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Derek Morris goal in game one was awesome though.
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Oct 19, 2014 23:54
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 24. MARC-ANDRÉ FLEURY Team: Pittsburgh Penguins Nationality: Canadian Age: 29 Draft Class: 2003 Hardware: 2008-09 Stanley Cup Champion, 2010 Olympic Gold Medal, Seriously The Gayest Nickname Ever Not That There's Anything Wrong With That! 2013-14 GAA: 2.37 2013-14 SV%:.915 2013-14 W/L: 39-18-5 Grab a drink. This one'll take a bit. Marc-Andre Fleury is a rare bird among goaltenders, a 1st overall pick. One of about fifty currently making up the Pittsburgh Penguins team (that may be an exaggeration). Being a 1st overall comes with certain obvious expectations - when the Penguins picked him, they were betting that he could turn into a franchise goaltender, a guy they could rely on for the next 10+ years to be their backstop and they tried to rebuild themselves into a force in the NHL and try to win the Stanley Cup. And for the record, I just want to start off by saying that so far in his career I think Fleury has mostly accomplished that. You can argue about how much of it is him being a decent goalie and how much of it is the Penguins team around him, but the guy has consistently gotten 30-40 wins every full season he's played in the NHL. His stats have never been sterling in the regular season, but they've been good enough to get the Penguins Ws. I don't wanna endorse a "Lots of Wins" = "Good Goalie" narrative, but still. It's worth something. That's all I wanna say to preface this. So Fleury bounced around between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Pittsburgh Penguins a lot in the first few years of his career, the latter still being really really, really bad for after they signed him and still resting at the bottom of the league for a few years more until the arrival of superstar centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The Penguins made the playoffs in 2006-07 and in 2007-08 made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals where they faced the Detroit Red Wings, on the back of an outstanding run by Fleury. In the 2008 playoffs, Fleury posted a 1.97, a .933 and had three shutouts. A sure contender for the Conn Smythe, he unfortunately came up just short against a unrelenting, dominant Red Wings squad, eventually losing in game 6 on a goal that Fleury failed to trap completely in his pads, leading to it squeaking past him and into the net when he fell back on it. A backbreaker to be sure, but it's really, really hard (not to mention disingenuous as gently caress) to blame the loss in the finals on that goal or on Fleury. Fleury was great that year. The Red Wings were just better. That's how it goes sometimes. The next year, the Penguins got back into the playoffs and got back to the finals, getting past the Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes to once again face the Detroit Red Wings. This time, things would go differently for Fleury and the Penguins. The Red Wings weren't as dominant as they had been the previous year, they were more beaten up, courtesy of a grueling series against the Anaheim Ducks and the Penguins were a year older and a year stronger. Fleury, strangely enough, not as sharp. In stark contrast to his stats from the previous year, he posted a 2.61 and a .908, but he made the most important save when it counted, diving across the crease in the waning seconds of Game 7 to stop a shot from Nicklas Lidstrom that would come to be known as the "Secret Service Save" and would secure the Penguins' first Stanley Cup since 1993. The Penguins had a good season as the defending champs, earning 101 points and defeating Ottawa in the first round of the playoffs. Then, they ran into a brick wall. A brick wall named HALAK.  Fresh off an absurd, impropable comeback against the Presidents Trophy winning Washington Capitals, the Montreal Canadiens played every bit as hard against the champs. The Penguins couldn't put the Canadiens away, taking three separate one game leads and surrendering all of them before eventually collapsing in game 7 where Fleury himself was pulled after surrendering four goals on only 13 shots while Halak made 37 saves on 39 shots. After getting to the finals in consecutive years, the Penguins were sent home with a whimper in 2010. ....that's when things started to get weird. The 2010-11 season saw the Penguins lose both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. They still managed to make the playoffs and in their first round matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning, it didn't look as if they'd even need their two superstars to get a series win. Courtesy of a game 1 shutout by Fleury and some timely contributions by, not makin' this up, Aaron Asham, the Penguins quickly found themselves holding on to a three-games-to-one lead. This however is when the absence of Crosby and Malkin started to hurt as the Lightning came back with a vengeance, hanging 4 on Fleury in each of the next two games and Dwayne frickin' Roloson posting a 36 save shutout in Game 7 to again send the Penguins home early. In the 7 game series, Fleury posted a 2.72 and a .899 after posting a 2.78 and an .891 the year previous. After a Conn Smythe-worthy year and a cup the year after, Fleury had gone through two incredibly rocky outings in the playoffs that at least partially led to the Penguins falling out far short of their goal. And somehow, things could still get worse. The Penguins backups sucked with a vengeance in 2011-12, so Fleury had to play a lot of games. He pretty much did his job and won 42 games, second most in the NHL (despite middling stats, posting a 2.36 and a .913) to get the Penguins the 4th seed for the second year, setting them up against longtime state rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers. What followed was a lot of loving shenanigans, a lot of loving stupidity and a whole lot of DOOP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hz80LNkVrw The Penguins jumped out to a 3-0 lead in game 1 which they surrendered, eventually losing in overtime, 4-3. They had a 3-1 lead in game 2, which they surrendered, eventually losing 8-5 and here's the point where you've gotta start looking in Fleury's direction and also the direction of the defense that kept letting the Flyers pound Fleury as relentlessly as they did. The Penguins scored 5 goals. At that point, he and the defense should be able to keep them in the game. But no, the Penguins dropped the first two at home and were headed to Philly in a very unenviable position. Game 3 was a total gongshow, one of the most ridiculous showings I've ever seen as a hockey fan, period. The Flyers hung 8 goals on the Penguins again, 6 of them on Fleury and most of them looking incredibly soft. Goals you would have to expect any professional goaltender to save if your team was to have any legitimate shot at winning. Three Penguins were suspended in the wake of the Game 3 meltdown and although they managed to avert a sweep in Game 4 by giving the Flyers a taste of their own medicine (10-3, youch), they eventually collapsed again in Game 6 as Fleury allowed 4 goals on 22 shots. Fleury ended the 2011-12 playoffs with an absolutely miserable 4.36 GAA and .834 SV% and let's just get this out of the way right now. I love goaltenders. I will stick up for a goaltender as much as possible and because the position is so difficult, I will always be quicker to blame an offense for failing to lift their goaltender, a defense for failing to protect him and a coach for failing to put the players in a position to help him. And make no mistake, the Penguins defense was miserable in this series. Straight garbage. But Fleury was worse. He was out of position, he flubbed routine saves, he left huge holes for the Flyers to just putt the puck into. The wisdom that you tend to hear about goalies is "You just want him to give the team a chance to win" and Fleury completely and totally failed to do