Pre-Game Talk: On the road again. @PHI (Monday @5:00PM) @WSH (Thursday @5:00PM) @FLA (Saturday @4:00PM) We got bodies back, is that enough?

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Our defensive play this year is pretty straightforward quite frankly.

They're incredibly stingy. Giving up very few shots on Goal, and very few scoring chances. However, we are prone to bad mistakes defensively which leads to some real quality chances for other teams. Unfortunately, we are getting absolutely no saves on those dangerous chances. Basically every significant mistake is ending up in the back of the net. I would argue it's because of this that our guys are playing timid defensively and quite frankly is leading to an increase in the high danger chances.


I suspect if we were getting better goaltending we'd probably be giving up more shots against but less high danger as our guys wouldn't be nearly as afraid to make a mistake and likely be making smarter decisions.

 

[the_fan]

Then have a look at the top goalie from last year as well...


The Top 5 goalies in the league as of today(with 10+ starts) are:

Stolarz
Gustavsson
Talbot
Hellebuyck
Dostal


Exactly one of those are making North of $4M.


Goaltending is a crap shoot and in a lot of cases is highly dependent on the team play in front of them.


We have the 2nd fewest shots against.


We're actually playing really fantastic defensive hockey so far this year. The problem with the skaters has been a lack of offense.


And obviously in net it is a complete and utter failure especially with the strong defensive play in front of them.

Yeah you never know with goalies i guess. Like you know what you gonna get form guys like Shesterkin, Vasilevskiy every year, but majority of the goalies in the NHL are on and off. They’ll have good season or two then completely plummet. That’s why it’s risky to sign a goalie long term and pay a lot of money unless you got a Shesterkin or Vasilevskiy

 

[Hennessy]

Well, somehow my misreading of the stats makes it even worse.
2nd best SA really, really reflects poorly on the goaltending.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Were these the lines in the practice(s) since Wash? If not, does anyone have what they were?

Yes, these were the lines in practice since the loss to Washington.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1857861098818674916

 

[the_fan]

Blackwood has posted a 914 save percentage in 11 games so far with the Sharks. If the rumors of Avs being interested in him are true, he might be a good option for us

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Yeah you never know with goalies i guess. Like you know what you gonna get form guys like Shesterkin, Vasilevskiy every year, but majority of the goalies in the NHL are on and off. They’ll have good season or two then completely plummet. That’s why it’s risky to sign a goalie long term and pay a lot of money unless you got a Shesterkin or Vasilevskiy

Do you though?


Shesterkin has been pretty much average over his last 120 games since winning the Vezina. There's a reason the Rangers really don't want to give him the big money he's asking for.

Vasilievsky was below league average last year. Only marginally better than Georgiev(.900 vs .897 I believe).

Bobrovsky was thought to be on the worst contract in the entire league before his 2022-23 playoff run.


Quite frankly the only goalie in the league who's been consistently a top end guy is Hellebuyck... And even with him we all saw what the Avs were able to do in a playoff series with that guy.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1858561807998144747

 

[dahrougem2]

Lord have mercy he's throwing Kylington in there lol god help that 3rd pairing

 

[Tommy Shelby]

Poor Malinksi

 

[the_fan]

Do you though?


Shesterkin has been pretty much average over his last 120 games since winning the Vezina. There's a reason the Rangers really don't want to give him the big money he's asking for.

Vasilievsky was below league average last year. Only marginally better than Georgiev(.900 vs .897 I believe).

Bobrovsky was thought to be on the worst contract in the entire league before his 2022-23 playoff run.


Quite frankly the only goalie in the league who's been consistently a top end guy is Hellebuyck... And even with him we all saw what the Avs were able to do in a playoff series with that guy.

I mean I can’t disagree with this. Goaltending is just weird throughout the league, so how do the Avs fix it? How do we know that the next guy we get after Georgiev is gone, is gonna be good or better? Let’s say we get Blackwood or Gibson, they’ll orobably have that 1st year solid showing like Georgiev did, but how do we know that they’ll continue to be good? There is just no way of knowing what you gonna get from goalies

 

[Pokecheque]

Well I'm glad he's at least admitting that de Haan sucks donkey balls, but I'm not so sure it's a good idea to throw Kylington in there instead.

 

[BobRossColton]

Get ludvig in a game or two..

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Get ludvig in a game or two..

He has played.

When he plays, he’s overly aggressive getting caught out of position and seriously struggles to make a simple breakout pass.

They all suck. CdH sucks the least of the 3.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

I mean I can’t disagree with this. Goaltending is just weird throughout the league, so how do the Avs fix it? How do we know that the next guy we get after Georgiev is gone, is gonna be good or better? Let’s say we get Blackwood or Gibson, they’ll orobably have that 1st year solid showing like Georgiev did, but how do we know that they’ll continue to be good? There is just no way of knowing what you gonna get from goalies

Well, that's just it. At least IMO there's really no solid solution, and it's something just about every team in the league is having to try and figure out right now as well. Just look around the league and it's like teams are playing hot potato with goalies. Outside of maybe 5-6 teams who are happy with the goalies they have, everyone else is trying to find a solution.



Toronto, Vegas, Calgary, Carolina, Detroit, Los Angeles, Washington, Montreal, New Jersey, Edmonton, Ottawa, Philly, Pittsburgh, Vancouver...

Just in the last year we've seen the following teams change either it's starting goalie or change a 1A/B combination. And quite frankly a lot of the teams that didn't change, mostly didn't just because they're rebuilding and don't really care about getting average or worse goaltending anyway.

Personally I at least prefer the Avs route of spending cheaply on such a volatile position. Compared to teams like LA, Seattle, and Washington that all spent big money on bad solutions and had to buy those guys out or take on bad contracts to solve problems.


Personally if I were CMac my next attempt at a solution would be Gibson with 50% retention. That's your best chance to potentially get a legit high end solution instead of just another spin of the wheel.


If they really wanted to go for it, get both Gibson and Blackwood.


Edit: And just to add another point. The current goaltending "issues" that are plaguing the league are a direct product of the increased scoring league wide. Right now there's 20 teams in the league shooting at 10.0% or higher. The highest team is shooting at almost 15%. That means in theory 20 teams in the league have a sv% below 90% or .900 for goalie stats. Now once you account for ENGs the number probably change slightly, but not a lot.


I'd venture to guess without looking that the league average sv% right now is probably like .902-905 or in that range. It's simply way lower then the ~.915 it would have been 10 years ago.

And I think we as fans haven't really fully adjusted our expectations for these new changes.