Its been an issue for a while, but we lose Price for any amount of time we have nothing in the pipeline that we could count on, tonight's game was just a sampling.
We can address the long term need by using one of the three second round picks on a goalie in what is considered a deep goalie draft; especially goalie's coming out of the Q this year. I hope Timmins and his staff are spending some extra time scouting goalies !
For the short term, we could try and sign a good backup like Theo for a 2 year contract.
Unfortunately, baring a trade deadline deal Budaj is probably here to stay for the rest of this year which thank god is also the end of his contract! I mean Bergie is good, but it's hard to trade a goalie with an GAA of 5ish and a Save Percentage of .78ish
hmmm... Anybody have Garth Snow's number? He may be worth a 1st rounder from the Islanders... He cheaper than Thomas and is actually a warm body.
Budaj is a more than adequate back up. You can't blame him for all the dumb penalities and for getting shoved in the net and getting no help from his defenders.
Would be nice to pick up a young goalie in the draft 2nd to 4th rd though and/or maybe a Euro FA to start AHL and battle for #2.
I'm confident Budaj will get it together. He looked good at times last night, and considering the Habs' indiscipline and the questionable accepted Sabres' tying goal, he deserved better. I think he would have only allowed 2 goals if it weren't for White's stupidity. Then people would have said the complete opposite on him. He deserved better. He's not the reason we lost last night.
Budaj is fine, you're not gonna get a vet backup at any cheaper price who plays better. It's crazy to spend a lot on a backup when your starter plays 80%+ of games.
Budaj is a backup, hard to be consistent with limited action. that was only his second game. but he needs to be better.
Desjardins is an ok project, but they need some better depth in the system, A young goalie coming down the pipeline would be good in 3-5 yrs.
imo they should draft a goalie.
I prefer to draft goalies in later rounds, as they are risky, Habs have a couple extra picks this yr, so i would like to see them target a goalie in later rounds. Someone who has good potential but somewhat of a project to bring along slowly.
Apparently the Sens want more than what they gave up to get him, which was a 2nd rounder. Kind of pricey if you ask me.
Really wish we could have signed Viktor Fasth, he's looking like the real deal in Anaheim right now.
We were never on his short list, he wanted to go to a place where he had a chance to play (and probably not TO).
With Price in net we will have problem attracting good goalies through FA, just look at the Devils during Brodeur's peak years.
Auld was basically fine and I think Budaj will be this season as well.
Overacting much? If Habs won last night (which they would have if not for White's stupidity), we probably wouldn't have this thread.
Pretty much.
If Malcolm Subban had fallen to the second round Montreal likely would have picked him up (not that would have happened, NJ looked poised to pick him) but otherwise the team is trying to scout smart. I'd expect to see some goalies drafted this year.
Budaj is done after this season. I chuckle at the idea of Montreal signing Theodore so he can back up Price.
Doesn't matter if the Habs won or not. Budaj looked shaky all game last night.
Doesn't matter if he looked shaky because Habs were in the game and could have won all two games Budaj started.
Lots of teams don't even have a #1 goalie. Many teams were able to win it all and stay a top-tier team by having one good #1 goalie but no super backup goalie. So calling our lack of an excellent backup goalie as our "biggest weakness" is blatant overeaction/exaggeration.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SouthernHab
That's the point.
Two games for Budaj and two losses. You can forgive a goalie who loses 1-0 or even 2-1. However Budaj has a GAA over 4.
Not acceptable in the NHL if you want to compete for the big prize.
White put us on the penalty kill. Budaj let in the goal. That seems to be lost on many.
This argument is just the typical "it's the goalie's fault for all our losses because ultimately, the goalie was supposed to prevent goals".
Reasonable expectation towards a backup goalie is that he gives the team a chance to win -- not getting blown away early in the game. Budaj managed to do that in two of his starts.
Some fans are way too demanding -- you cannot have a perfect team. Consider ourselves lucky we have Price. Some teams have been searching for a true #1 goalie for decades.
Last edited by Poulet Kostopoulos: 02-08-2013 at 11:35 AM.