that. Personally, if you asked me who was to blame for the embarrassing meltdown the Penguins forced us to watch, I'd blame Dan Bylsma before I blamed Marc-Andre Fleury, but it'd still be pretty close. AND......THE STORY ISN'T EVEN OVER YET! Move on to the lockout shortened 2012-13 season. Fleury is again the starter to begin the playoffs and they're again up against a fast bunch of up-and-comers with lots of offensive punch and an old russian goaltender who's not very good. The Penguins as the 1 seed had assembled an apparent super group of a team through a couple deadline pickups and were the favorites to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. They didn't account, however, for the New York Islanders running all over them. The Islanders made overwhelming use of their speed to keep the Penguins off balance and to keep Fleury completely discombobulated, dragging him everywhere in the crease except into the correct loving position and just potting goal after goal in the first four games of the series, turning it into a track meet that the Penguins, quite frankly, did not look like they could win. Bylsma made the only move he could, pulling Fleury after he allowed 3 unanswered goals in Game 4 for the veteran, Tomas Voukon. Voukon would not relinquish his position the rest of the Penguins' run, save for a minor stint against the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals. Fleury was forced to watch from the bench as his team went on to defeat the Islanders (Voukon posted a shutout in Game 5, leading NHL.com to use the headline 'Blank Czech' hehehehehe, those guys are the greatest  ), dispense the Senators in 5 and eventually get roundly throttled by the aforementioned Bruins in the aforementioned Conference Finals. For a little while there, there was serious doubt about Fleury's continued fate as the starting goaltender of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Four years in a row, he'd been knocked around in the playoffs and if Bylsma hadn't made the switch to Voukon, it was almost a certainty that it would've been three straight years of getting knocked out in the first round. Fleury was "lucky", if you wanna call it that, that Tomas Voukon would be unable to compete to take the starting job from him as he was forced to get surgery for a blood clot in his pelvis before the start of the 2013-14 season with nothing resembling a timetable to his recovery, leaving stating duties to Fleury once again. Fleury did about what you'd expect in the regular season at this point, putting up 39 wins and middling stats at 2.37 and .915, en route to another 1 seed for the Penguins and a match up with the first wild card, the Columbus Blue Jackets. This time, things looked a lot more stable for the Penguins (despite a bunch of weird lead changes for both teams) as they took a two-games-to-one lead and were looking to make it three in game 4 as they had a 2-1 lead with 30 seconds left. Then, Fleury went to play a puck behind his net, completely whiffed on it, the Jackets centered it and, say it with me, Fleury was completely out of position when Brandon Dubinsky potted the tying goal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWrkoHqPq2I (credit where credit is due, the Jackets have an awesome goal horn/song combo) So Game 4 went to overtime. Then Game 4's overtime ended abruptly when Nick Foligno fired a completely routine shot from the blue line and Fleury completely muffed it, giving up the game winning goal and tying a series the Penguins had been 30 seconds from taking a stranglehold on. History was again, for a fifth time repeating itself in Pittsburgh and this time, they didn't even have Voukon to turn to! Somehow, Fleury stabilized in game 5 to give the Penguins the lead in the series again and when the Penguins took a 4-0 lead in game 6, it looked all but over until the Jackets again attempted to come storming back, scoring a shorthanded, power play and even strength goal on Fleury in the space of five minutes to make it a one goal game. Despite the scare, however, Fleury and the Penguins held on to win the game 4-3 and the series four-games-to-two and moved on to face the New York Rangers. And, y'know, I've been loving relentlessly bagging on Fleury since 2010 here, so I'm gonna step back and give him some credit. Fleury was good against the Rangers. He was actually really good. In games 2, 3 and 4 of the series, Fleury allowed two goals on 69 shots (very naice) and posted two shutouts. It was impressive. Unfortunately for him, after that, Henrik Lundqvist put on his big boy pads and completely stymied the Penguins' offense. Fleury was clocked for 5 goals in game 5 and then just outright outplayed by Lundqvist in games 6 and 7 as the Rangers won by scores of 3-1 and 2-1 to complete the comeback on the Penguins and send them home empty handed again. With his win (clumsy as it was) against the Jackets and a good showing against the Rangers, would I go as far to say that Fleury might be "fixed" for the playoffs? Honestly, outside of his implosion in game 4 against the Jackets and the almost-comeback in game 6 against the same, Fleury wasn't bad in the playoffs last year. Not great, but, going back to that bit of wisdom about goaltenders, this time, good enough to give his team a chance to win if they had managed to score some goals. Which, granted, being unable to beat Henrik Lundqvist isn't exactly a problem that only the Penguins have. But would I say he's "fixed"? I honestly have no loving clue. Watching Fleury, I see a guy who tries as hard as anybody and will never, ever, ever lack for effort, but will sometimes just exhibit the absolute worst positioning and decision-making you can see from a professional goaltender. Is that coaching? Is that psychological? I don't know. If it's the former, maybe the Penguins' finally dumping Bylsma will see meaningful dividends for Fleury (although uh if you saw their opener against the Ducks, you might not bet on that). If it's the latter, maybe beating the Jackets and acquitting himself well against the Rangers will have some positive effect? Like I said, I have no idea. I don't wanna speculate, 'cause Fleury is just a guy I cannot figure out. But I will say this: I have no special fondness for the Penguins. They jacked a cup from my team and I think Crosby and Malkin are dirty whiners. But seeing Fleury post those shutouts on the Rangers was pretty cool. After he's had to deal with so much crap and so much failure for the past five years, I think it'd be cool to see the guy actually get some success in the playoffs again. ...although that would also mean success for the Penguins. Eugh. He's a UFA after this year, right? Okay, one more meltdown, then he can go get some success with the Jets or something. That'd be cool. Count: 2593 Words Total Count So Far: 12,702 MJeff fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Oct 20, 2014 |
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Oct 20, 2014 04:00
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it was so loving worth the wait
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Oct 20, 2014 04:07
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This thread just keeps on giving and giving Vjeff
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Oct 20, 2014 04:08
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gently caress Halak.
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Oct 20, 2014 14:02
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MAF, never leave the net. NEVER LEAVE THE NET MAF. DO NOT PLAY THE PUCK NO MATTER WH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJmhM0pvpOo .... These are awesome, glad I tuned in just at the right time. 
Topoisomerase fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Oct 20, 2014 |
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Oct 20, 2014 15:16
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I went hog wild. 5.
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Oct 20, 2014 16:16
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Fantastic.
