Lots of talk, and rightfully so, about our defense. Lets put it into perspective a bit though. Lets see, 1-8, where we stand come playoff time. Which of these defense's would you like to go into the postseason with. Once we have that down we can talk about how much we need to improve to give us a good chance in April. Try to be objective and rank the players as a whole, not just the stars or systems.
Boston:
Zdeno Chara
Dennis Wideman
Matt Hunwick
Aaron Ward
Shane Hnidy
Mark Stuart
Andrew Ference
Carolina:
Joni Pitkanen
Joe Corvo
Niclas Wallin
Frantisek Kaberle
Josef Melichar
Anton Babchuk
David Tanabe
Dennis Seidenberg
Tim Gleason
Washington:
Milan Jurcina
Karl Alzner
Tom Poti
Sami Lepisto
Shaone Morrisonn
Tyler Sloan
Jeff Schultz
Brian Pothier
Mike Green
John Erskin
Pittsburgh:
Sergei Gonchar
Brooks Orpik
Kris Letang
Rob Scuderi
Hal Gill
Alex Goligoski
Mark Eaton
Philippe Boucher
Ryan Whitney
Rangers:
Marc Staal
Daniel Girardi
Michal Rozsival
Wade Redden
Paul Mara
Dmitri Kalinin
NJ:
Paul Martin
Bryce Salvador
Johnny Oduya
Colin White
Mike Mottau
Jat Leach
Sheldon Brookbank
Montreal:
Roman Hamrlik
Josh Gorges
Andrei Markov
Ryan O'Byrne
Francis Bouillon
Patrice Brisebois
Mike Komisarek
Philly:
Kimmo Timonen
Braydon Coburn
Matt Carle
Ossi Vaananen
Randy Jones
Ryan Parent
Luca Sbisa
Andrew Alberts
Lasse Kukkonen
Apologies for the lenth but we need to remember that we're not the only team with guys that may hurt us defensively.
I second that. The goalies are the real deal in this conference.
Agreed, but where do you find, not just an upgrade, a really substantial upgrade over Biron? Those few guy's don't come cheap and for the most part aren't available at all no matter what the price.
1. Brodeur
2. Lundqvist 3. Thomas
4. Price
5. Fleury
6. Ward 7. Biron
8. Theodore
Performance wise Thomas is ahead of Fleury this year, Thomas has been that good. He also might arguably be ahead of Lundqvist so far this year. That's if we're talking this years results, longterm/potential is a completely different can of worms. 6-8 are totally interchangeable, depending on the time of year. Though i'd put Biron ahead of Theodore, based on performance thus far.
Performance wise Thomas is ahead of Fleury this year, Thomas has been that good. He also might arguably be ahead of Lundqvist so far this year. That's if we're talking this years results, longterm/potential is a completely different can of worms. 6-8 are totally interchangeable, depending on the time of year. Though i'd put Biron ahead of Theodore, based on performance thus far.
I wasn't really ranking the goalies based on this year, but more on who I'd want and who I think gives there team the best chance to win this year. I agree that Thomas could be higher. Even though his style is sometimes hard to watch, his results have been quite good.
We've all been saying it since August, however there is only one prospect draft per year so we have to wait until then anyways so whats the big deal now?
It isnt something we can change through the course of the year, so why continue to bring it up and drag it through the mud? We all know the organization needs a strong goaltending prospect, and if the team managers dont know then i'd suggest we all apply for the soon to be vancant positions.
We need a goalie prospect, yup heard yea the first time back in august, its now december, the season is well underway and we still have to wait for a draft, nothing has changed.
Understood about the goaltender situation but what I'm getting at is this.
1. Our scoring can pretty much run with anyone in the league right now.
2. We, like most teams, just have to hope our goalie gets hot at the right times. Probably will be Biron, maybe not, either way there will be no huge improvement there for the playoffs this year.
3. Our D, as much as we complain (myself included), is not that bad. In fact, we may be one move away from joining the elite D's in the East.