Because of the compressed schedule with teams playing three or four times a week, it's harder to cherry-pick the right game to insert Budaj. Plus, he'll also play a higher percentage of games than he would in an 82-game season -- between eight to ten games at this rate, or 1/5 of the total.
Budaj's role is unusually important this shortened season. I mentioned this in another thread -- he's the X-Factor. His eight to ten games might be the difference between the Habs finishing 4th or 5th in the EC versus finishing 8th to 10th.
How crucial is his role beyond this weird season? A bit less important, not worth sacrificing a good skater, but obviously something to keep on the to-do list as Price plays his usual 70+ games.
DD isn't long term, and there's no real no. 4 either, but 3-4 can be found out there.
What we need is a big, deadly winger, like a Shanahan in his prime (MaxPac?), to complement Galchenyuk, with Gallagher being the smallish St-Louis type on the other side (in a perfect world). They'll be unstoppable in a few years with Price and Subban on the back end.
I think we have a 4# center in Nattinen. Leblanc will end up on a wing. A solid 3rd center is still needed but i think we have that guy. His name is Eller and he needs to be given more ice time to become and effective shut down center. We definitely need more wingers and hoping we can pick up one with grit like another Corson. Use our four first picks to grab wingers but also keep in mind if there are absolute steals at when it's our time to pick whether a goalie, forward, or dman you can't let them go.
Well the goalie situation is going to be a bad one this year since we play tons of back-to-back games, but in a regular 82 games a season it will be less of an issue and Price will be able to play 67-70 games a season. But of course we should dread the day he gets injured.
I'm sure there will be a few free agent goalies this summer more suited for the job than Budaj, if Budaj doesn't step up his game. Which could also happen.
Doesn't matter if the Habs won or not. Budaj looked shaky all game last night.
You're right. And this really is the bottom line. You could actually see his sphincter clenching with every shot. Not a pretty sight (clenched sphincters are rarely pretty) and not a confident-looking dude. We all know that Price would've stopped at least one of those goals.
I like Budaj in general, but I don't like how he looked in his last two starts. He's got another seven or eight starts ahead, so the hope is he'll settle in and find something approaching a groove.
Goaltending depth is an organizational "area that needs to be addressed", but thanks to Carey Price can't really be looked at as a "weakness" per se.
Habs have those 2nd rounders this year, so they can readily draft one of the best 18 year old goalies. That has to be a slam dunk part of the draft strategy, at least. But that goalie is at least 6 years away from anything. It's all just part of a process for long-term depth, nothing to do with the current goaltending at the NHL level.
Then they also have to sign an older prospect goalie... whether it is a top collegian or an undrafted European, I would like to see them get a prospect goalie who is older than the newly-drafted one, somebody they can slide into Hamilton next season. Not necessarily as the starter, but at least as a pro goaltending prospect.
Then they need to look at the NHL guys... Budaj's contract will be up... if he fits well in the room and is capable of playing like he did last year, they should re-sign him for 1 more year. Or look at other similar players. Whichever. No big deal either way. With a pure-backup guy, though, they have to have a #3 option in Hamilton to call up in case of emergency. Cedrick Desjardins was a perfect choice there, and they need another of his type signed for 1-year as well. (Unless they get whoever the next Fasth is as their undrafted European in the paragraph above, perhaps).
There are some pretty easy steps to take to address the organizational goaltending depth issue. I don't see it as being much of a challenge or something that Bergevin needs to lose any sleep over.
What's with the negative DD commentary? The guy's in his 20s, puts up real points and is a competitor. He's earned a bit more respect than he's getting here, IMO.
Good year to draft a goalie, imo. Timing is right, number of available draft picks is right, size of talent pool is right, and an organizational need has been identified. Might not even have to use anything higher than a 3rd to get a good one this year, either. It'll be interesting to see where they all start going on draft day, but I expect some good ones to slip at least that far. Having multiple 2nd round picks makes it a lot easier to go at one of the better ones, though.
Goal looks really bad, I know, but I think a backup would be easier to get on the market than trying to develop one. Sure, draft some, but we need to get some wingers. And I'm not talking about a center who "COULD" play wing or a LW that may be able to adjust to RW etc...