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Oct 20, 2014 16:37
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if he follows through with every single one of these, that might just cover his next 3  es.And these must be preserved somewhere in perpetuity.
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Oct 20, 2014 16:43
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I expect this could be a 5,000 word post of its own, but I haven't paid much attention to the Penguins since they won the cup, really. Why does everybody talk about Dan Bylsma as Barry Melrose v2.0?
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Oct 20, 2014 17:22
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Gregor Samsa posted:I expect this could be a 5,000 word post of its own, but I haven't paid much attention to the Penguins since they won the cup, really. Why does everybody talk about Dan Bylsma as Barry Melrose v2.0? He had a team loaded with offensive talent and an at least not-terrible defense. But other than the Stanley Cup win, it seemed like they'd mostly cruise through the regular season, then collapse in the playoffs. Teams like Philadelphia and others would work out how to get under Pittsburgh's skin and get them off their game and it never seemed like he adjusted to that. Nothing ever goes perfectly in the playoffs for anyone and the successful teams are able to adjust and tweak themselves based on what they're facing. E: Go have a look at their recent playoff series with the Islanders and Blue Jackets. By all rights they should have wiped out the Isles and won comfortably against the Jackets. I can understand wanting to let amazing talents like Crosby and Malkin be free to do what they want, but it seemed like he was never able to build a lot of support around them. Someone can put this much better than me but that's how I've always seen it. DJExile fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Oct 20, 2014 |
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Oct 20, 2014 17:28
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJRagB_cFzk The goal that cost the Isles the series. Y'know, because otherwise Fleury might not've been pulled from the series, giving the Isles a better chance.
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Oct 20, 2014 18:17
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Topoisomerase posted:MAF, never leave the net. NEVER LEAVE THE NET MAF. DO NOT PLAY THE PUCK NO MATTER WH This is a not-nice video to post and you shouldn't encourage anyone to watch it. Rotten Cookies posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJRagB_cFzk This is an excellent video and everyone should watch it.
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Oct 20, 2014 19:33
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JoelJoel posted:This is an excellent video and everyone should watch it. This really is, I'd forgotten that this even happened. I should also try to watch 2011-2012 Philly series again just for entertainment value. VJeff, these are loving great and I want more.
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Oct 20, 2014 19:41
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Gregor Samsa posted:I expect this could be a 5,000 word post of its own, but I haven't paid much attention to the Penguins since they won the cup, really. Why does everybody talk about Dan Bylsma as Barry Melrose v2.0? The Pens post-cup had a tradition of underperforming which I think most people were willing to write off as being random luck/lovely goaltending until the Olympics and Team USA's collapse under Bylsma. Then people started scrutinizing him a bit more and asking themselves if he was really coaching a proper structure. An interesting perspective is to look at Mike Yeo, his former assistant, and what happened when he went to the Wild in terms of coming around to the ideas of puck possession and support after a couple failed seasons of a stretch-pass and tip-in offence. Then compare to Rutherford's statements and player movement as new Pens GM on what needed to change, it's not exact but you can tell the Pens are coming to a similar conclusion that the Wild came to two years ago about chip and chase hockey.
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Oct 20, 2014 20:32
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I think what got people to really start scrutinizing Bylsma was 2013 because of how long it took him to make the switch to Voukon and how the Islanders just kept running on the Penguins and then how the Bruins loving destroyed them and the Penguins had no answer for it. I don't think it can be overstated, though, how negatively the Olympics impacted Bylsma's reputation. Team USA looked like an absolute joke next to Canada and Finland and when a team has that much raw talent, you gotta imagine it's something to do with the coach. And he started Quick on back to back days when he had Miller and Howard good to go. And he promised the Bronze Medal like it was an afterthought and Finland would just bend over and let them take it and then the team got annihilated. That's what pissed me off the most. That whole "Gold or bust" attitude that was permeating Hockey USA really pissed me off in general, though.
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Oct 20, 2014 22:37
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Bravo, VJeff. Reading that post just brought back so many memories and feelings. It's true that 13-14 playoffs MAF wasn't terrible, but there were certainly flashes of what I think we all agree is Vintage Fleury, especially vs. CBJ, and in those moments I felt totally desensitized and somewhat insane -- after being exposed to so many MAF-based tragedies, my only reaction is to laugh like a maniac despite still wanting the Pens to win more than anything. Is there any sort of objective/quantitative analysis on the number of goals allowed due to deliberate puck-playing by goalies? I would be amazed if MAF didn't win that category, and I really don't understand how it keeps happening. I mean, his coaches, after seeing this happen OVER and OVER and OVER, must have concluded that it's ALWAYS a better choice for him to stay in net and not play ANY pucks EVER, right? is the incremental benefit of slowing some pucks down for his D-men ever going to outweigh the cost of the probably dozen-plus goals he's allowed in these situations? are coaches not giving him this feedback because they're afraid it will further degrade his psyche? is MAF aware of the problem but just unable to control it? i just can't comprehend it. VJeff alluded to it, but I can't think of any other situation in pro sports where a player has such an easily correctable issue that has such a big, tangible impact that has gone totally unresolved. it's insane. i can't speak for the rest of PAS, but with MAF in net the regular season feels totally pointless. like i'm sure the pens will be a top seed in the east, crosby and malkin will put up amazing numbers, the defense will be good enough to win games, etc. but then when the playoffs come around, it's just a total suspension of any expectations, which i guess makes getting knocked out a little bit easier to stomach, but it's not as exciting as being really jazzed about having a great team and genuinely hoping/expecting them to win. #penguinsfansproblems, I know, but still  and this is getting totally off the rails and in the ~intangibles~ zone that so many of us here hate, but i am almost certain that playing in front of MAF has a detrimental effect on the rest of the team. this would be hard to measure, i suppose, but just watch that cizikas goal again. imagine what effect that would have on your confidence and motivation as a skater. knowing that you have to outscore the other team not just to win a hockey game, but to offset the inevitable string of abominations that will wind up in your own net. knowing that you're playing in front of that miserable excuse for a goalie -- that's always in the back of your head, and i just can't imagine that wouldn't have subtle but cumulatively significant effects on team play. argh arghhhh Sharks Eat Bear fucked around with this message at 22:50 on Oct 20, 2014 |
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Oct 20, 2014 22:47
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He'll always be my favourite april fool.
