I wish we had a relevant goalie in the AHL just in case Bryz gets hurt. He really is our only option and with such a tight schedule, even if he is hurt for 2-3 weeks its means 10 games.
I wish we had a relevant goalie in the AHL just in case Bryz gets hurt. He really is our only option and with such a tight schedule, even if he is hurt for 2-3 weeks its means 10 games.
Leighton is fine for ten games. We won't go 10-0 but the season won't be lost if Leighton starts ten games. I know people like to discredit his stats (career .902 sv% and GAA of 2.95) and his play, but Leighton as a backup is not the end of the world. His stats are far from impressive, but many of the alternatives and other backups around the league are in the same ballpark. I'd be more worried about losing a guy like Coburn or Grossman or other defender. This season is going to weird across the board in terms of standings I think. Injuries and hot streaks that can't be sustained for 82 games will have a bigger impact than normal, but I don't see Leighton as back up being the Achilles Heel of this team. If Bryz is out the whole year, that is a different story.
.902 sv% and GAA of 2.95 are bad numbers, even for a backup. He's not an NHL caliber player in any capacity.
We've been down this road. Just as a quick example of one I remember, the guy a lot of people wanted this offseason (Biron) has a career line of .911 SV% and GAA of 2.61. You're going to tell me that .009 better SV% and .34 better GAA are ok but Leighton's are bad, even for a backup? Also Last year Biron's stats were .904 SV% and 2.46 GAA, once again, very close to Leighton's numbers. Look around the league and I think you will find that a lot of backups are right in that ballpark. They may be better but it isn't night and day. Leighton as a backup is not going to ruin this team. If he was the starter, I would agree with you. But as a backup, at $1 million, you are not going to really do much better unless it is a prospect you are developing from the draft (like Hovinen, perhaps in the coming years).
If bryz sucks this year, and gets amnestied (sp?), would anyone be opposed to giving Nicklas Backstrom a 2 or 3 year deal? He's 35, but he's always been a pretty consistent net minder.
i can't believe it was Bryz's first day back at a practice of any sort and the philly media vultures were already asking him if he thinks he's playing for his job being as though he could possibly get bought out if he doesn't perform. i love Philadelphia, i was born and raised here, and i love its sports teams but i really hate the philly media. most of them aren't even good at there job they just ask d-bag questions thinking thats "hard" journalism". i'm not saying you can't question a players effort or ask some hard questions but i mean they didn't even have there first official practice yet. just my opinion.
i AGREE WITH THIS......Best thing for Bryz to do is call Steve Carlton up and get some GREAT advice on how to avoid the media.......Phillys media is a JOKE except for a small few who do their jobs in a decent and respectful manner.
I love Bryz but were the toronto of the states. If you wanna get paid and play here you gotta deal with eaten some poo from T.P. panaccio a cha cha cha. and come on, its not like he hasn't thought about it himself a thousand times. It's not like their putting negative thoughts he would've never had in his mind.
i AGREE WITH THIS......Best thing for Bryz to do is call Steve Carlton up and get some GREAT advice on how to avoid the media.......Phillys media is a JOKE except for a small few who do their jobs in a decent and respectful manner.
The man may turn out to be the most overpaid failure in Philly history.
Then again he may not.
But if he plays like he did last year than he deserves everything he reaps by signing a huge, MVP goaltender contract in a sports crazy city like Philly.
Despite me trolling the threads with my anti-Bryz Brigade; I will agree the media needs to **** and let the man prepare for the season.
But if he plays like he did last year than he deserves everything he reaps by signing a huge, MVP goaltender contract in a sports crazy city like Philly.
How can you blame him for signing that contract? If anything homer would deserve flak for signing him to that ridiculous deal in the first place.
How can you blame him for signing that contract? If anything homer would deserve flak for signing him to that ridiculous deal in the first place.
Not that I have experience being offered major contracts, but one would think that somebody signing a deal as a top goaltender would sit back and realize the organization signing said player to the deal would expect top results.
If you can't fill the expectations of your contract then don't sign the deal.
you'll notice the recent stats for the Canucks "NEW" starter in that article..
just saying..
Those are from 8 games in a Euro league. His NHL numbers are:
2.24 GAA, .928%
Leighton, on the other hand, hasn't even played a game since last spring in the AHL.
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Originally Posted by DrinkFightFlyers
We've been down this road. Just as a quick example of one I remember, the guy a lot of people wanted this offseason (Biron) has a career line of .911 SV% and GAA of 2.61. You're going to tell me that .009 better SV% and .34 better GAA are ok but Leighton's are bad, even for a backup? Also Last year Biron's stats were .904 SV% and 2.46 GAA, once again, very close to Leighton's numbers. Look around the league and I think you will find that a lot of backups are right in that ballpark. They may be better but it isn't night and day. Leighton as a backup is not going to ruin this team. If he was the starter, I would agree with you. But as a backup, at $1 million, you are not going to really do much better unless it is a prospect you are developing from the draft (like Hovinen, perhaps in the coming years).
