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Kings Article: What Are LA's Options in Net?

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You covered a lot of goalie candidates there, Sheng. I feel bad for Bernier. Toronto and Edmonton will destroy any goalie's confidence in years past. I don't know, if we bring someone in, then Zatkoff and Budaj go down to Ontario when Quickie is back and our top goalie prospect is then put in the ECHL.

Then again, I have limited confidence in Budaj and Zatkoff.
 
Despite what the numbers say, I think Budaj has been decent. I wouldn't be opposed to trying to ride him out until Quick gets back.
 
4 wins after regulation - could have easily gone the other way. Lindback on a 5-game AHL PTO says they're going to wait-and-see if the Kings can keep winning with Budaj. Otherwise, they can easily get one of the candidates mentioned by Sheng for a cheap price and then send Budaj back to Ontario. Budaj is no worse than Zatkoff from the look of it, but is the Zatkoff/Budaj level of goaltending performance going to get the Kings into the playoffs? The Oilers might threaten this year, plus you have the usual suspects,Ducks and the Sharks. So early into the season, but we're currently in a wild card spot behind the Oilers, Sharks and Canucks, with the Blechhawks one spot behind the Ducks, who are also currently in a wild card spot.
 
I'm not worried about Budaj in the short term, he is what he is, a good NHL backup. Im worried about him with a starter's workload--as Sheng pointed out, it's been years since he's done the in the NHL, and his 40-50 game workloads are around .900. I'm sure LA can pump that up a little bit, but less than league average goaltending for a team who thrives on defense is gonna hurt when we go through an inevitable scoring drought. Love Budaj, love that he's getting a shot, worried about what months 2-3 will look like without more stability. Though props to Peter for looking confident in there now!
 
Trolfoli said:
Luongo kinda fits Lombardi's M.O. :naughty:
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I'd take him for his Twitter account alone.

Raccoon Jesus said:
I'm not worried about Budaj in the short term, he is what he is, a good NHL backup. Im worried about him with a starter's workload--as Sheng pointed out, it's been years since he's done the in the NHL, and his 40-50 game workloads are around .900. I'm sure LA can pump that up a little bit, but less than league average goaltending for a team who thrives on defense is gonna hurt when we go through an inevitable scoring drought. Love Budaj, love that he's getting a shot, worried about what months 2-3 will look like without more stability. Though props to Peter for looking confident in there now!
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Gotta agree with you.

Ironically, Budaj will probably end up playing around the same # of games if he had gotten the back-up position behind a Quick who had never been injured, or close to it. Enroth started 13 games last year. I thought it was fewer.

Sheng, excellent work. A little worrying:

Adj.FSv% stands for Adjusted Fenwick Save Percentage, which “shows if a goalie is saving more or less shots than an average NHL goalie would be expected to save if they faced the same quality of unblocked shots.†Budaj’s -0.21 isn’t a good thing, and suggests that since 2007, he’s underperformed compared to what would be expected from an average netminder.

HDSv% stands for High-Danger Save Percentage, or saves in the slot/low slot area. Budaj is 65th out of 67 qualified keepers in this department over the last decade.

RBA60 stands for Rebound Shots Against Per 60 Minutes. Budaj’s 60th-ranked 2.03 suggests that rebound control isn’t his forte.
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However, you noted that Zatkoff is also near the bottom of these categories, so it's not clear at this point that Zatkoff will take the majority of the starts when he returns. You mentioned Pavelec and Condon. According to Sportsnet, Rutherford thinks there might be some demand for Condon. Also, TSN mentioned there's increased interest in Pavelec, but I don't know if that's just smoke or not. However, Sheng did think Pavelec made the best candidate should Dean decide to make a move.

With that in mind, the best combination of acquisition cost, upside, and stability is probably Pavelec. He’s an unwanted, proven starter whose recent performance is underrated by his current team.
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Dean is good at getting undervalued players at a good price.

I know one thing, Ontario is really hurting with Budaj and Campbell gone.
 
FWIW Dusty Imoo left tonight's Ontario game with injury, as well.

Some Blues/Sharks fan is playing with a Kings goalie voodoo doll imo.
 
lakai17 said:
Why no mention of former draft pick Berube?
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A couple reasons: Guys like Berube and say Wedgewood are completely unproven at NHL level. I don't see LA giving such a goalie the starting job. Or seeing them as clear upgrades over Budaj/Zatkoff. Or giving up tangible assets for them. They might consider such a goalie on waivers or if Zatkoff isn't fully recovered soon.

Also, at the NHL level, their statistical sample size is way too small to seriously evaluate. I think Berube has played just seven NHL games and Wedgewood four.
 
Seems like it's not sold that Kings go with Zatkoff and Budaj up here and Lindback and Campbell in Ontario. Reading quotes with Sutter and co, maybe they plan on having Lindback in LA with Zatkoff?
 


Ramo is practicing with the Leafs. Must mean he's getting healthy. I wonder if he becomes an option? Even with Zatkoff coming back soon gotta think Ramo is still a better option
 
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