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Oct 20, 2014 22:58
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Sharks Eat Bear posted:Is there any sort of objective/quantitative analysis on the number of goals allowed due to deliberate puck-playing by goalies? I would be amazed if MAF didn't win that category, and I really don't understand how it keeps happening. I mean, his coaches, after seeing this happen OVER and OVER and OVER, must have concluded that it's ALWAYS a better choice for him to stay in net and not play ANY pucks EVER, right? is the incremental benefit of slowing some pucks down for his D-men ever going to outweigh the cost of the probably dozen-plus goals he's allowed in these situations? are coaches not giving him this feedback because they're afraid it will further degrade his psyche? is MAF aware of the problem but just unable to control it? i just can't comprehend it. VJeff alluded to it, but I can't think of any other situation in pro sports where a player has such an easily correctable issue that has such a big, tangible impact that has gone totally unresolved. it's insane. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ7RvJYruEw&t=11s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofUAbxMJfVw&t=187s The only reason Washington took that series to 7 was because Fleury was garbage.
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Oct 20, 2014 23:54
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VJeff posted:This time, things looked a lot more stable for the Penguins (despite a bunch of weird lead changes for both teams) as they took a two-games-to-one lead and were looking to make it three in game 4 as they had a 2-1 lead with 30 seconds left. Then, Fleury went to play a puck behind his net, completely whiffed on it, the Jackets centered it and, say it with me, Fleury was completely out of position when Brandon Dubinsky potted the tying goal. I was at this game and that was the most surreal goddamn hockey thing I think I'd ever seen. Funny thing was the crowd was on its feet and I didn't actually see what happened until the replay on the jumbotron. And here's the GWG for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfwQ5dOjRW8 e- The Jackets had MAF rattled and they knew it. As somebody mentioned in the GDT, their strategy was literally "Throw EVERYTHING on goal", and there was one shot where Fleury looked behind him out of terror to make sure it wasn't in. In Game 6, when the CBJ started creeping back into the picture late in the game, was possibly the only time where a goalie taunt made sense from the trailing team's fanbase. The "FLEUUUUUUUUUUUURY. FLEUUUUUUUUUUUUURY." chants were deafening. CBJSprague24 fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Oct 21, 2014 |
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Oct 21, 2014 00:07
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Sayara posted:This really is, I'd forgotten that this even happened. I should also try to watch 2011-2012 Philly series again just for entertainment value.  Surprised no one has posted the numerous near uncountable MAF beachball gifs.
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Oct 21, 2014 00:40
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I might've gone with a beachball pic until I saw that Flower Shop one. There was no way I could turn that down.
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Oct 21, 2014 00:44
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VJeff posted:That whole "Gold or bust" attitude that was permeating Hockey USA really pissed me off in general, though. This. Team USA seemed to even bow out in Bylsma playoffs fashion. USA played well until the medal round where it mattered and then poo poo the bed because no one could put the puck in the net.
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Oct 21, 2014 01:00
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This thread keeps on giving. 
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Oct 21, 2014 01:26
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 23. JONATHAN QUICK Team: Los Angeles Kings Nationality: American Age: 28 Draft Class: 2005 Hardware: 2010 Olympic Silver Medal, 2012 Stanley Cup Champion, 2012 Conn Smythe Winner, 2014 Stanley Cup Champion, 2012 Drunkest Man in LA 2013-14 GAA: 2.07 2013-14 SV%: .915 2013-14 W/L: 27-17-4 in 49 Games Jonathan Quick is better than your goaltender. Don't believe me? Read the tweet, then check back. Go ahead, I'll wait. "Yeah but my goaltender is Tuk-" EEHHHHHH. READ THE TWEET, CHOWDER BOY. QUICK'S BETTER. Okay, are we clear here? Good. Proceeding. Quick has spent his entire career with the team that drafted him in 2005, the Los Angeles Kings. Becoming the Kings starter in the 2008-09 season, he got off to something of a notable start, earning honors as the NHL's third star of the week with a 2-1-0 record, a 0.67 and a .958. The Kings, still yet to realize their potential as contenders, didn't do much for the first few years of Quick's professional career and Quick himself wasn't exactly anything to scream about. The Kings made the playoffs in 2009-10, but pretty much just got smacked around by the Canucks en route to the Canucks getting smacked around by the Blackhawks. In 2010-11, Quick had himself a pretty decent year, getting 35 wins to go with a .918 and 2.24 and for a second it looked like the Kings might do some damage in the playoffs even without star center Anze Kopitar. In their first round matchup against the Sharks, they won game 2 by a commanding score of 4-0 (Quick making an impressive 34 saves) and then going back to Staples Center, took another 4-0 lead. Then, everything went pear shaped and the Sharks came storming back in the 2nd period to tie the game and win in overtime by a score of 6-5. The Kings were pretty much sucker punched by that one and only managed one more win in the series (where Quick made a pretty drat impressive 51 saves) before going down in 6. The Kings, recognizing that this was the prime years of their core (Quick, Kopitar, Brown, Doughty) and sick of getting bounced in the first round considerably souped themselves up in 2011-12, adding Mike Richards, Dustin Penner and Simon Gagne in the offseason and Jeff Carter at the trade deadline. Quick was great all year for the Kings, eventually posting an absolutely sterling 1.95 and .929 and getting himself honors as a Vezina Finalist along with Pekka Rinne and Henrik Lundqvist. Amidst this, the Kings struggled all year, only really seeming to click when Jeff Carter joined the team at the trade deadline. Carter, glad to This time, Quick didn't get smacked around. Quick had already proven himself a good goaltender throughout the regular season. The playoff series against the Canucks is when he proved that he was a great goaltender. Quick outdueled Roberto Luongo the first two games of the series and put up a 41 save shutout against Cory Schneider. Schneider flipped the script in Game 4, averting the sweep with a 43 save preformance, but the Kings were good and rolling at that point and Quick was great again, leading the Kings to a game 5 overtime victory and a defeat of the Presidents' Trophy winners and a date with the St. Louis Blues. Quick was absolutely phenomenal again, allowing a total of six goals by the Blues while his teammates got in the Blues heads (and in their net) in every conceivable way, earning the Kings their first sweep of a seven game series in franchise history. In the Western Conference Finals, they matched up against another team having a great year with great goaltending, the Phoenix Coyotes. The Coyotes, by my measure, put up as good a fight as anybody did against the Kings in 2012, but the Kings just had way too much momentum at this point and suckerpunched the Coyotes in Games 1 and 2, Quick won another low scoring affair in Game 3 and that was basically it. The Coyotes tried to fight their way back into the series and Quick and Mike Smith had an outstanding goaltenders duel in Game 5, but the Kings were just one goal better and before anybody knew what the gently caress had happened, they were on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals with 12 wins and two losses under their belts. Their opponents? The perenniel contenders from the early 00s, the New Jersey Devils. Wanna know how it went? Lemme give you a hint. It involved a three-games-to-none lead and a shutout and it wasn't Ol' Fatso posting the shutout. Quick was awesome again in the finals, only getting minorly touched up in games 4 and 5 (in which he allowed two goals each) before he locked things down in Game 6. When