I am excited for Holtby. 22 year old kid will be back stopping an NHL team in the SC Playoffs. Has to be a cool, but also nervous, feeling. I envy him.
I also hope he catches fire and goes on a run, but I am not going to hold my breath. The defense that will lineup in front of him has been a morass of confusion all season. Holtby will have to stand on his head.
One silver lining is GMGM has said this team is built for playoff hockey. I sure hope he is right. Regardless, I am going to keep my expectations low. Much easier on the heart that way.
I think how sat night plays out could be big for holtbys mind set. If he has a big game and shuts the rangers in the meaningless game could go into the series with alot of confindence. If he is shaky and lets in some soft goals the ranger maybe in his head.
Also letting him get a taste of MSG and a feel for the rangers. More i think of it the more i like the practice game for holtby before the series starts
I think how sat night plays out could be big for holtbys mind set. If he has a big game and shuts the rangers in the meaningless game could go into the series with alot of confindence. If he is shaky and lets in some soft goals the ranger maybe in his head.
Also letting him get a taste of MSG and a feel for the rangers. More i think of it the more i like the practice game for holtby before the series starts
If he shuts out the Rangers there is a greater than 50% chance he will not face the Rangers.
Nervous actually. Good for him to get a chance. But will he show or blow?
I think he has the skill set but I'm not too sure he has the wisdom and tricks that comes with experience-see Roloson last year.
There are a lot of forwards and goal scorers in the playoffs that will be trying to push his buttons and get him off his game. All it takes is giving up that one goal with the low scoring style the Caps have been playing.
I do like that he can play the puck. He will need to think two steps ahead of the play. Think the game faster than he ever has.
Honestly, whether its Neuvirth or Holtby, Washington realistically has to score four to win. The postseason is on the offense. Any plus performances we get from our goaltenders is gravy.
Yeah that is kind of my feeling also. If the only way the Caps do anything is if Holtby or whoever is in net pulls a Halak then sorry but I'm just not feeling it.
The rest of the team needs to show that their more or less terrible play all season is over while the goaltending just needs to be solid, not great but solid.
I like that Holtby doesn't sit small in the net when being crowded or otherwise. He is our tallest G, he doesnt have to peak through legs to see pucks. He stands up to forwards that crowd him and doesn't get knocked over quite as easily as the others. Playoffs sometimes comes down to crowding G's.
I just hope he learns real quick how to work the dumb ass refs. If he gives up a goal with a forward nearby, fall over and throw the arms up like he got ran over. The Dman has to help sell it by throwing his arms up too.
Holtby is the future of this club and he will have playoff jitters, but guess what, he's gotta pop his playoff cherry sometime, might as well do it during a season where the expectations aren't exactly high.
People like to look at records in the AHL, with a team mostly depleted of talent (both coaching and on ice) by the time he was starting, as our drafting selection had fallen from top 10 to bottom 10.
What about his NHL record? Not just this year but total:
13 - 4 - 3 with .926 and 2.08 GAA
When we were good in front of him, he won a lot (and looked better doing it than Varlamov or Nuevy, in my opinion).
He started 37 games in 09-10. I wouldn't call that team "depleted".
As long as he's keeping Dany Sabourin off the ice, yeah, I'm excited for him.
is Sabourin horrible? i see that he has played pieces of seasons for Penguins, Flames, and Canucks, plus minor league assignments all over the place. but for the life of me, i can't remember watching him play or having any impression of him at all.
has he been okay in Hershey? worries me greatly that it would be his first NHL action in three years.
is Sabourin horrible? i see that he has played pieces of seasons for Penguins, Flames, and Canucks, plus minor league assignments all over the place. but for the life of me, i can't remember watching him play or having any impression of him at all.
has he been okay in Hershey? worries me greatly that it would be his first NHL action in three years.
He played a pretty awesome OT game for the Nucks once, while Luongo was in the bathroom or something... Luongo came back and lost though.
Had a pretty good year for the Pens a few years back, but otherwise he's not much at the NHL level. If we're using him we're screwed.
I would rather have Vokoun in net for the playoffs. Holtby, for anyone that follows the Bears closely, is good not great. He has his good night and bad nights. Last year he seemed to get a bit of the cocky and has the attitude that he should've not been playing for the Bears, which is good, SOMETIMES. He found out real quick in the playoffs, that yes, he should he in the AHL. This year has been the same and we have seen it with the Caps. He can be good and can be bad, has yet to find the steady consistency level, but what can you do? Like some said, I guess we have to see if he is ready for the big time sometime.
