Confirmed with Link: Petr Mrazek signed 1 year, 1.5M

[CandyCanes]

Isles closing in on Lehner

 

[Unsustainable]

Isles closing in on Lehner

Mzarek / Darling vs Lehner / Griess

 

[CanesFanBudMan]

Not saying the situation between the pipes won’t be complete shit, but the system played has a lot to do with goaltending and Peter’s system was trash for that. While a the number of shots given up was low they were almost all high quality.

 

[The Faulker 27]

So who do we kill?

 

[My Special Purpose]

Yeah, like Buffalo, Ottawa, the Islanders, Chicago, Detroit, Edmonton, Montreal, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Vancouver. That's a third of the league with potentially worse goaltending than us.

Can we at least stop pretending we're the only team dealing with the inability to solve the goaltending position?

The contenders

• The Blues are at $71,090,155 for 18 players. Fans are cranked. They added Ryan O'Reilly and Tyler Bozak up the middle. Their defense isn't as good as ours from top-to-bottom. And they're counting on Jake Allen (.906, 2.75) and Chad Johnson in goal.
• The Flyers are at $64,759,167 for 18 players. Fans are excited. They brought back JvR. They have five defensemen under contract (Gostisbehere, Provorov, Gudas, MacDonald and Robert Hagg). And they're counting on Brian Elliott (.909, 2.66) and Michal Neuvirth in goal.
• The Oilers are at $71,421,166 for 20 players. Fans are optimistic. They have two of the best players in the world taking up $20 million in cap space for the next many seasons. Their defense is a joke and they are counting on Cam Talbot (.908, 3.02) and Mikko Koskinen in goal.
• The Blackhawks are at $77,449,295 for 21 players and have taken up permanent residence in cap hell due to their "lifetime" contracts for their five studs (Kane, Toews, Seabrook, Keith and Crawford). Fans are hopeful. Their window is closing rapidly -- if it's not closed alredy -- and they're counting on a guy whose health is shrouded in secrecy and who turns 34 during the season, Cam Ward and Anton Forsberg.

The tankers

• The Senators are at $61,813,333 for 20 players. They are a dumpster fire in every way, shape and form and will probably trade their franchise player very shortly. Their defense without him will be led by Mark Borowiecki and Chris Wideman. They have Craig Anderson and Mike Condon in goal.
• The Sabres are at $66,384,524 for 20 players. They are clearly rebuilding after trading Ryan O'Reilly, but for some reason, signed Carter Hutton for $8.25 million when the chances of competing in the next three seasons are virtually nil. Not to mention that Hutton will be 35 when the contract expires. Linus Ullmark is the backup/prospect.
• The Islanders are at $58,140,833 for 18 players and just had their hearts ripped out by John Tavares. They're going to be really bad. Thomas Greiss is the only goalie currently under contract (unless you want to count Rick DiPietro). It's really hard to see how they won't give up more goals than we will.
• The Red Wings are at $70,372,044 for 18 players. Their rebuild got a huge boost with Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno dropping into their laps at the draft, but otherwise, it's confusing. The six defensemen under contract are 37, 34, 34, 32, 28 and 27-years-old. They're spending $8.3 million in goal on a 34-year-old Jimmy Howard and journeyman Jonathan Bernier.
• The Canadiens are at $66,504,642 for 24 players. It's hard to argue their goaltending isn't better than ours, since they have Carey Price and a very solid defense. But a) Price was very bad last season (.900, 3.11), b) his EIGHT-YEAR, $84 MILLION extension kicks in this year, and c) Antti Niemi is the backup. I don't think there are a lot of Canadiens fans who feel good about their goaltending right now.
• The Canucks are at $66,652,845 for 23 players. Outside of Brock Boeser, there is literally *no* reason to care about the Vancouver Canucks. This team is a snoozefest, right down to the Jacob Markstrom/Anders Nilsson goaltending tandem.

We are at $58,997,498 for 18 players. Our skaters are young and dynamic. You'd really trade our goalie situation for Montreal's? Would we be better with Price/Niemi *this* year? Probably, but do we want to be paying a 37-year-old Price $10.5 million seven seasons from now? What if he continues to suck? What if he gets hurt? How do you reboot that situation if it goes badly?