I know I'm not breaking any new ground here but it seems obvious that the easiest step towards another great playoff run is one more significant move for a Dman. My question is, looking at what the other teams have, how big of a move do you think that needs to be? Do you think it's just a matter of upgrading a 3rd pairing weak spot or do we need a big J-Bo style jump to get with the Rangers/Habs/Bruins?
We've all been saying it since August, however there is only one prospect draft per year so we have to wait until then anyways so whats the big deal now?
It isnt something we can change through the course of the year, so why continue to bring it up and drag it through the mud? We all know the organization needs a strong goaltending prospect, and if the team managers dont know then i'd suggest we all apply for the soon to be vancant positions.
We need a goalie prospect, yup heard yea the first time back in august, its now december, the season is well underway and we still have to wait for a draft, nothing has changed.
The fact is that we traded a 1st for Steve Eminger, who is already gone, when there were a few goalie prospects available and we all knew it was a need. Goalies take longer to devlop, we needed to draft one LAST year to be ready a year or 2 from now.
Jacob Markstrom was drafted 31st by the Panthers. From what I have heard, he has been phenominal this year.
I understand why we traded for Eminger but was it worth it?? I liek Carle but could we have gotten him w/o giving up Eminger??
I just feel that the management has falied in the goalie department. It is one position in the NHl where it is hard to upgrade through FA and trade. You can get players like Biron, Huet, Theodore... But you can not get a Lundquist, Fleury, Brodeur, Luongo
That is why, if it ever comes up, we need to pursue an elite goalie if he becomes avialbe. If Luongo becomes a FA, you have to find room to sign him, through trading slaray and such. If a team is willing to trade an elite goalie, you have to go after him even if you have to overpay
Ane elite goalie can do something that no one else can. An elite goalie can carry you to a championship. A great offensive or defensive player can help, but a goalie can do it by himself almost. I understand that there have been teams lately we have seen goalies get hot or playing behind a great defense, and win a cup.
However, the Flyers orginization has failed over the years to aquire a true #1 goalie, going back to Hextall. We have seen Nitty, Biron, Esche, Chechmakek(sp) and Boucher. Many of them have had good epriod here and maybe even a good season or two. But none of them have been that true so called "#1" goalie. A guy who will steal you a few wins that another goalie would not have gotten you.
Bobby Clarke and Ed Snider paid for top offenive players. They even aquired a few defensive players. But they never aquired the goalie. Hopefully Homer is different. Hopefully he can get us that goalie that we have all been waiting for.
I understand that Homer aquired Biron and he ahs been pretty good. However he is hot and cold. i understand most goalie are, but no that bad. He has trouble in rebound control and other things.
Hopefully the Flyers will try to aquire a true "#1" goalie in the next couple of years, either through the draft, FA or trade.
Montreal's defense is clearly the class of the East .. no one else comes close. I dont quite ubderstand why people cant see that.
Montreal's D has given up 13 more goals that Boston, who has played the same amount of games, and 3 more than NYR, who has three in hand on MTL. That's probably why they are not considered clearly the class of the East.
Montreal's D has given up 13 more goals that Boston, who has played the same amount of games, and 3 more than NYR, who has three in hand on MTL. That's probably why they are not considered clearly the class of the East.
Don't sleep on a healthy Penguins blueline. They're missing their two best dmen at the moment.
I'll probably get flamed, but the Flyers defense is slowly coming around. They could be as big a strength as the forwards are by the end of the year. If Coburn starts playing like he did last season, as a group, they're very good. I'd like to see another dman similiar to Ossi added, but the Flyers top three pairs can be as good as any other team's in the East. They've come a really long way in 25 games. I'm glad Homer addressed it early in the season instead of waiting. And it can get better just by players getting healthy.
I'd say we're better than Boston personally. They have Chara and Wideman who are both great and will log 25 minutes, but outside of that, it's all bottom pairing guys with little to no puck skills.
