I dont think we lost because of Fleury. We lost because of a lack of discipline, which really should fall on the captain, the coaching staff and other leaders on the ice. You cant lose your head and let a superior special teams squad outgun you. Brodeur said it himself ... the Flyers tried all series to get them off their game but they didnt respond. The Penguins retaliated, hacked and wacked, did stuff after the whistle and even after the Flyers lit them up on the power play, they did it again. It was shameful how the Penguins did exactly what Laviolette was looking for.
However, the soft goals Fleury lets in are inexcusable, no matter the situation. He has to be more consistent. Thats all I have to say.
MAF is a soft mediocre goalie who is akin to AJ Burnett.
Great talent but mentally soft, fragile, and weak. Inability to be consistent, meltdowns.
I am so sick of the meltdowns and excuse makers. Fleury at best is a top 15 goalie.
I mean name me teams and goalies who Fleury is clearly better than?
Lundqvist, Brouder, Thomas, Miller, Price, Ward, Rinne, Quick, Smith, and Kipursoff are clearly better. That's ten.
The only goalies and teams I can Fleury is better:
Islanders Nabakov
Jets
Panthers
Lightening
Blackhawks
Blue Jackets
Sharks
He is what his stats say he is a 15-20 goalie.
How many more times can you call him AJ Burnett?
Smith has been a backup most of his career until this year. He had ONE great season and has been fantastic in the playoffs, but I'm not ready to crown him as a better goalie than Fleury yet.
Smith has been a backup most of his career until this year. He had ONE great season and has been fantastic in the playoffs, but I'm not ready to crown him as a better goalie than Fleury yet.
On the smith thing, um thats pretty much what flower is still living on.
On the smith thing, um thats pretty much what flower is still living on.
Exactly. Stats, stats, stats...and watching the games.
I cannot stand how Fleury is so over-protected and basically on tenure.
According to many Pens fans and apparently management...he can do wrong...it's never his fault...he is the goalie for life....
That is what gets me, the stubborn arrogance and denial; refusal to evaluate because next season I am sure the Pens will have another minimum wage back-up; handing 65 starts and the playoffs to Fleury.
Sorry if you don't move Fleury...at least get a goalie who can push him and replace him once he melts down. Fleury shouldn't have tenure.
Smith's been ridiculous, that's why I can't swallow this thread anymore.
I knew I was fighting a losing battle when I made my montage of Smith saves from one half of one game, where he's stopping breakaways and 2 on 1's and gimmes in the slot, only to be met by: "Well, his defense is giving him confidence"
About how far back in the tread is your Smith montage, I would like to see that. But since you are into making montages, I'd also like to see one off all the goals from the Philly series. The ones I remember most were direct results of horrible defensive plays, Orpik laying down in the crease and Vorachek skating around him is burned in my brain, the Hartnell cross crease pass for the tip in, several back door open nets. Of course the Talbot miss play was awful, and all MAF.
But I've felt the D has been weak for years, sure it is easy to get to the playoffs in the NHL, but when the weak teams are weeded out one dimensional teams can't survive. Maybe watching all of the goals they gave up vs Philly will make me see it's more MAF than the D
"Yeah, as a goalie you always have to step up when your team needs you, not when you feel good and have your moments," Lundqvist said. "A lot of times, it's when the team's struggling that you have to step up. It's fun, too, to be there and make a difference when your team is going through a tough stretch."
- Henrik Lundqvist after game 1 vs the Devils. Take it from a top 3 goalie in nhl people, you cant just make a random good save sometimes and then let in easy goals to average goals and call yourself "elite", or even "good" for that matter. Fleury maybe stepped up in 2-3 games during our cup run, but that doesnt excuse his play these last few years. By the way, fleurys cup winning stats were the worst to come out of a goalie during the past 20 years. Even the worst goalie has good games occasionally, and thank god fleury decided to have one during game 6 and 7 in the SC finals. That was the exception to the rule, which is that fleury is a very very average goaltender that is weak when it matters. All this for the price of 5 million a year.
But he is adorably quirky, great at shoot-outs and a former nr.1 pick!
Ah.... I doubt it makes sense to talk about Fleury as presently it just doesn't seem likely that anyone would want to trade for him, and it isn't like it is easy to get a sure thing to replace him anyway - less so as we have nothing in the pipeline.
Getting ourselves a backup who could conceivably pressure Fleury's status seems necessary though. At least he was very good after winning his spot back from Conklin after his miracle run for us.
But he is adorably quirky, great at shoot-outs and a former nr.1 pick!
Ah.... I doubt it makes sense to talk about Fleury as presently it just doesn't seem likely that anyone would want to trade for him, and it isn't like it is easy to get a sure thing to replace him anyway - less so as we have nothing in the pipeline.
Getting ourselves a backup who could conceivably pressure Fleury's status seems necessary though. At least he was very good after winning his spot back from Conklin after his miracle run for us.
You wonder if he was as abrasive as Luongo was his first few years in Vancouver if he'd have even half his current defense fund.
And some inevitably will. I can tell you right now that I won't. I look at wins. I think that's much more indicative of how effective a goaltender is since that's all that matters.
The guy has 5 seasons over 35 wins, has backstopped the team to 2 Cup finals, and won 1. That's all I need to see. He's capable.
i just have a hard time wrapping my mind around how terrible fleury was these playoffs.
fleury seems like a good guy, i want to see him do well. it's cool to see a guy you saw as a prospect succeed as a pro. we've basically watched maf grow up. and i understand that the defense in front of him was very bad.
but man, some of those goals he allowed, they were just brutal, absolutely brutal. just absolutely deflating for a team.
there are a lot of people to blame for this terrible postseason, but in my mind he has at the top of the list or damn close to it.
wtf, this post is from 4-23-2012. christ, NOTHING HAS CHANGED. its not fair for the penguins to make me feel this sad two years in a row.
Responding to new staff? How is that going to help him be less spastic in high pressure situations? The one thing that is not Bylsma's fault, is how badly Fleury has played the last two or three series. Not pulling him sooner is his fault but the play itself is 100% on Fleury. He's in as sheltered and wondrous an environment as a goalie can have. He's just not a playoff goalie; simple as that. He doesn't have the mental part of the game in high pressure situations. Fleury doesn't need a new coaching staff, he needs a shrink.
I had always thought that Flurry pulled it together after his cup win, But it is evident that the cup year was a fluke. Last year was it for me, I wanted him traded, but then I was sucked back with RS and DB saying he was overworked and just needed more rest. And I thought OK maybe that was the case, but it was not, he just can't handle stress. He couldn't hand it in juniors and hasn't gotten any better. I feel bad for him, but I care about the penguins and they need to move on.
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