Would we be better with Howard/Bernier? Or Hutton/Ullmark? Or any of the tandems above? I don't see how you can say definitively that we would be. And lots of the teams above have had the same issue for a long time (Philadelphia, NYI, Buffalo, Edmonton). The fact is that there are far more NHL teams than elite goaltenders. If you luck into one, you keep him. If you don't, you scramble until you do. It's really nothing new. A third of the league goes through it every season.

 

[DaveG]

So who do we kill?

Bill Peters

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

So who do we kill?

Jim Rutherford

 

[FlyingSquirrels]

Can we at least stop pretending we're the only team dealing with the inability to solve the goaltending position?

The contenders

• The Blues are at $71,090,155 for 18 players. Fans are cranked. They added Ryan O'Reilly and Tyler Bozak up the middle. Their defense isn't as good as ours from top-to-bottom. And they're counting on Jake Allen (.906, 2.75) and Chad Johnson in goal.
• The Flyers are at $64,759,167 for 18 players. Fans are excited. They brought back JvR. They have five defensemen under contract (Gostisbehere, Provorov, Gudas, MacDonald and Robert Hagg). And they're counting on Brian Elliott (.909, 2.66) and Michal Neuvirth in goal.
• The Oilers are at $71,421,166 for 20 players. Fans are optimistic. They have two of the best players in the world taking up $20 million in cap space for the next many seasons. Their defense is a joke and they are counting on Cam Talbot (.908, 3.02) and Mikko Koskinen in goal.
• The Blackhawks are at $77,449,295 for 21 players and have taken up permanent residence in cap hell due to their "lifetime" contracts for their five studs (Kane, Toews, Seabrook, Keith and Crawford). Fans are hopeful. Their window is closing rapidly -- if it's not closed alredy -- and they're counting on a guy whose health is shrouded in secrecy and who turns 34 during the season, Cam Ward and Anton Forsberg.

The tankers

• The Senators are at $61,813,333 for 20 players. They are a dumpster fire in every way, shape and form and will probably trade their franchise player very shortly. Their defense without him will be led by Mark Borowiecki and Chris Wideman. They have Craig Anderson and Mike Condon in goal.
• The Sabres are at $66,384,524 for 20 players. They are clearly rebuilding after trading Ryan O'Reilly, but for some reason, signed Carter Hutton for $8.25 million when the chances of competing in the next three seasons are virtually nil. Not to mention that Hutton will be 35 when the contract expires. Linus Ullmark is the backup/prospect.
• The Islanders are at $58,140,833 for 18 players and just had their hearts ripped out by John Tavares. They're going to be really bad. Thomas Greiss is the only goalie currently under contract (unless you want to count Rick DiPietro). It's really hard to see how they won't give up more goals than we will.
• The Red Wings are at $70,372,044 for 18 players. Their rebuild got a huge boost with Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno dropping into their laps at the draft, but otherwise, it's confusing. The six defensemen under contract are 37, 34, 34, 32, 28 and 27-years-old. They're spending $8.3 million in goal on a 34-year-old Jimmy Howard and journeyman Jonathan Bernier.
• The Canadiens are at $66,504,642 for 24 players. It's hard to argue their goaltending isn't better than ours, since they have Carey Price and a very solid defense. But a) Price was very bad last season (.900, 3.11), b) his EIGHT-YEAR, $84 MILLION extension kicks in this year, and c) Antti Niemi is the backup. I don't think there are a lot of Canadiens fans who feel good about their goaltending right now.
• The Canucks are at $66,652,845 for 23 players. Outside of Brock Boeser, there is literally *no* reason to care about the Vancouver Canucks. This team is a snoozefest, right down to the Jacob Markstrom/Anders Nilsson goaltending tandem.

We are at $58,997,498 for 18 players. Our skaters are young and dynamic. You'd really trade our goalie situation for Montreal's? Would we be better with Price/Niemi *this* year? Probably, but do we want to be paying a 37-year-old Price $10.5 million seven seasons from now? What if he continues to suck? What if he gets hurt? How do you reboot that situation if it goes badly?