the Devils' Steve Bernier committed a major penalty, the Kings leaped on top of the Devils, scoring three goals in the space of four minutes. That was all Quick needed, not that there were a lot of shots (only 18 total) being fired at him anyway after the Kings' massive offensive outburst. But he'd already written his story in the rest of his playoffs. Quick ended the playoffs with a 1.41, .946 and three shutouts in 20 games. Who else could you conceivabely give the Conn Smythe trophy to (well to be 100% honest, my picks at the time were Kopitar and Doughty, but I'm fuckin' dumb, don't listen to me)? In the immortal Doc Emrick's words, it was "an impropable, but inspiring run". The Kings had won their first Stanley Cup since their inception 45 years ago and Quick, as their MVP, was at the center of it. Quick quickly (teehee) signed an extension that summer, guaranteeing he'd be playing in black and silver for the rest of his career and the quest for the Kings to become a dynasty was on. Unfortunately, Quick was unable to complete his sweep of all the hardware a goalie can earn as the Jennings went to the Blues and he lost the Vezina to Henrik Lunqvist and personally speaking, I have nothing against Lundqvist, but I have a bit of an inkling that the votes from the Western Conference got a bit split up between Pekka Rinne and Quick, making it just a touch easier for Lundqvist to win the award than perhaps it should've been. In the lockout shortened 2013 season, Quick was not nearly as good as 2012 and posted particularly crummy stats of 2.45 and .902 to go with an 18-13-4 record in 37 games. But then when the playoffs rolled around, he was every bit the goalie of the previous year, a hard luck loser in games 1 and 2 against the Blues before he locked it down hard, leading the Kings to a backdoor sweep en route to a series against the Sharks that pitted him again against Antti Niemi, this year a Vezina finalist. Both Quick and Niemi were fantastic in the series, which was a grueling test for both teams that saw the home team win every game. Quick posted two shutouts and was just great (as was Niemi) even in his losing efforts. Eventually, it came to Game 7 at the Staples Center and it wasn't so much a matter of the Kings winning as them just managing to make it a little further before collapsing. They beat the Sharks and went on to face the Blackhawks who themselves had not had an easy time in the second round, but looked infinitely more prepared and rested for the Western Conference Finals that followed. The Kings and Quick gave it a good try, but the Blackhawks powerhouse had no brakes at that point and outside of a flailing effort to force OT in Game 5, the Kings were all out of resistance and went down on Patrick Kane's hattrick goal in double overtime of the same game. Quick came out of the Kings attempt at a cup defense better than anybody else on the team with stats close to the previous year of 1.86, .934 and 3 shutouts in 18 games. That's when people started to realize something. Quick is the anti-Fleury. The anti-Luongo. He is bizarro Henrik Lundqvist. A goalie who, with one exception, always puts up stats that stink like cheese in the regular season and then turns into motherfucking Captain America in the playoffs (a comparison that NHL.comactually made because life is loving awesome and NHL.com is the greatest site in the world). Given this, it was no real surprise in 2013-14 when he posted incredibly middling stats of .915 and 2.07 (suggesting he really had his defense and Daryl Sutter's system to thank for what good work he did do) to go with 27-17-4 in 49 games (his season being a short one due to injuries). It was kind of a surprise though when he kept stinking in the playoffs. The Sharks, looking for revenge, frickin' pounced on the Kings and jumped out to a 3-0 lead and it looked like the Kings would be going home inauspiciously in the first round. Yeah, not if this guy had anything to say about it. Game 4 was another rough one for Quick, allowing 3 goals on 39 shots, but the Kings offense lifted him with six goals before he locked the gently caress in and posted a shutout in Game 5, followed by allowing only one goal each in Games 6 and 7 to complete an amazing comeback that had only occurred for the 4th time in the history of the NHL. The Sharks, one of the best teams in the playoffs, were sent home and it remained to be seen whether anything was going to faze the Kings after what they'd just come back from. They got out to a two-games-to-none lead against Anaheim before stumbling, Quick getting chewed up for 9 goals in 3 games as young Ducks goalie John Gibson backstopped the Ducks to a three games to two lead. Backs against the wall, the Kings did the same thing again, winning a close game 6 and then exploded in game 7 to knock off the second of their fellow California teams and earn their third straight trip to the Stanely Cup Finals where, again, the Chicago Blackhawks were waiting for them. If I'm trying to advocate for goalies in this project, then the less I say about this series the better, honestly, because both Quick and Crawford got messed up in this series. It was awesome to watch, tons of offense, tons of lead changes and one of the most exciting Game 7s I've ever seen but hooboy was it not kind to the goaltenders. Long story short, the Kings took a three-games-to-one lead, the Blackhawks stormed back to tie the series and then took a 2-0 lead in game 7, but the Kings stormed back, eventually winning 5-4 in overtime to secure them a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. As the Blackhawks had ended the Kings hope at a cup defense the year before, the Kings had now returned the favor and were on their way to face that other East Coast team that had 'New' in their name, the New York Rangers. The Rangers put up more of a fight than the Devils did, even if the scores don't really reflect that but, really, not by much. Coughed up leads in both games 1 and 2, shutout in game 3 and needed a literal pileup of sludge in their own crease to stop from getting swept. The opposing goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, was awesome in his first trip to the finals, but he was basically the only one and eventually, even with Quick's continued inconsistency (which at this point had been plaguing him since the second round against Anaheim), Alec Martinez got past the Rangers D and got to Lundqvist for the last time, scoring the series winning goal in double overtime of Game 5 and giving the Kings their second Stanley Cup in three years. Quick wasn't winning any MVP honors this year as he ended the playofs with a, for him, startling-in-a-bad-way 2.58 and .911. But, hey, when you play three seven game series en route to the finals, it's pretty hard to have awesome stats and honestly, I'm just kinda impressed that Quick managed to play all those games (26, two shy of the maximum) without keeling over. It's worth noting that Quick was also chosen to be the starting goaltender for Team USA, but, frankly, I'm gonna do myself and every other American reading this thread a favor and state that the less said about that, the better. Bullet points: Quick was great. He was the only one. USA didn't medal.  Quick really is just a special kind of goaltender. His athleticism and flexibility are incredibly entertaining to watch and he has the capability to get on a hot streak like no other. Though his regular season stats rarely reflect it, he is legitimately one of the premier goaltenders in the NHL and though he's no doubt supported by the system of Darryl Sutter (for my money, a top three or top two coach in the NHL), there's often just as many times where the Kings' emphasis on defense leads them to sputter offensively, forcing Quick to work with little-to-no offensive support, which he tends to do just fine with. Is he the best goalie in the NHL like that tweet from the LA twitter account likes to crow about? Probably not, simply because the position of best goalie in the NHL fluctuates wildly from season to season and Quick has had himself some serious bouts of inconsistency the last couple years, but he has earned himself a place in the echelon of top goalies that I don't see him surrendering anytime soon. It's good to be King, eh?  No, not you. Count: 2385 Words Total Count So Far: 15,087 Words MJeff fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Oct 21, 2014 |
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Oct 21, 2014 02:15
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Quick is above average. There I said it.  So is the next one, only on a way worse contract.
