Goaltending

I know this has almost been discussed to death, but I feel that the Flames must do something to improve their goaltending. Turek may not be back for 1-3 months, so I don't think the Flames can sit idly by and wait for Large to return. McLennan doesn't have the consistency in my mind to play the No.1 role, and doesn't really do anything spectacular to win the game for the Flames. He doesn't make the "big" saves, as some posters have put it. Sabourin has given up 4 goals on 22 shots tonight against the Preds, after also giving up 4 against the Stars (albeit a better team) in his first start. Whilst I didn't see or hear tonight's game, I don't think he's really showing the Flames hierarchy that he's ready to handle the NHL level yet. Should the Flames let Sabourin go back to the AHL level to develop there some more and bring in a more experienced goalie? Of course budget constraints are a factor, so what should the Flames do?

EDIT: Spelling error fixed.

I know this has almost been discussed to death, but I feel that the Flames must do something to improve their goaltending. Turek may not be back for 1-3 months, so I don't think the Flames can sit idly by and wait for Large to return. McLennan doesn't have the consistency in my mind to play the No.1 role, and doesn't really do anything spectacular to win the game for the Flames. He doesn't make the "big" saves, as some posters have put it. Sabourin has given up 4 goals on 22 shots tonight against the Preds, after also giving up 4 against the Stars (albeit a better team) in his first start. Whilst I didn't see or hear tonight's game, I don't think he's really showing the Flames hierarchy that he's ready to handle the NHL level yet. Should the Flames let Sabourin go back to the AHL level to develop their some more and bring in a more experienced goalie? Of course budget constraints are a factor, so what should the Flames do?

McLennan so far in 2003/2004:

-Tied for third in the NHL with 6 wins. Among the league's top 10 goalies, only Hasek has played fewer games.

-Tied for second in the league with 2 shutouts (only Theodore has more)

-His 1.95 GAA is 4th among goalies with 10 or more games played (10th out of 65 in total).

-He's tied for 15th place with Dominik Hasek for save percentage among goalies with 10 or more games played with an average of .910. Among the 35 goalis below him in PCT are Gigeure, Belfour, Joseph, Salo, Turco, Potvin, Cechmanek, Kolzig, Biron, Aebischer, Nabokov, Vokoun, Snow, Storr, Shields, Hedberg, and Legace. Near the very bottom you will find Turek and Sabourin.

I'm inclined to stick with McLennan. I wouldn't mind seeing Krahn get a crack at the back up position, though.

-His 1.95 GAA is 4th among goalies with 10 or more games played (10th out of 65 in total).

-He's tied for 15th place with Dominik Hasek for save percentage among goalies with 10 or more games played with an average of .910. Among the 35 goalis below him in PCT are Gigeure, Belfour, Joseph, Salo, Turco, Potvin, Cechmanek, Kolzig, Biron, Aebischer, Nabokov, Vokoun, Snow, Storr, Shields, Hedberg, and Legace. Near the very bottom you will find Turek and Sabourin.

Save percentage is the key statistic, in this case. His SP has been hovering around the league average all season long. This simply demonstrates that he is not stopping a high percentage of the shots he's faced.

He is facing a fewer number of shots. That is due more to the system implemented by Daryl Sutter, and excuted by Flames defenders. McLennan's GAA is also misleading. The 1.95 looks impressive on paper, but that's mainly because the the two shutouts lowered figure. If he faced more shots, he would let in more goals, plain and simple. If that were the case, we wouldn't want to think of where the team would be at this stage.

Of the goalies listed below him in SP, most of them have proven something at some level in their careers (NHL, International, junior, AHL). The rankings will be much different at the end of the season.

As ForeignFlame pointed out, McLennan does not provide the "big save." Few things, other than a good fight or scoring late in a period, provide a spark to a team in the way that preventing a sure goal does.

On the positive side, McLennan has definitely benefitted from the full-time presense of the new goaltender coach. He's also exceeded, probably, all of our expectations. However, the standards for his performance level are much lower than what is required to backstop this team into a position to qualifty for a playoff spot.

Brodeur had an average save % last year but managed to win the Vezina. :dunno:

That's where the comparison ends.

Somebody in the Flames organization also felt that Trevor Kidd had something that Martin Brodeur didn't.