Would we be better with Howard/Bernier? Or Hutton/Ullmark? Or any of the tandems above? I don't see how you can say definitively that we would be. And lots of the teams above have had the same issue for a long time (Philadelphia, NYI, Buffalo, Edmonton). The fact is that there are far more NHL teams than elite goaltenders. If you luck into one, you keep him. If you don't, you scramble until you do. It's really nothing new. A third of the league goes through it every season.

How dare you interrupt the "sky is falling" narrative with facts Kev.

 

[Canes]

Jim Rutherford

f*** Rim Jutherford!

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Can we at least stop pretending we're the only team dealing with the inability to solve the goaltending position?

The contenders

• The Blues are at $71,090,155 for 18 players. Fans are cranked. They added Ryan O'Reilly and Tyler Bozak up the middle. Their defense isn't as good as ours from top-to-bottom. And they're counting on Jake Allen (.906, 2.75) and Chad Johnson in goal.
• The Flyers are at $64,759,167 for 18 players. Fans are excited. They brought back JvR. They have five defensemen under contract (Gostisbehere, Provorov, Gudas, MacDonald and Robert Hagg). And they're counting on Brian Elliott (.909, 2.66) and Michal Neuvirth in goal.
• The Oilers are at $71,421,166 for 20 players. Fans are optimistic. They have two of the best players in the world taking up $20 million in cap space for the next many seasons. Their defense is a joke and they are counting on Cam Talbot (.908, 3.02) and Mikko Koskinen in goal.
• The Blackhawks are at $77,449,295 for 21 players and have taken up permanent residence in cap hell due to their "lifetime" contracts for their five studs (Kane, Toews, Seabrook, Keith and Crawford). Fans are hopeful. Their window is closing rapidly -- if it's not closed alredy -- and they're counting on a guy whose health is shrouded in secrecy and who turns 34 during the season, Cam Ward and Anton Forsberg.

The tankers

• The Senators are at $61,813,333 for 20 players. They are a dumpster fire in every way, shape and form and will probably trade their franchise player very shortly. Their defense without him will be led by Mark Borowiecki and Chris Wideman. They have Craig Anderson and Mike Condon in goal.
• The Sabres are at $66,384,524 for 20 players. They are clearly rebuilding after trading Ryan O'Reilly, but for some reason, signed Carter Hutton for $8.25 million when the chances of competing in the next three seasons are virtually nil. Not to mention that Hutton will be 35 when the contract expires. Linus Ullmark is the backup/prospect.
• The Islanders are at $58,140,833 for 18 players and just had their hearts ripped out by John Tavares. They're going to be really bad. Thomas Greiss is the only goalie currently under contract (unless you want to count Rick DiPietro). It's really hard to see how they won't give up more goals than we will.
• The Red Wings are at $70,372,044 for 18 players. Their rebuild got a huge boost with Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno dropping into their laps at the draft, but otherwise, it's confusing. The six defensemen under contract are 37, 34, 34, 32, 28 and 27-years-old. They're spending $8.3 million in goal on a 34-year-old Jimmy Howard and journeyman Jonathan Bernier.
• The Canadiens are at $66,504,642 for 24 players. It's hard to argue their goaltending isn't better than ours, since they have Carey Price and a very solid defense. But a) Price was very bad last season (.900, 3.11), b) his EIGHT-YEAR, $84 MILLION extension kicks in this year, and c) Antti Niemi is the backup. I don't think there are a lot of Canadiens fans who feel good about their goaltending right now.
• The Canucks are at $66,652,845 for 23 players. Outside of Brock Boeser, there is literally *no* reason to care about the Vancouver Canucks. This team is a snoozefest, right down to the Jacob Markstrom/Anders Nilsson goaltending tandem.

We are at $58,997,498 for 18 players. Our skaters are young and dynamic. You'd really trade our goalie situation for Montreal's? Would we be better with Price/Niemi *this* year? Probably, but do we want to be paying a 37-year-old Price $10.5 million seven seasons from now? What if he continues to suck? What if he gets hurt? How do you reboot that situation if it goes badly?

