Quote:
Originally Posted by NRG87
Your extreme position perfectly epitomizes my point.
The usage of the word "awesome" is interesting. I'll agree that Halak's ridiculous performance in the 2010 playoffs was "awesome". Besides that, you could argue that we have had above average goaltending - awesome is a stretch, but I don't want to spend too much time on semantics. Saying "we had no business being in the playoffs" is exactly what I mean when I say that some tend to overglorify our goalies and discredit the rest of the team's work. You can say that our goaltending has been good, but to say our team had no business being in the playoffs is simply false. The Habs have had good teams on paper, and almost always spend up to the cap. Also, most teams need good goaltending to make the playoffs. Most teams who make the playoffs do get good goaltending. Do the Rangers have any business making the playoffs if it wasn't for their goalie? The Predators? The Bruins? The Blues? You get my point.
Hockey is a team game. A goalie is only as good as the players in front of him. Even Carey will tell you that  . |
Why would you characterize what I said as 'extreme?' Look at the standings and where we finished. Almost every year we barely scraped in. One year we got in on a tiebreaker.
Theo was a Vezina winner... that's not awesome?
Huet's numbers sv pctg: .929, 916,920... that's not awesome?
Price takes over with .920 and Huet has .916 as his backup.
2009 was about the only season where we didn't get 'great' goaltending from Price and Halak.
2010 Halak is amazing
2011 Price is amazing
2012 Price is good but not great.
Almost every year we barely make the playoffs even with that kind of goaltending going for us. My post is based on the facts man and I don't see how you can call what I said as 'extreme.'
Here's where we finished btw:
In 2002 we get 87 points in JT Vezina season
In 2003 we get 77 points when JT doesn't play well
In 2004 JT has a sv pctg of .919 and we get 93 points Garon plays even better with .921 btw
In 2006 Huet drags us into the playoffs with a .929 pctg. We get 93 points
In 2007 Huet has a .916 save pctg and gets hurt. We miss the playoffs.
In 2008 Team is suddenly incredible. Goaltending doesn't matter we take 1st in the East.
In 2009 Goalies aren't great but we manage to squeak in with 93 points... again.
In 2010 Halak is heroic and team is horrific. We still manage to get in with 88 points.
In 2011 Price is heroic... we play okay in front of him but he's spectacular for us. We still only get 96 points.
Dude, you take away the goaltending we've had and we'd have missed the playoffs on numerous occassions. Look at '07, goaltending is not bad and we miss. This season goaltending is... not bad and we miss. Too often our goaltending has to be great just to get in. So no, our goaltending is not overhyped. We've been really fortunate with the goalies we've had. Our goalies HAVE had awesome years and we still only get in with 93 points. Right at the cutoff line. Vezina season and we only get 87 points? C'mon man.