Leighton's numbers are actually inflated by his early seasons before the 05 lockout. His more recent numbers, since the last lockout:
3.71 GAA. .877%
That's our backup, and those numbers are boosted by his time playing behind the best defensive performance the Flyers have put on in years. As long as we score 5 goals whenever he plays while also being really good defensively, we'll be fine. Tall order. Hell, those numbers would be bad in the 80s.
Edit: And no, Biron's stats were not good last year. Especially considering the team he played behind. He's 35...he might have hit the wall fast and hard.
Last edited by Beef Invictus: 01-10-2013 at 02:03 AM.
The team defense as a unit was terrible and deserved 80% of the blame at minimum. Bryz was not stellar and does need to play better, but he took the bulk of the blame -- wrongly.
The team defense as a unit was terrible and deserved 80% of the blame at minimum. Bryz was not stellar and does need to play better, but he took the bulk of the blame -- wrongly.
No. Team defense was bad, but Bryzgalov was plenty bad all on his own regardless of the D. It's not the D's fault his speed and positioning were off and he struggled to track the puck. It doesn't matter how good the D is...if you're letting in as many unscreened top-circle wrist shots and blue line shots as Bryz was, the goalie is letting you down.
I like the black ones better. its harder for players to locate the puck in goalmouth scrambles. or he can get some really big retarded oranges ones. remember how cool fleury used to look with those big yellow freak fests attached to his legs?
Leighton's numbers are actually inflated by his early seasons before the 05 lockout. His more recent numbers, since the last lockout:
3.71 GAA. .877%
Interesting.
He played 8 games in 2002-03, going .913 SV% and 2.82 GAA and 34 in 2003-04, going .900 and 2.99 GAA. So that is 42 games on a terrible team where his numbers are actually worse than his career numbers that inflate his now current numbers. Plus we all know that you can never count ALL of someone's stats as part of their career line. You have to discredit some of them. I mean Giroux isn't really that good, he has never been a PPG player if you don't last season.
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That's our backup, and those numbers are boosted by his time playing behind the best defensive performance the Flyers have put on in years.
That is fair, I do actually think he benefited from playing behind a good defense.
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As long as we score 5 goals whenever he plays while also being really good defensively, we'll be fine. Tall order. Hell, those numbers would be bad in the 80s.
Ok that is silly. I know Leighton is not agreat goalie, but I don't understand why the team would need five goals per game with him net. It has never been like that before. Yes, the team will have to play better when he is net...just like with any BACKUP goalie. But the team is not going to lose every game that he plays simply because his name is Michael Leighton.
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Edit: And no, Biron's stats were not good last year. Especially considering the team he played behind. He's 35...he might have hit the wall fast and hard.
That's fine, I wasn't really commenting on Biron being good or bad, just that he was a name that everyone mentioned as a potential backup and he had similar stats last year and over his entire career to that of Leighton. Don't get me wrong, if I had a choice I would take Biron every single day, but that doesn't mean that the difference between the two is Vezina and High School goalie.
He played 8 games in 2002-03, going .913 SV% and 2.82 GAA and 34 in 2003-04, going .900 and 2.99 GAA. So that is 42 games on a terrible team where his numbers are actually worse than his career numbers that inflate his now current numbers. Plus we all know that you can never count ALL of someone's stats as part of their career line. You have to discredit some of them. I mean Giroux isn't really that good, he has never been a PPG player if you don't last season
Ok that is silly. I know Leighton is not agreat goalie, but I don't understand why the team would need five goals per game with him net. It has never been like that before. Yes, the team will have to play better when he is net...just like with any BACKUP goalie. But the team is not going to lose every game that he plays simply because his name is Michael Leighton.
That's fine, I wasn't really commenting on Biron being good or bad, just that he was a name that everyone mentioned as a potential backup and he had similar stats last year and over his entire career to that of Leighton. Don't get me wrong, if I had a choice I would take Biron every single day, but that doesn't mean that the difference between the two is Vezina and High School goalie.
The team will need 5 goals because we aren't nearly as good defensively as we were during his last stint. It's entirely possible Leighton lets in 4 goals per game or close to it this year. If we have another franchise all-time defensive performance again, then he'll be fine...but I don't think anybody expects that to happen. Good defense makes up for bad goaltending and vice versa. However, when Leighton is in net it's far more likely we'll be getting bad goaltending and bad defense. That's not a recipe for low goals against.
I doubt he gets many starts though. Bryz might start something like 44 games. I just do not understand the org's bizarre attachment to the guy.
His name being Leighton has zero to do with it. His lacking ability as an NHL goaltender is what's relevant.