Would we be better with Howard/Bernier? Or Hutton/Ullmark? Or any of the tandems above? I don't see how you can say definitively that we would be. And lots of the teams above have had the same issue for a long time (Philadelphia, NYI, Buffalo, Edmonton). The fact is that there are far more NHL teams than elite goaltenders. If you luck into one, you keep him. If you don't, you scramble until you do. It's really nothing new. A third of the league goes through it every season.

Hey look, Kev wrote a book!

(After saying "this is my last word on the topic" too, lol)

 

[My Special Purpose]

Hey look, Kev wrote a book!

(After saying "this is my last word on the topic" too, lol)

I'm really upset that people are forcing me to be the voice of reason on this one. It's out of my comfort zone.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

I'm really upset that people are forcing me to be the voice of reason on this one. It's out of my comfort zone.

You could just let folks be mad. It's not like you're changing anyone's mind, reasonable though your arguments may be. The team has been too shitty for too long.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Is Kev telling people not to be mad and overreact the definition of pot calling the kettle black?Or did he have a change in personality now that Francis is gone?

 

[tarheelhockey]

And they're counting on Jake Allen (.906, 2.75) and Chad Johnson in goal.

And they're counting on Brian Elliott (.909, 2.66) and Michal Neuvirth in goal

Cam Talbot (.908, 3.02) and Mikko Koskinen in goal

[Crawford], Cam Ward and Anton Forsberg

They have Craig Anderson and Mike Condon in goal

They're spending $8.3 million in goal on a 34-year-old Jimmy Howard and journeyman Jonathan Bernier.

[Carey Price and] Antti Niemi is the backup.

Jacob Markstrom/Anders Nilsson goaltending tandem.

Every one of those tandems is better than ours, according to recent trends and barring a miracle rebound by one of our guys.

Hutton and Greiss? You got me there. There are two teams who compare evenly to our situation. The bottom 3 tandems in the league. Winning?

You'd really trade our goalie situation for Montreal's? Would we be better with Price/Niemi *this* year? Probably, but do we want to be paying a 37-year-old Price $10.5 million seven seasons from now? What if he continues to suck? What if he gets hurt? How do you reboot that situation if it goes badly?

What are we saving the $10 million for? We’re like $7M below the basement level with an ostensibly full roster. We’re going to have to take cap dumps in the process of trading away some of our only actual offensive talent, in order to make the dang cap floor. Why are we talking about cap crunches and not wanting to overpay for an actual NHL-level goalie?

Because of RFA signings down the road? Well, we banked money for that last summer, and look what happened. Dundon had us trade both RFAs because they had the nerve to ask him to actually spend that money. Remind me again what we are doing with this big cap savings that prevents us from needing Carey Price.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

price is the extreme example.

getting rid of darling, letting ward walk and signing hutton and mrazek (or giving up our 2nd and ward for Fleury last year, or whatever the rumors was ) is not equivalent to giving price 10 mil a year until the next land before time movie hits theaters.

 

[My Special Purpose]

Every one of those tandems is better than ours, according to recent trends and barring a miracle rebound by one of our guys.

Hutton and Greiss? You got me there. There are two teams who compare evenly to our situation. The bottom 3 tandems in the league. Winning?

I think you're overrating a lot of guys to prove your point (Brian Elliott, Cam Talbot and Craig Anderson chief among them). Even after last year's debacles for both our current goalies, Darling's career save pct. is .910, Mrazek's is .911.

What are we saving the $10 million for? We’re like $7M below the basement level with an ostensibly full roster. We’re going to have to take cap dumps in the process of trading away some of our only actual offensive talent, in order to make the dang cap floor. Why are we talking about cap crunches and not wanting to overpay for an actual NHL-level goalie?

Because of RFA signings down the road? Well, we banked money for that last summer, and look what happened. Dundon had us trade both RFAs because they had the nerve to ask him to actually spend that money. Remind me again what we are doing with this big cap savings that prevents us from needing Carey Price.

I get what you're saying here, and you're right, the money shouldn't be an issue. But Carey Price is not coming here. Montreal is not trading him to us. I have no problems paying him -- or anyone of his caliber -- and I don't think Dundon does either. He's just not spending $10 million on a goalie who does *not* solve the problem. I'm not sure why that's so complicated.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I thought it came out that Fleury told JR, almost a year before the expansion draft he would only waive for Vegas.