McLennan so far in 2003/2004:

-Tied for third in the NHL with 6 wins. Among the league's top 10 goalies, only Hasek has played fewer games.

-Tied for second in the league with 2 shutouts (only Theodore has more)

-His 1.95 GAA is 4th among goalies with 10 or more games played (10th out of 65 in total).

-He's tied for 15th place with Dominik Hasek for save percentage among goalies with 10 or more games played with an average of .910. Among the 35 goalis below him in PCT are Gigeure, Belfour, Joseph, Salo, Turco, Potvin, Cechmanek, Kolzig, Biron, Aebischer, Nabokov, Vokoun, Snow, Storr, Shields, Hedberg, and Legace. Near the very bottom you will find Turek and Sabourin.

I'm inclined to stick with McLennan. I wouldn't mind seeing Krahn get a crack at the back up position, though.
I really hope Krahn figures out the AHL before he backs up in the NHL personally.

I really hope Krahn figures out the AHL before he backs up in the NHL personally.

I'm just saying give the guys in your orginization a chance before you go and make a trade. You never know what could happen. The worst case scenario is that he gets sent back down (to the AHL or the ECHL) and develops some more. St. Louis must have given close to a half a dozen guys a chance. I'm not saying that the chances are great, but this is how pleasant surprizes come about. You never know unless you try.

Save percentage is the key statistic, in this case. His SP has been hovering around the league average all season long. This simply demonstrates that he is not stopping a high percentage of the shots he's faced.

He is facing a fewer number of shots. That is due more to the system implemented by Daryl Sutter, and excuted by Flames defenders. McLennan's GAA is also misleading. The 1.95 looks impressive on paper, but that's mainly because the the two shutouts lowered figure. If he faced more shots, he would let in more goals, plain and simple. If that were the case, we wouldn't want to think of where the team would be at this stage.

Of the goalies listed below him in SP, most of them have proven something at some level in their careers (NHL, International, junior, AHL). The rankings will be much different at the end of the season.

As ForeignFlame pointed out, McLennan does not provide the "big save." Few things, other than a good fight or scoring late in a period, provide a spark to a team in the way that preventing a sure goal does.

On the positive side, McLennan has definitely benefitted from the full-time presense of the new goaltender coach. He's also exceeded, probably, all of our expectations. However, the standards for his performance level are much lower than what is required to backstop this team into a position to qualifty for a playoff spot.

So McLennan is middle of the pack. Just imagine where the team would be if they could say the same for goal scoring.

I'm just saying give the guys in your orginization a chance before you go and make a trade. You never know what could happen. The worst case scenario is that he gets sent back down (to the AHL or the ECHL) and develops some more. St. Louis must have given close to a half a dozen guys a chance. I'm not saying that the chances are great, but this is how pleasant surprizes come about. You never know unless you try.
Well I can agree chances are great, but Sabourin has played very well in the AHL before, the same cannot be said for Krahn, it would be rushing him in to play him in the NHL until he is at least a solid AHL goalie. Sabourin and McLennan have proven they deserve to be here more, thats really my thought on it anway. :)

So McLennan is middle of the pack. Just imagine where the team would be if they could say the same for goal scoring.

Already addressed that topic too in another thread:

Take a look at where Calgary's ranked in Goals For Average:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/statistics?stat=teamstatoff&season=2004&seasontype=2

Calgary has the lowest shots against average but they're at the middle of the pack in goals against. Looks like McLennan's fading, and where the hell is Turek!!? :mad:

Looks like you're beginning to face reality.

http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?threadid=25568

http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?threadid=26174

It was beginning to be a problem. BR's thread attracted the usual reaction, due to the provocative language. It angered a few in the gallery. They were unable, or unwilling, to face the fact that Noodles is not a long-term solution in goal. (To anybody who wants to post, "he kept us in the game last night"...there's no need, as it was just one game. Hardly a consistent trend.) My thread was similar, and included a statistical analysis to reach the same conclusion. McLennan is giving all he's got. Realistically, we have to ask ourselves how long we can ride it.

Kiprusoff will help. He's a noticeable upgrade on McLennan IMO

Kiprusoff will help. He's a noticeable upgrade on McLennan IMO
Should be interesting to see....Is this precipitating another move? Because this puts the Flames a good 600k over budget, not that much, but the Flames did send Commodore to the AHL basically to keep the team under budget.