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Goaltending conundrum

Sarge, you make perfect sense and actually I agree with you.  I had said basically the same thing last month and even earlier.  My post above was out of frustration ... letting the sens come back to win on the back end of a B2B and all that.

You are taking the correct long-term view.  Even if we make the playoffs we'd be lucky to win a round.  So I guess it's best to split the starts about evenly between them.
 
Optimus Reimer said:
To give up 3 goals in each of the past 3 games is not that bad, it could be better, but the goalies are keeping the team in the game.
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The only goal I'd truly fault Reimer on was the game-winning goal.

You see what I just did there..?  ;)

Sit him. Let Gus back in until he loses. That was the plan.
 
Reimer seems like a great guy, but it's really a what have you done for me lately type of situation, let the Goose run with it till he hits a bad patch or Burke picks up a goalie.
 
lamajama said:
Optimus Reimer said:
To give up 3 goals in each of the past 3 games is not that bad, it could be better, but the goalies are keeping the team in the game.
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The only goal I'd truly fault Reimer on was the game-winning goal.

You see what I just did there..?  ;)

Sit him. Let Gus back in until he loses. That was the plan.
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Gus lost two in a row, although at no fault of his own IMHO.  They put in Reimer.  To me they are following the plan, but a team will not get very far if they are scoring only 2 goals per game (in the last 3 games). 
 
Agree, goaltending has not been that bad recently, but RW should stick with one (Gus) until he really stinks up the place.  Changing goaltenders after a one game loss doesn't make any sense to me, no goaltender consistency affects the whole team consistency.  Reimer has not shown much in last few outings.  Biggest problem is scoring goals, 22nd place in scoring %,  now that is pathetic!  Usually means opposing goaltenders seeing the puck very well.
 
bbt said:
Agree, goaltending has not been that bad recently, but RW should stick with one (Gus) until he really stinks up the place.  Changing goaltenders after a one game loss doesn't make any sense to me, no goaltender consistency affects the whole team consistency.  Reimer has not shown much in last few outings.  Biggest problem is scoring goals, 22nd place in scoring %,  now that is pathetic!  Usually means opposing goaltenders seeing the puck very well.
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Well it was 2 losses in a row, although neither one could be pegged on him.  I can't say I disagreed with starting Reimer last night, you had to see where he was in his game even if the answer is "not good".  I think they should now ride Gustavsson as a true #1 unless as you said above "stinks up the place".  I'd add that he'd have to be bad in multiple games before you go back to Reimer.
 
bbt said:
Biggest problem is scoring goals, 22nd place in scoring %,  now that is pathetic!  Usually means opposing goaltenders seeing the puck very well.
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I should probably just let this go, but things that are this factually inaccurate tend to gnaw at me, so, here it is.

Let's leave aside the fact that "scoring percentage" isn't really a stat, and, let's assume by that you actually mean shooting percentage. Let's also leave aside the fact that the stat you actually used to determine the Leafs' placement in the league represents something wildly different from what you're interpreting it as. We'll just boil this down to fairly simple, straight-forward logic.

Firstly, the Leafs are 6th in the league in goals per game, which, quite plainly shows that scoring goals has, for the most part, not been a problem. Yes, the secondary scoring could be more consistent and all, but the Leafs are scoring goals at a better pace than 80% of the league.

Secondly, the Leafs are 21st in shots per game. If we combine the two - goals per game and shots per game - we can see it's pretty much impossible for the Leafs to be as low as 22nd in "scoring percentage" or, as it's actually called, shooting percentage - a statistic where the Leafs actually rank 2nd in the league (and one that is not represented on NHL.com). From this, we can probably conclude, that, no, opposing goalies playing against the Leafs aren't necessarily seeing the puck very well - and, if they are, then they're doing a pretty poor job of stopping it (on an overall basis, obviously).
 
Think we can get Goose under contract for a Reimer-like deal? Personally, I have no problem continuing with this thing into next year @ ~ 3.6 mil total. - Well, that's me feeling right now anyway.
 
Sarge said:
Think we can get Goose under contract for a Reimer-like deal? Personally, @ 1.8 mil each, I have no problem continuing with this thing into next year. - Well, that's me feeling right now anyway.
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I agree with that. I've never been one to think that the Leafs problems this year was goaltending. I think it's playing team defense consistently and getting a bit more size to the forward lines.

I think Goose is showing us some very good maturation this season. I would think that he at least deserves Reimer's cap hit.
 
