NHL Playoffs

[Ben Kenobi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5jSsNkIc0w

Sedin Globetrotters.

[Flubber]

Flubber, he's the 5th youngest goaltender to hit 300 wins.
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Flubber, he's the 5th youngest goaltender to hit 300 wins.

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300 wins is a nice accomplishment -- But being youngest ??? That speaks a lot to the fact that the mediocre teams he was on either through injury to others or simple mediocrity of the team had no issue with playing "the kid" and could give him enough starts to not hurt his development. Its circumstances. You can bemoan the Panthers time all you want but the fact that Luongo got more play meant that he probably picked up 50-60 more wins in the early years than he would have, had he been behind more solid netminding-- I am not discounting that he played well but thre are lots of great young goalies that do play well when given a chance but where they don't really get an opportunity at all. (imagine being a 20 year old goalie in the Boston system== hell look what Holtby did in Washington and still got sent back down)

You can argue this if you want but as long as Luongo is healthy in Vancouver and puts up reasonable numbers --say .915 plus -- do you think Corey Schneider will really get a chance? Schneider could go on to be an exceptional goaltender but I wouldn't want his place among the all time greats to be determined by the fact that on his first contracts he was behind a top-flight number one and therefore doesn't rack up a bunch of wins (or heck doesn't even get to the NHL no matter how good he is because the team wants him getting his 50 starts in the minors)

Oh and Ben -- your backup had equivalent stats to your all time great this year. Shouldn't an all time great be discernibly better? ( oh and please no lame comebacks about Kipper as I have never and will never assert him as an all-time great (notwithstanding he had a couple of unimaginably great years--in my mind he hasn't had nearly enough of them and his playoff record is comprised of one year of awesomeness and a couple of valiant efforts where he was exceptional but the team was not good)

[Ben Kenobi]

Thats my problem with Ben's argument. Hanging around a long time doesn't make you great in my book.

His sv pct during the regular season is .919, which is third highest all time, behind Thomas (who's not played as long), and Hasek who has how many Vezinas?

I would agree with you that he's just "hanging around" if his rate stats which aren't team dependent weren't so amazing.

Excelling makes you great. A less than .500 record makes it a tough sell now and even when that gets corrected (which it will as long as he remains healthy) his overall winning percentage will not be great. That is a function of the team no doubt but you simply cannot credit the goalie with the wins and praise him for it and ignore losses as being a team thing

The Canucks have been a far better team with him than without him. When he came to Vancouver, they were not a playoff team.

You can argue this if you want but as long as Luongo is healthy in Vancouver and puts up reasonable numbers --say .915 plus -- do you think Corey Schneider will really get a chance?

The Canucks also have Lack. I'm not sure what they plan to do with Schneider. He will likely get a contract to start with another team if the NHL is at all smart.

Schneider could go on to be an exceptional goaltender but I wouldn't want his place among the all time greats to be determined by the fact that on his first contracts he was behind a top-flight number one and therefore doesn't rack up a bunch of wins (or heck doesn't even get to the NHL no matter how good he is because the team wants him getting his 50 starts in the minors)

He's a good goalie, but it's far to early to declare him to be anything but a good goalie. We'll see how he does starting.

Oh and Ben -- your backup had equivalent stats to your all time great this year. Shouldn't an all time great be discernibly better?

Bobby Lou had a .929 and a 2.11 season, exceptional numbers by any standard. Vezina worthy for sure. You're assuming that Schneider and Lou are products of a system. I'll grant you that this year his numbers are up because the system is contributing to Bobby Lou rather than taking away from him.

However, he's usually a .919 goaltender which is exceptional.

( oh and please no lame comebacks about Kipper as I have never and will never assert him as an all-time great (notwithstanding he had a couple of unimaginably great years--in my mind he hasn't had nearly enough of them and his playoff record is comprised of one year of awesomeness and a couple of valiant efforts where he was exceptional but the team was not good

He's a fluke, plain and simple. Calgary would be better off trading him while he still retains some value.

[Ben Kenobi]

My question though is this. The absolute number of penalties always seemed to bother you, when it happened to go against the Canucks. Does it bother you now?

I consider Ben Eager to be a Canuck. Why would I be bothered by calls on Canuck players?

[Ben Kenobi]

Flubber:

You are more charitable than I am with Lou's performance, which is odd.

Luo should have had the second goal (it was under his blocker), and the third goal was goalie interference on Eager. First goal was a great play by San Jose, and they hit the inside of the post on another. Could have very easily been 3-0 San Jose after the first 10 minutes.

This is why I was so surprised seeing the rest of the game. The Sharks let the Canucks back in it with the penalty and then the goal 30 seconds later. After that the Sharks never really challenged.

Todd M has lots of work to do with his team. Take away the Eager parade in the third period, and I have no doubt that the Canucks would have salted away the win. The Canucks were dominant in the second and split the first. You aren't going to win games if you completely fail to show up in the third period AND fail to back up your leads throughout the game.

Instead, Eager blew the game wide open and the Canucks really showed killer instinct to destroy the Sharks.

Canucks still have lots to work on.

PK - first goal was on the second PK unit after the changover. Canucks did just fine. Second PK goal was off a strange bounce that not only gave a shark a wide open shot on the net, but also bounced it right in front of Lou rather than off the pad save. I expect to see a penalty parade in San Jose in game three and the PK unit and Bobby Lou are going to have to be sharper out of the gate.

Bieksa goal is the best I've seen in a long, long time. Shades of Bobby Orr.

[-Jrabbit]

Corey Crawford get his: 3 years, $8 million.
Cap hit = $2.6 million.
Another piece in place...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...,4088229.story

[Flubber]

Corey Crawford get his: 3 years, $8 million.
Cap hit = $2.6 million.
Another piece in place...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...,4088229.story

A very good piece. With just a little more better depth they could be awesome again

[Asher]

Much cheaper than Luongo for more clutch play. A great deal.

[Asher]

I'm somewhat shocked Ben hasn't expressed outrage at the officiating.

[Asher]

Shots 15-1 for the Sharks to start. Jesus.

This is what happens to Vancouver every time they get comfortable. Pathetic.

[Asher]

*implosion sound*

[EPW]

Sharks

[Ben Kenobi]

Shots 15-1 for the Sharks to start. Jesus.

This is what happens to Vancouver every time they get comfortable. Pathetic.

Sharks have their backs up against the wall. This is a must win for them. Did you expect anything different? Anyhow, 3-1. They get one back.

[Asher]

Sharks have their backs up against the wall. This is a must win for them. Did you expect anything different? Anyhow, 3-1. They get one back.

I quite expect the Canucks to choke the closer they get to closure.

[Ben Kenobi]

I'm somewhat shocked Ben hasn't expressed outrage at the officiating.

Why would I? I expected the calls to be massively in favour of the Sharks at home. Which they have been. Sharks still only have 3 even strength goals, which is surprising. I expected to see them do much better 5-5.

So far they've been outplayed every game at 5-5, which bodes ill for the series.

Canucks are +3 right now in penalties which is well within the margin of error. This includes everything last game and the too many men.

We'll likely see another uneven game next game, depending on what happens in this one.