Player Discussion: The Elvis Thread

[Iron Balls McGinty]

Don't be so sure...

You play to win the games.

By your philosophy Korpisalo will play 81 games this year.

Ain't gonna happen. The last back to back was preceded by a 3 day break. No way it is a smart idea to play Korpisalo 3 games in 4 nights with the final game being a divisional matchup.

 

[EspenK]

My Guess is last game of the month....against Oilers

Early over/under if that happens will be 3 and I'd take the under. My god why would you stick Elvis in against that offense?

 

[Ice9]

An Elvis meltdown concerning playing time before seasons end. Take your games given and your lumps and learn the NHL game kid...

Love some of the flashes I've seen though..

 

[db2011]

I detect sarcasm and deserved given the question but Korpisalo started the 2nd of the last back-to-back pair so it seems he's lost the trust of Torts.

Well Korpisalo has looked good the last few games. That may have as much to do with Elvis not playing as him having lost Torts's trust.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

Early over/under if that happens will be 3 and I'd take the under. My god why would you stick Elvis in against that offense?

If you hate him?

McDavid had more points in 42:18 of his last game than the leading CBJ scorer has in 6 games. He be good. That Draisatl ain't no slouch neither.

 

[S1N4TR4]

I know Torts came out this past week naming Korpi our #1 but... I would love to see Elvis get a start this upcoming week. you know he's hungry and itching to play.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

I know Torts came out this past week naming Korpi our #1 but... I would love to see Elvis get a start this upcoming week. you know he's hungry and itching to play.

I'd guess that Torts naming a #1 goalie has little more shelf life than his lines at the beginning of a game.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

I know Torts came out this past week naming Korpi our #1 but... I would love to see Elvis get a start this upcoming week. you know he's hungry and itching to play.

In all honesty, The team playing the way they did last night probably shows that the team in front matters more than who is in net. They've essentially sh*t the bed in front of both goalies and as a team have under a .900 save percentage no matter who is in net. If Korpisalo is really a number 1 guy, I'd expect him to make more big time saves to bail the team out when they blow it but it frankly seems like every mistake winds up in our net. He's made a few but the team must be allowing a million high percentage scoring chances to still have a sv % that low if he is really playing as well as people say.

I expect Elvis will play next weekend. CBJ don't play until Wednesday so I assume Korpisalo goes that night. Elvis will get either Friday or Saturday. I'd like to see him get more of a chance but I'm not sure the schedule has allowed it so far. I do think the door is wide open for Elvis to become the guy but the team has to stop being terrible in front of whoever is in net.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

I bet Elvis will start Friday or Saturday

 

[majormajor]

If Korpisalo is really a number 1 guy, I'd expect him to make more big time saves to bail the team out when they blow it but it frankly seems like every mistake winds up in our net.

You must have been watching the wrong channel last night. The team was blowing it the whole game and Korpi repeatedly bailed them out, including going 3/3 on breakaways.

He's made a few but the team must be allowing a million high percentage scoring chances to still have a sv % that low if he is really playing as well as people say.

If you exclude the first two games Korpi's save percentage is league average or maybe one goal under it.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

You must have been watching the wrong channel last night. The team was blowing it the whole game and Korpi repeatedly bailed them out, including going 3/3 on breakaways.



If you exclude the first two games Korpi's save percentage is league average or maybe one goal under it.

Well if we can pick and choose to exclude bad games, Korpisalo is a .914 (lets throw out the last bad game too to exclude 3 games from his numbers) and Elvis is .909 in his single game of work.

It doesn't necessarily make him a clear cut winner and number one guy. It makes him average. Yes the team is playing like sh*t in front of both of them. I mean for comparison, Darcy Kuemper is on a less talented Coyotes team and has a .934 save percentage right now. Korpisalo has been given far more opportunities and I don't think there is really that big of a gap between the 2. Elvis just hasn't been given an ample opportunity yet.

My biggest issue I'm seeing with Korpisalo so far is the amount of rebounds I've seen him give up. I haven't seen him stop many pucks cleanly recently and has to rely on defense to clear the puck out. Maybe Elvis could have the same problem but we haven't seen enough in real game scenarios to make a full judgement.

 

[majormajor]

Well if we can pick and choose to exclude bad games, Korpisalo is a .914 (lets throw out the last bad game too to exclude 3 games from his numbers) and Elvis is .909 in his single game of work.

It doesn't necessarily make him a clear cut winner and number one guy. It makes him average. Yes the team is playing like sh*t in front of both of them. I mean for comparison, Darcy Kuemper is on a less talented Coyotes team and has a .934 save percentage right now. Korpisalo has been given far more opportunities and I don't think there is really that big of a gap between the 2. Elvis just hasn't been given an ample opportunity yet.

My biggest issue I'm seeing with Korpisalo so far is the amount of rebounds I've seen him give up. I haven't seen him stop many pucks cleanly recently and has to rely on defense to clear the puck out. Maybe Elvis could have the same problem but we haven't seen enough in real game scenarios to make a full judgement.