BlueWhiteBlood said:
Sarge said:
Think we can get Goose under contract for a Reimer-like deal? Personally, @ 1.8 mil each, I have no problem continuing with this thing into next year. - Well, that's me feeling right now anyway.
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I agree with that. I've never been one to think that the Leafs problems this year was goaltending. I think it's playing team defense consistently and getting a bit more size to the forward lines.

I think Goose is showing us some very good maturation this season. I would think that he at least deserves Reimer's cap hit.
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Think we can we get him at slightly under 2 mil. though?
 
Sarge said:
Think we can we get him at slightly under 2 mil? though?
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Well, I think it will come down to how Goose finishes up the season, providing he plays the bulk of the games. He's a bit older than Reims, so maybe it will end up costing us more. He's also a UFA, so that will add to it I believe. 2 million might be a bit low I think, we'll see.
 
Interesting quirk (that Gord Miller ruined tonight) - during Gus' recent run, he had allowed three goals or no goals.
 
lamajama said:
4th Liner said:
?@HockeyBreak: For those asking, I do think Niittymaki will be traded soon.?
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So.....think BB is interested?
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Probably. With his history esp in Vancouver he certainly brought in every washed up goalie he could find.
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Burke certainly hasn't been very lucky in evaluating the goaltending situation in Toronto either, so far, IMHO. 

His proclamation c. July that Reimer would be the starter may have been premature, especially since what we have seen so far.

I know that this may not be  a popular opinion after reading some of the other postings on this topic, but rhetorically, what might be the problem in looking for a trade for a "good" goaltender, now?  Looking at Tampa Bay last year, their goaltending was as bad as the Leafs with Smith, etc. and they went out and got Rolason.  And years ago, Calgary was a much better team in their playoff drive when they got Kipper and started playing him ahead of Turek, and almost won the Cup. 

Burke's trading history with the Leafs, so far, has been surprisingly good, IMHO.  If they could get a "good" goaltender who could help the Leafs, now,  and without too much of a price,  it might be the best way that they could improve the team, now.  And this is not meant in any way as a criticism towards Gus, since he has played by and large pretty solidly over the past month or so.

It seems that in evaluating the goaltending issue, the focus is between Gus, and Reimer, and the fact that the latter has been struggling seems to infer that Gus is the best goaltender for the Leafs, which is natural.  But if the Leafs had the goaltending of Boston, or the Rangers, or even St. Louis, arguably they would be a lot higher up in the standings.  The Leafs goaltending, relative to other playoff-contending teams, might not grade out, IMHO, notwithstanding how decently Gus has been playing recently.
 
x.jr.benchwarmer said:
lamajama said:
4th Liner said:
?@HockeyBreak: For those asking, I do think Niittymaki will be traded soon.?
Click to expand...

So.....think BB is interested?
Click to expand...

Probably. With his history esp in Vancouver he certainly brought in every washed up goalie he could find.
Click to expand...

Burke certainly hasn't been very lucky in evaluating the goaltending situation in Toronto either, so far, IMHO. 

His proclamation c. July that Reimer would be the starter may have been premature, especially since what we have seen so far.

I know that this may not be  a popular opinion after reading some of the other postings on this topic, but rhetorically, what might be the problem in looking for a trade for a "good" goaltender, now?  Looking at Tampa Bay last year, their goaltending was as bad as the Leafs with Smith, etc. and they went out and got Rolason.  And years ago, Calgary was a much better team in their playoff drive when they got Kipper and started playing him ahead of Turek, and almost won the Cup. 

Burke's trading history with the Leafs, so far, has been surprisingly good, IMHO.  If they could get a "good" goaltender who could help the Leafs, now,  and without too much of a price,  it might be the best way that they could improve the team, now.  And this is not meant in any way as a criticism towards Gus, since he has played by and large pretty solidly over the past month or so.

It seems that in evaluating the goaltending issue, the focus is between Gus, and Reimer, and the fact that the latter has been struggling seems to infer that Gus is the best goaltender for the Leafs, which is natural.  But if the Leafs had the goaltending of Boston, or the Rangers, or even St. Louis, arguably they would be a lot higher up in the standings.  The Leafs goaltending, relative to other playoff-contending teams, might not grade out, IMHO, notwithstanding how decently Gus has been playing recently.
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In terms of Reimer, I think the hit to the head by Gionta had an impact to his ability to be a starter this year. I look at Miller as a comparison and I see the same issue. Both haven't really been the same since receiving concussions or possible concussions.
 
i think we should go with the Monster for a bit , send Reimer down to the A on a conditioning stint  to get some games in , get his groove back. Bring up Rynnas as back-up . I agree it?s concussion related , goalies always seem to take longer to get back on track after a concussion than other players.
 
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