.

 

[bleedgreen]

Is anyone assuming that? Personally I think they are very close but Freddy has no more up side and has potential i jury concerns.
With that being said I think Freddy getting game one makes sense. He's much less likely to let a bad game hang over him so let Kooch get the game against a worn out team.

I’ve seen a lot of posts here that are either flat out saying it or wishing/predicting it’s true.

Freddie may not have more upside but his baseline is as a solid every day starter when we don’t know that at all about Koochie. We’re just hoping.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Yeah, I get the playoffs left a sour taste in the mouths of many, but Freddie was rather good in the regular season last year and has a pretty good history with us. Koch will have to earn it.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

To put it in perspective, since Freddy has been a Hurricane (3 years), he ranks 4th in the NHL in regular season SV% for goalies > 80 games played during that stretch. He ranks 1st in GAA.

No doubt injuries are a legitimate concern though.

 

[hblueridgegal]

In RBA’s interview with Ovies about the new roster and departures, he said at the time, who would have the primary goalie job was a toss up. He also said both would play a lot, if not, equally.

 

[hblueridgegal]

In town for the game with my son and for Dr. appointments. It’s been a nice mental break.

The game tomorrow is a sellout. How bad should we expect traffic to be on a Friday evening and for an opener? Trying to fit in a nice early bird dinner before.

 

[chaz4hockey]

My brother in law is on his way for power restoration, 3 weeks is what he was told. His crew was the only one left in our area, rest of them was sent to the mountains.

My thanks!

 

[NotOpie]

Why are we people assuming Kochetkov is the better goalie?

The one thing we know about Kochetkov is the more games he plays, especially in a row, the more consistent he is. So it would make sense to give him at least 50% of the games and starting Freddie in Game 1 doesn't mean that's not going to happen. Mentally, I think they have to consider Freddie's mindset as much as Koochie's. He's the one coming off of the bad final playoff game performance.

My untrained eye did tell me that Kotchetkov looked better in the limited pre-season showings than Freddie did.

In town for the game with my son and for Dr. appointments. It’s been a nice mental break.

The game tomorrow is a sellout. How bad should we expect traffic to be on a Friday evening and for an opener? Trying to fit in a nice early bird dinner before.

It will be bad....come early and plan on having a snack in the parking lot after the game. That's what my son andI do.

 

[DaveG]

In town for the game with my son and for Dr. appointments. It’s been a nice mental break.

The game tomorrow is a sellout. How bad should we expect traffic to be on a Friday evening and for an opener? Trying to fit in a nice early bird dinner before.

The one thing we know about Kochetkov is the more games he plays, especially in a row, the more consistent he is. So it would make sense to give him at least 50% of the games and starting Freddie in Game 1 doesn't mean that's not going to happen. Mentally, I think they have to consider Freddie's mindset as much as Koochie's. He's the one coming off of the bad final playoff game performance.

My untrained eye did tell me that Kotchetkov looked better in the limited pre-season showings than Freddie did.

It will be bad....come early and plan on having a snack in the parking lot after the game. That's what my son andI do.

for the opener I'm usually trying to get into the parking lot mid-afternoon (4-5PM) simply because it's usually crowded early and traffic management is still in pre-season mode at that point. Thankfully I have the day off so probably heading out early if the repairs on my car aren't too difficult (power steering issue)

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

The one thing we know about Kochetkov is the more games he plays, especially in a row, the more consistent he is.

True, although that's the case for most goalies.

So it would make sense to give him at least 50% of the games and starting Freddie in Game 1 doesn't mean that's not going to happen. Mentally, I think they have to consider Freddie's mindset as much as Koochie's. He's the one coming off of the bad final playoff game performance.

His health is more of a concern than a "mindset" to me. He's been an NHL starter for years and wouldn't have the track record he did with a questionable mindset.

My untrained eye did tell me that Kotchetkov looked better in the limited pre-season showings than Freddie did.

Pre-season for veterans is meaningless when assessing how good one player is vs. another. Julien Gauthier would be a great NHLr if we judged his ability based on pre-season.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Who starts in the regular season doesn't matter, outside of worrying about when Freddie inevitably gets injured. Who starts in the playoffs matters, because as we saw last year, there's apparently no 1A/1B in the playoffs. Rod (or the goalie coach) is set on running with 1 goalie in the playoffs, regardless of how they play.

So with that in mind, having Kotch play less games in the regular season might be the right move to ensure he's healthy and rested for the playoffs.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Who starts in the regular season doesn't matter, outside of worrying about when Freddie inevitably gets injured. Who starts in the playoffs matters, because as we saw last year, there's apparently no 1A/1B in the playoffs. Rod (or the goalie coach) is set on running with 1 goalie in the playoffs, regardless of how they play.

So with that in mind, having Kotch play less games in the regular season might be the right move to ensure he's healthy and rested for the playoffs.

On top of that, during the regular season, most coaches go with the goalie that has a hot hand. I suspect if one goalie is rolling, they'll get more starts while that's happening. When/if they cool off, they won't.

 

[chaz4hockey]

Why are we people assuming Kochetkov is the better goalie?

For me, Freddie's LY playoff misses gave me pause.