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Oct 21, 2014 03:32
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This thread is the best thread. vjeff owns. 5'd
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Oct 21, 2014 03:35
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 22. COREY CRAWFORD Team: Chicago Blackhawks Nationality: Canadian Age: 29 Draft Class: 2003 Hardware: 2013 Stanley Cup Champion, 2012-13 Jennings winner (w/  Ray Emery ), 2013 Illinois Motivational Speaker of the Year2013-14 GAA: 2.26 2013-14 SV%: .917 2013-14 W/L: 32-16-10 in 59 Games Do you have any idea how hard it was to find an entertaining picture of Corey Crawford? This dude is about as fun as white bread with peanut butter on it. And much like white bread with peanut butter on it, when you add in the nutritious Toews-like bananas, the zesty Kane-like cheezits and the uh...head shotting...jelly of Keith...it becomes a smorgasbord of deliciousness that....uh.... Okay what I'm getting at here is that he's good and the rest of the Blackhawks elevate that to "really good", but he's still good on his own. I dunno what was up with that sandwich metaphor. Crawford has spent his entire career with the team who drafted him, the Chicago Blackhawks. Crawford had a long line in front of him for the first stage of his career, spending most of the first phase of the career behind prime Where-Are-They-Now candidates Nikolai Khabibulin and Cristobal Huet as well as current Sharks goalie and erstwhile Blackhawks champion Antti Niemi. Things came to a head when Niemi, Huet and Khabibulin were all gone to start the 2010-11 season and the Blackhawks started the year with Crawford as the backup and Marty Turco as the starter, which means they started the year with Crawford as the eventual starter. The Blackhawks struggled mightily in their tour as the cup champs, just barely squeaking into the playoffs on the last day, where they were on their way to their third consecutive match-up against the Vancouver Canucks. As a rookie golatender, Crawford was, simply put, awesome in this series. The Canucks stormed out to a three-games-to-none lead against the Blackhawks, aided by the Blackhawks inability to meaningfully put up offense on Roberto Luongo, which left with a vengeance starting in Game 4 when the Canucks, apparently assuming after being eliminated in six games twice by the Hawks that you only need three wins to move on to the next round and pretty much stopped skating entirely. The Hawks potted twelve goals in games 4 and 5, the latter of which Crawford posted a 36-save shutout in. Game 6 was significantly tougher, but the Hawks gutted out an overtime victory and had crawled all the way back to force a Game 7 in Vancouver. There, Crawford was simply sensational, keeping the Hawks in a game that for vast stretches, they had no business being in. Courtesy of one of the gutiest loving goals I've ever seen by Jonathan Toews, the Hawks forced overtime in Game 7 and had a chance, with one goal, to complete a comeback for the history books. And then some jagoff forgot how to make a routine clear and served it right up to one of Vancouver's most dangerous forwards.  Thanks, Chris! So the Blackhawks were eliminated in the first round in 7 games, but Crawford had put on a show that he could be proud of and there was no question who would be the starter in the 2011-12 season. But maybe there should've been because whoo-doggy, was he not good that year. The Blackhawks in general struggled in 2012 and Crawford himself was not good and was repeatedly benched in favor of Ray Emery, who lucky for Crawford, just happened to suck even more. Despite their struggles, the Blackhawks scraped into the playoffs with a six seed that would set them up against the Phoenix Coyotes. Losing Marian Hossa early in the series to a lovely, no good, seriously-gently caress-you-what's-wrong-with-you hit by Raffi Torres hurt the Blackhawks deeply, but worse than that was the fact that Crawford was just bad in the series, giving up multiple soft goals in overtime (statistically, the worst time to be giving up soft goals), leading to the Blackhawks just outright imploding in game 6, where the Coyotes stomped them 4-0. Two years in a row, the Blackhawks had been eliminated in the first round and there was no moral victory to be had this time - they were just beaten. Crawford ended the year with regular season stats of 2.72/.903 and playoff stats of 2.58/.903 and there were questions of if his rookie season had just been a flash in the pan. The Blackhawks re-signed Ray Emery to push Crawford, which is kind of like putting a brick down next to your cat to push it to do Algebra. Turns out Crawford didn't need the push. He was frickin' amazing in the lockout shortened 2012-13 season. The Hawks had a hell of a team surrounding him that year, but to say Crawford wasn't one of their best players would be totally disingenuous. He was part of an absurd streak for the Hawks, where they went the entire first half of the season without losing a game in regulation, Crawford himself going 11-0-3 in that stretch. He ended the year with a 1.94, .926 and a record of 19-5-5 which was more than enough to earn him (and Ray Emery, who didn't suck either) the William M. Jennings trophy. In the playoffs, he was dominant against the Wild, helping to put them away in 5 games before a series against the Hawks' longtime rivals the Detroit Red Wings came up. By my measure, as the guy whose team was getting totally foiled by him, Crawford was the Hawks' MVP against the Red Wings. Even in the Red Wings' three consecutive wins, it wasn't like Crawford was bad and in his wins, especially in Game 7, he was nothing short of amazing, constantly stifling the Red Wings offense en route to a Game 7 overtime victory and a trip to the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings, worn down by their series against the Blues and the Sharks, didn't have enough left in the tank to mount any meaningful assault against the Hawks, who were well and truly a powerhouse at this point. Crawford stymied the Kings offense en route to another victory in 5 games and the Hawks were straight-up rolling. For the second time in four years, they were heading to the Stanley Cup Finals, this time for an Original Six matchup against the Boston Bruins. The series against the Bruins was a crazy one. Multiple OT games, goaltending duels, Patrick Kane's weird mullet thing. Toews' weird mutton chops. Tukka Rask's weird... .... ....everything. It was crazy. It honestly wound up being a pretty offense heavy