If all it takes is excluding one game to completely change the outlook of a goaltender's stats, then we're still way too early to be harping on their save percentages. It's true for Korpi and for Elvis.

 

[lakai17]

He played decent.

Lets play him back to back.

 

[Ice9]

He played decent.

Lets play him back to back.

Agree. Time, reps and learning the NHL game is paramount. Get him some film then take him to school then repeat it.

 

[EXTRAS]

He better watch his back too.

Vehvilainen who had best save percentage and gaa in liiga last year (at just 21/22 years of age) is doing quite well for Cleveland right now.

.932 save percentage thru 5 games.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

He better watch his back too.

Vehvilainen who had best save percentage and gaa in liiga last year (at just 21/22 years of age) is doing quite well for Cleveland right now.

.932 save percentage thru 5 games.

Matiss Kivlenieks is also 2.27 and .913 FWIW and he has hardly looked like an NHL goaltender to this point in his career. I've not watched any games but I'm willing to be the new coaching staff has them playing better team defense than they did under Madden. I'm sure that is a big part of it just like the terrible goalie numbers here can be attributed a certain amount to the horrendous team play.

Torts was supposed to have this team playing better D to help protect the goaltenders and it ain't happening.

 

[lakai17]

Just throw him to the Wolves against Pittsburgh in his first game then only play him 3 other games after that.

Pathetic strategy for goaltenders.

 

[NotWendell]

One thing Torts has said that I absolutely agree with applies here: The AHL is for development. The NHL is for winning.

 

[DJA]

This is going swimmingly so far!

'I come here to play in the NHL, not in Cleveland':...

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

This is going swimmingly so far!

'I come here to play in the NHL, not in Cleveland':...

Clickbait headline if people actually read the article. The sentence is being taken out of context.

 

[Monstershockey]

Coaching may play a part in Kivs improvement, but you can tell he worked hard in the off season. He isn't sliding out of position like he did last year, and his glove hand has improved drastically.

 

[DarkandStormy]

Elvis has been a better goalie than Korpisalo in the last month. That timeline starts immediately after the Pittsburgh game - which many may be willing to discount as "first NHL start nerves."

In The Athletic piece, it's noted that Elvis basically asked to get sent to Cleveland for some games in October because the schedule was so spread out. Two points there - 1) he had that option last spring and declined, but also 2) what a ****y job by the front office mismanaging the situation if a goalie who is waivers-exempt is asking for games in the AHL and not granting that for a month, while sticking with your .895 goalie (or whatever) who is clearly bad and perhaps even worse than the rookie.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

This is all humbling for Merzlikins, who was a bona fide star in Europe and deemed by many, including Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, to be the best goaltender outside the NHL.

Merzlikins, who is making $874,125 this season, set his contract demands last spring in such a way that made it impossible for the Blue Jackets to send him to AHL Cleveland, a move that miffed a few people within the organization.

Because of that, he arrived at the Traverse City prospects tournament in early September having never played on North American-sized rinks. It can be a difficult adjustment.
Merzlikins will make his AHL debut this weekend. But he also signaled that he’s getting a little frustrated with his role and situation. He won’t become an NHL starter or a star making just three starts per month.

“To be honest, I’m getting tired (of being) a backup,” Merzlikins said. “I mean, I want to play. I want to enjoy the life in hockey. I want to (have) fun. I have nothing against Korpi. He’s my friend. He’s a good goaltender. But the net is (for) one (person).

“I’m happy I’m going to play some games, but people when they see a player gets sent to AHL, they say ‘Uh, oh. Something is bad.’ There’s nothing bad here, I think. You play your hockey and you get your minutes, so it’s good.”

He seems annoyed at the situation, I think he thought he was going to be Korpi's backup but then wrestle the job away from him, or at least split the starts nearly 50/50. I'm glad he's going to stay here and not book it back home, but I am a bit confused as to what he expected when he came over here. Obviously, I think he expected to win the job, but if he didn't he should have known about the work load he was going to get.

 

[Monstershockey]

He will be playing against Laval. The Monsters have already beaten them twice this year, but they aren't a pushover. I am looking forward to seeing him play. The Monsters are hot right now, he better not screw it up.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

Elvis has been a better goalie than Korpisalo in the last month. That timeline starts immediately after the Pittsburgh game - which many may be willing to discount as "first NHL start nerves."

In The Athletic piece, it's noted that Elvis basically asked to get sent to Cleveland for some games in October because the schedule was so spread out. Two points there - 1) he had that option last spring and declined, but also 2) what a ****y job by the front office mismanaging the situation if a goalie who is waivers-exempt is asking for games in the AHL and not granting that for a month, while sticking with your .895 goalie (or whatever) who is clearly bad and perhaps even worse than the rookie.

he didn’t actually ask to be sent to Cleveland but he thought about asking them to go.

I do think the coaching is mismanaging him. Throwing him right into a Pittsburgh road game was a mistake. He has been better since then considering the team plays like crap in front of both goalies and Torts has basically chosen to play Korpisalo in every game that doesn’t fall into a back to back.