 

[Canes]

I thought it came out that Fleury told JR, almost a year before the expansion draft he would only waive for Vegas.

I'm not sure about that specifically but I remember reading about Fleury's wife shopping for a house in Vegas before the season even ended last year. So yeah, pretty sure Fleury was never an option.

 

[My Special Purpose]

I thought it came out that Fleury told JR, almost a year before the expansion draft he would only waive for Vegas.

No, we simply didn't flash enough cash to get him. Or anyone else for that matter. From now on, we need to conduct all trade talks in person, with Mike Sundheim or somebody showering rival GMs with cash throughout the conversations.

 

[The Faulker 27]

I'm not sure about that specifically but I remember reading about Fleury's wife shopping for a house in Vegas before the season even ended last year. So yeah, pretty sure Fleury was never an option.

Ah, so Fleury's wife is who we should kill.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I think you're overrating a lot of guys to prove your point (Brian Elliott, Cam Talbot and Craig Anderson chief among them). Even after last year's debacles for both our current goalies, Darling's career save pct. is .910, Mrazek's is .911.

Elliott’s is .913, Talbot’s is .918, and Anderson’s is .918. None of them have been “2018 Darling bad” or “2018 Mrazek bad” that I know of. All have been respectable in starting roles.

Of course it’s possible that one of our guys outplays one of those 3 guys this year, but I don’t see why we’d expect that to happen based on prior history.

I get what you're saying here, and you're right, the money shouldn't be an issue. But Carey Price is not coming here. Montreal is not trading him to us. I have no problems paying him -- or anyone of his caliber -- and I don't think Dundon does either. He's just not spending $10 million on a goalie who does *not* solve the problem. I'm not sure why that's so complicated.

I guess part of what’s pissing me off at this point is that at this point I don’t believe Dundon would spend the money if the opportunity was staring him in the face. Literally every single move we’ve made under his regime has been the cheap option. I’ve lost my initial confidence that he’s willing to put his money where his mouth is.

 

[Drivebytrucker]

I blame Rutherford for the J. Staal for the Brandon Sutter / 2012 #8 Overall / Brian Dumoulin Trade

In my mind, we could have had J. Staal the following June in Free Agency. E. Staal was upset coming off the season 2011-2012 Season beacause he had no top end forwards to play with. So Rutherford went out and go his brother to appease him. Dumb Move.

You lose Brandon Sutter (who could have been the heart of our team for a decade / possibly captain), Dumoulin is a quality #4 defenseman and the #8 pick was almost certain to be a forward given our lack of scoring.

It's not a stretch to imagine the Canes picking Filip Forsberg at #8 with the 2012 pick as it was a defense heavy top 15 and he was the top forward left on the board.

Having Dumoulin, Forsberg and Sutter and Staal's contract money to play with instead of Staal would have changed our franchise.

 

[CandyCanes]

Guys guys.... You’re doing the negative Nancy thing all wrong!

Mrazek is going to have a really solid year this year. And then one of 2 things is going to happen.

1. We commit to him long term after that solid year, probably a Darling equivalent contract. He goes back to Darling level crap once contract is signed.

2. He has that solid year, wants a nice Darling equivalent contract. We want to give it to him, but some other team he likes better matches the deal and he signs there. He goes on to become a top 10 goalie for 7-8 seasons winning a Vezina trophy once or twice.

 

[bleedgreen]

I always felt similar to that driveby, I wasn't a fan of the trade. Jstaal to me has never lived up to it either, though he is a solid player overall.

 

[My Special Purpose]

I guess part of what’s pissing me off at this point is that at this point I don’t believe Dundon would spend the money if the opportunity was staring him in the face. Literally every single move we’ve made under his regime has been the cheap option. I’ve lost my initial confidence that he’s willing to put his money where his mouth is.

Let's wait until it actually happens before we panic? He hasn't had the opportunity to solve any problems with money, yet, and has solved a few without burning cash. I'd say that's a win, so far. Just an idea.