series that kind of revealed a bit of a weakness of Crawford's (i.e. pound it down his throat high-glove side), but despite that, both Crawford and Rask were pretty good. Good enough that when the series ended in a truly absurd manner (the Blackhawks tying Game 6 with just a minute to go and then scoring the go ahead goal 17 seconds later while the Bruins' skaters were too busy pouting about it) with the Blackhawks once again Stanley Cup Champions*, I personally was really surprised when the Conn Smythe trophy went to Patrick Kane, who I guess wound up with 9 goals and 10 assists or whatever and not Crawford, who posted outstanding stats of 1.94 and .932 in 23 games. As I alluded, the prevailing narrative surrounding the Blackhawks that year was similar to 2010 in that the team was so good, that any goaltender could've gone in there and gotten the job done. I again vehemently reject this narrative on principle but in this case it was particularly disingenuous because Crawford was a huge part of what made that Blackhawks team so good. Whether or not he deserved the Conn Smythe was apparently immaterial to 'Hawks management, because they recognized how good he had done and, not wanting a repeat of the incident with Niemi a couple years prior, locked Corey Crawford up with a 6 year contract with 36 million dollars. Crawford's first year of his new contract saw him unable to replicate his 2013 as, over the course of his 59 games, he posted much more middling stats of 2.26 and 9.17 to go with a record of 32-16-10. Courtesy of injuries to Toews and Kane, the Blackhawks faded big time down the stretch, eventually ending at the 3rd seed and going up against the St. Louis Blues in the first round. The series saw four games go to OT, the first two of which only because of blown leads coming with only minutes to go by the Blackhawks. I'm gonna say it - Crawford could've been better in this series. The Blackhawks controlled play for huge stretches of this series and after two games, had nothing to show for it but a suspension to one of their boneheaded defensemen. When Crawford locked it down, starting with a shutout in game 3, the Blues pretty much went into the spiral everybody expects of the Blues and they were backdoor swept for the second consecutive year. Next up came a rematch against the Minnesota Wild and for a second, it looked like the second verse would be the same as the first with the Blackhawks jumping out to a two-games-to-none lead, before the Wild came back and cold cocked the Blackhawks with consecutive four goal outbursts to tie the series at two games a piece. Crawford again locked it down at this point, allowing only two goals in the final two games of the series as the Blackhawks won in six games on an overtime goal by Patrick Kane. The Hawks were on their way to the Western Conference Finals for the second year in a row against the Los Angeles Kings for the second year in a row. Bit of advice, get used to those words in that order, 'cause it's probably not gonna stop happening anytime soon. Now, lemme make this clear. I like both of the goaltenders in this series. I like both Quick and Crawford. But they both got smacked around in this series. Crawford started off well, allowing only one goal in game 1, then he proceeded to allow fifteen goals in the next three games of the series, all losses and twenty seven goals total in the rest of the series, necessitating some serious offensive heroics in games 5 and 6 just for the Blackhawks to force a 7th game. the Blackhawks roared out to 2-0 lead and eventually a 4-3 lead, but Crawford couldn't hold on to any of them and eventually, in overtime, a deflected shot from Alec Martinez got past Crawford, ending the Hawks' run in a way similar to the way they'd done to the Kings a year before. I usually advocate for goalies but in the case of 2014, I'd say the Hawks kind of put together their run parallel to Crawford, rather than because of him or in spite of him (because, again, I don't really think that's a thing). He ended the playoffs with a 2.53 and a .912 in 19 games and if you asked if he earned his six million dollar paycheck that year in the regular season OR the playoffs, I bet most people wouldn't think so. A lot of people have been criticizing that contract since Crawford signed it, but honestly, I don't think it's that bad of a deal. The cap is always going up, so the 6mil/year hit is gonna sting less and less as time goes on and Crawford has had a couple of really good years in the playoffs already. It's better to pay for a guy you know can be really good and has a lot of years in front of him than to let him go because of cap constraints and pay for...flippin' Marty Turco. Marty Turco. I still can't freakin' believe that. Count: 1965 Words Total Count So Far: 17,052 Words
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Oct 22, 2014 03:29
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Stop using logic to make me not hate the Crawford contract.  Also, he was really entertaining during the Cup parade in 2013: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_BhcSw2YRw0#t=73
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Oct 22, 2014 03:43
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Crawford's brother works at the sports store down the street from me. He's okay. An average cashier.
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Oct 22, 2014 04:18
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This thread is really good, and the Karri Ramo piece is one of the best things ever. That said, the Ontario Reign are located nowhere near Canada and are an ECHL team, not an OHL team
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Oct 22, 2014 04:51
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Marty Turco is the most-mentioned goaltender who won't actually appear on this list.
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Oct 22, 2014 04:57
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Serisothikos posted:Marty Turco is the most-mentioned goaltender who won't actually appear on this list. You're right, I need to seriously step up my Tim Thomas shittalking game.
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Oct 22, 2014 07:59
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VJeff posted:You're right, I need to seriously step up my Tim Thomas shittalking game. Both of them can come up in the Kari piece easily.
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Oct 22, 2014 16:38
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And the Rask one but that's so far away.