I then concluded that perhaps this is the right year to find out if Pytor is the guy before Freddie's contract expires.

 

[Buenos Necas]

I think anyone expecting Pytor to be the starter or 1A in the tandem right out of the gate is doing a bit of wishcasting. Obviously that's where we all hope this season goes. The young guy with term and upside claiming the crease over the veteran on an expiring contract is the ideal outcome.

But he still has to actually claim it. No surprise that Rod will defer to the veteran for opening night, but after that I would expect a pure 50/50 split until it's obvious one needs to be playing over the other. Hopefully PK can show he's ready to be the guy and Freddie can remain solid and healthy.

 

[Derailed75]

I’ve seen a lot of posts here that are either flat out saying it or wishing/predicting it’s true.

Freddie may not have more upside but his baseline is as a solid every day starter when we don’t know that at all about Koochie. We’re just hoping.

Not sure I agree we are "hoping" with Kooch. I mean we all know goalies are voodoo and can fall off a cliff out of nowhere but he has proved "unless he falls of said cliff" to be a pretty damn good goalie pretty equal to how Freddy has played.

 

[bleedgreen]

Not sure I agree we are "hoping" with Kooch. I mean we all know goalies are voodoo and can fall off a cliff out of nowhere but he has proved "unless he falls of said cliff" to be a pretty damn good goalie pretty equal to how Freddy has played.

Not sure I agree that he’s played equal to a little younger, healthier and on a roll Freddie. He’s played equal or better than the Freddie that didn’t seem on track this past season when he played and kinda shat himself in the playoffs. I think you have to acknowledge how good Freddie has been. Koochie hasn’t really been as good for any length of time imo.

Healthier, hungrier, younger…..time to see what he do. Sure. Freddie is at the end of his career so comparing over the last season seems unfair.

 

[Svechhammer]

Also, Saturdays game is officially postponed to a TBD future date

I think anyone expecting Pytor to be the starter or 1A in the tandem right out of the gate is doing a bit of wishcasting.

I was literally told over the summer that the crease is his. It's not wishcasting when you're just relaying that information

 

[chaz4hockey]

Also, Saturdays game is officially postponed to a TBD future date


I was literally told over the summer that the crease is his. It's not wishcasting when you're just relaying that information

wow re: surprised that game was postponed....I gather Bolts didn't find the options favorable for them financially? Will be interesting to see where they slot that in.

 

[Buenos Necas]

Also, Saturdays game is officially postponed to a TBD future date


I was literally told over the summer that the crease is his. It's not wishcasting when you're just relaying that information

Cool, I hope it works out that way. Obviously I have no way of knowing what you were told/who said it. I suppose my main point is I don't think opening night is a big deal, makes sense Rod would let the veteran have it. Even if the org is ready for PK to be the guy, seems very anti-Rod to anoint him before his play necessitates it. But I don't doubt that they're going to give him every opportunity to do that.

 

[Derailed75]

Not sure I agree that he’s played equal to a little younger, healthier and on a roll Freddie. He’s played equal or better than the Freddie that didn’t seem on track this past season when he played and kinda shat himself in the playoffs. I think you have to acknowledge how good Freddie has been. Koochie hasn’t really been as good for any length of time imo.

Healthier, hungrier, younger…..time to see what he do. Sure. Freddie is at the end of his career so comparing over the last season seems unfair.

Freddy's regular season was really good last year for the few games he played but Kooch's was pretty solid. The year before Freddy played 34 games and Kooch 24, Kooch had a 2.44 gaa Freddy had a 2.48
Freddy has been really good here but I think you are discounting what Kooch has done

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Freddy's regular season was really good last year for the few games he played but Kooch's was pretty solid. The year before Freddy played 34 games and Kooch 24, Kooch had a 2.44 gaa Freddy had a 2.48
Freddy has been really good here but I think you are discounting what Kooch has done

I don't think it's discounting what he's done, it's acknowledging that he has a small sample size. He has 24 games with a .909 SV % one season and 42 games with a .911 SV %. He had a very good run last year where he played about 30 games with a .919 SV % and a 2.17 GAA but Freddie had a .951SV % and a 1.30 GAA in 10 games over that same stretch.

Looking at a larger sample size, Freddie's career with Carolina is similar to Kochetkov's very good run. His career with Carolina is .918SV% and 2.22 GAA.

We all want Kochetkov to "be the man", but it's fair to be cautious of that until he shows he can be with a larger sample size.

 

[Derailed75]

I don't think it's discounting what he's done, it's acknowledging that he has a small sample size. He has 24 games with a .909 SV % one season and 42 games with a .911 SV %. He had a very good run last year where he played about 30 games with a .919 SV % and a 2.17 GAA but Freddie had a .951SV % and a 1.30 GAA in 10 games over that same stretch.

Looking at a larger sample size, Freddie's career with Carolina is similar to Kochetkov's very good run. His career with Carolina is .918SV% and 2.22 GAA.

We all want Kochetkov to "be the man", but it's fair to be cautious of that until he shows he can be with a larger sample size.

Fair enough. I'm not sure how many games he needs to log before you are comfortable with him being him but his career stats are almost 70 regular season games and .910% of his 3 NHL season he has finished right are a 2.4gaa and a.910% pretty consistent.