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Oct 22, 2014 17:46
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VJeff posted:You're right, I need to seriously step up my Tim Thomas shittalking game. I'm just sad he wasn't on the roster for the 11-12 playoffs so he could've made a dramatic re-appearance in the Braden Holtby essay
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Oct 22, 2014 17:55
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 21. STEVE MASON Team: Philadelphia Flyers Nationality: Canadian Age: 26 Draft Class: 2006 Hardware: 2008-09 Calder Cup Trophy Winner, Best. Mask. Ever. 2013-14 GAA: 2.50 2013-14 SV%: .917 2013-14 W/L: 33-18-7 Steve Mason is a product of the Columbus Blue Jackets heavy-finger-quotes-implied-derision-is-abundant "SYSTEM". He was drafted at the age of 18 and then a couple years, before joining the Blue Jackets org, was the starting goalie for Canada at the 2008 World Junior Championships. He was particularly good there, going 5-0 with a 1.19 and a .951, earning a Gold Medal, Best Goaltender and Tournament MVP honors. To begin the 2008-09 Season, he was to play with the Syracuse Crunch, the Jackets' (at the time) AHL affiliate, but a knee injury derailed that for a month. After he healed, rather than the AHL, he found himself headed to the NHL to play for the Jackets in lieu of starter and current candidate for cyborg hip replacement Pascal Leclaire. As a rookie, Mason played very well for current coach Ken Hitchcock, at one point posting three consecutive shutouts against the Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks to go with a 7-5-0, 1.41 and .950 for the month of December. Mason was even invited to the NHL YoungStars competition of the 2009 NHL All Star Game, but declined and shortly after that it was revealed by Professional Dipshit Scott Howson that he had been playing with mono for the past month! And apparently nobody had noticed because Howson had made sure the Jackets' coaching stuff was filled with bobbleheads as stupid as he was. After another couple of starts, Mason was put on to the Injured Reserve to heal. Mason eventually finished the year with a 2.29 and .916 to go with a 33-20-7 record and I know how lovely that sounds, but that Jackets team was bad and it was basically Mason and Rick Nash dragging it kicking and screaming to the 8th seed, the first playoff berth for the Jackets in their history as a franchise. They went up against the defending champs, the Detroit Red Wings and got cold cocked, but they had still broken through in a way they hadn't really been able to manage since their franchise's inception and they had Mason in big part to thank for that. The NHL recognized Mason's achievements that year by awarding him the Calder Cup Trophy and naming him a finalist for the Vezina alongside Tip-Top Toe Tappin' Tim Thomas and Nicklas Backstrom whose name doesn't lend itself to alliteration and thus loving sucks. Mason didn't win the Vezina, but his body of work in 2008-09 spoke for itself. He had done good and had helped accomplished something meaningful for his team. Perhaps there were better days ahead for the Blue Jackets now?  lol why you askin' questions you already know the answer to son you KNOW this dumb son of a bitch ain't gettin' fired for like four more years, right? Shortly into the 2009-10 season, the Jackets fired head coach Ken Hitchcock because ^^ that dumb son of a bitch ^^ and I won't directly connect that to what happened to Mason, but regardless, he was bad that year, posting a 3.05 and .901 to go with a record of 20-26-9 in 58 games. Okay, but that's just a sophomore slump, right? He'll be better ne - SHUT UP. SHUT IT UP RIGHT NOW. 3.03 and .901 in 2010-11. loving 3.39 and .894 in 2011-12. Scott Howson kept mismanaging the team, the rest of the teams in the division kept getting better, the Preds and Blues becoming regular playoff contenders, the Hawks maturing into Stanley Cup contenders and the Red Wings staying the Red Wings and before anyone knew what happened, Steve Mason had just turned into the Central Division's favorite punching bag. Rumors abounded of some truly ridiculous poo poo, like Mason was using improperly sized equipment (and y'know, this was never corroborated, but given what a shitshow the Jackets were at this point in time, I would have no problem believing that). He finally lost his job as starter in the 2012-13 lockout shortened season as the Blue Jackets traded with the Flyers for somewhat marginalized goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and this is the part where I would call the Flyers loving idiots (and will, later on) if not for something that would happen a bit later that also has to do with Mason. So Steve Mason had been terrible, surrounded by crap for three years straight and now wasn't even the starter anymore. At this point, it legitimately looked like he was dangerously close to falling out of the bottom of the NHL and I give him credit for not just bailing on his team to run off and become a deranged mountain man like Tim Thomas did.  Pictured: Artists' Rendering of Tim Thomas circa March 2013 Mason started only a few games for the Jackets in 2012-13 and was eventually traded off the team that drafted him in the midst of their playoff push to - you guessed it - the Philadelphia Flyers and for a couple seconds, everybody was just laughing their asses off that the Flyers had actually thought this poo poo would work, but then it actually kinda did work! The Flyers missed the playoffs, but Mason was really good at the end of the season, posting a 1.90 and .944 with a record of 4-2-0 in 7 games. Mason was the Flyers starter to begin the 2013-14 season and you're not gonna believe this, but he actually continued to be pretty good. Freed from the monkey on his back that was the last three years of playing for the Blue Jackets, Mason posted a 2.50, .917, 4 shutouts and a record of 33-18-7 in 61 games to get the Flyers back into the playoffs. Mason wasn't fully healthy in the playoffs, but he still posted good stats en route to a 7 game defeat by the Rangers, with a .197 and a .939. I just wanna state outright how impressed I am with Mason for turning things around. At the time of the 2012-13 season, it really looked like he had nothing left in the tank. I thought once the Jackets traded for Bobrovsky and he started tearing it up, that that was it for Mason and he wouldn't get another starting job in the NHL except on some joke team like the Avs or the Panthers or whatever (and uh I guess there's still a chance of that if you've seen the Flyers roster this year, whoof, but that's neither here nor there). But the Flyers took a chance on him and he really turned it around. It's one thing to just be good. But to have so many expectations on you and then to fail as severely as Mason did in his tenure as Jackets starter and then still manage to come out the other end of it okay? That takes guts. That takes a lot of guts and I think it speaks to the guy's resilience. In a way, you could say that the greatest player in the world does, in fact, play for the Philadelphia Flyers.  No, not you! Not everything's about you, dammit!  Count: 1215 Words Total Count So Far: 18,267
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Oct 22, 2014 23:55
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Aphrodite posted:Crawford's brother works at the sports store down the street from me. He's got a great front-end surrounding him though. You need a cleat size 14? They always have them in stock, 15's too! Do you know how few stores stock those? Look all I'm saying is he's average there but you'd be disappointed in his performance if he was at, say, Tim Horton's.
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Oct 23, 2014 01:00
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Stebe
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Oct 23, 2014 02:51
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VJeff posted:Professional Dipshit Scott Howson that he had been playing with mono for the past month! And apparently nobody had noticed because Howson had made sure the Jackets' coaching stuff was filled with bobbleheads as stupid as he was. After another couple of starts, Mason was put on to the Injured Reserve to heal. I can't remember what the exact story was with Mason's Mono, but it was either a) He wasn't symptomatic (however that works) and played until he HAD to tap out, or b) He WANTED to play and did until he had to tap out. Whichever it was, he even won games while sick, which is impressive as poo poo. I remember my reaction being "Wait, he has WHAT?". Part of the problem for all involved was Professional Dipshit Scott Howson acted like the sports-obsessed-father-living-vicariously-through-his-kid-adamant-for-his-kid-to-succeed, refusing to give up on him and giving him a new contract despite awful numbers and generally being a trash fire on skates. The Jackets would probably still have Mason if JD hadn't banished him back to Central Alberta. (Howson was the one thing that remained constant between 2007 and 2013, yet never got fired because he was a nice guy. Cut the head off the snake, etc., but I digress.) It was revealed later on (this summer) that Mason was considering retiring at the end of his last contract, which is drat sad. e- Nice job on the Thomas joke.
CBJSprague24 fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Oct 23, 2014 |
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Oct 23, 2014 03:31
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