Post by wpgmikos on Apr 24, 2011 10:09:52 GMT -5
www.edmontonjournal.com/sports/Jekyll+Hyde+goalie/4666559/story.html
Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov says Winnipeg is too cold.
Bryzgalov said last week that he doesn't want to play in Winnipeg if the Coyotes get out the moving vans. This comes from a fellow who was born in Russia, in Togliatti, where they likely don't wear shorts and take strolls in parks in December. It's cold there, I presume, as well.
The Coyotes would, of course, have to want to re-sign Bryzgalov, who becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Off his less-than-stellar play against the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference quarter-final, when 17 pucks sailed past him in a Red Wings sweep, maybe he won't have to call Winnipeg home anyway should the Coyotes head north.
Bryzgalov's marketability has taken a tumble. If he was thinking of $5 million to $5.5 million US a season over five years, he'll be lucky to get a raise from his current $4.25-million salary-cap hit in Phoenix if you go on his playoff numbers.
As he so succinctly said last week, "in playoffs, goalies are heroes or they are goats. I am goat."
Only the Colorado Avalanche is looking for a goalie, and maybe the quirky Bryzgalov, won't like that spot either. Avalanche? Cold?
Bryzgalov has always been a breath of fresh air as a quote. He also mentioned Edmonton's weather as a reason why Chris Pronger left for Anaheim. There were a few reasons for Pronger to leave here. I don't recall the weather being one of them.
But Bryzgalov is just being Bryzgalov. He said there are no parks, nothing for his family to do in the winter in Winnipeg. I guess he's never seen the 1,100-acre Assiniboine Park, one of the bigger parks in Canada.
OK, Winnipeg is not Phoenix. But the lesson today isn't on geography or meteorology, it's statistics.
Bryzgalov, who had seven shutouts in the 2010-11 regular season and clearly helped the Coyotes to the post-season, reacted to pretty much every puck the Red Wings threw his way as if it was radioactive material. How does that happen?
But he's not the only netminder who had a strong season and then sprung a leak in the playoffs.
How about the three Vezina Trophy finalists? Roberto Luongo, Pekka Rinne and Tim Thomas were a combined 7-7, with a combined .886 save percentage, after Friday's games.
Luongo has given up 10 goals in his 40 shots for the Vancouver Canucks against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Rinne had an .865 save percentage in his first five games for the Nashville Predators against the Ducks.
Thomas hasn't been better than the other two for the Boston Bruins against the Montreal Canadiens. He has not been as stellar as he was during the regular season -until his effort against the Habs in the double-overtime thriller in Boston on Saturday night.
But among the four goaltenders mentioned, only Bryzgalov is a free agent and he's trying to hit a home run on the open market.
"He looked mentally tired and when you're physically and mentally tired from playing a lot of hockey, it's next to impossible to battle through that," said CBC commentator Kelly Hrudey, who got the Los Angeles Kings to the '93 Stanley Cup final.
"When the game starts to eat you up and it's hard to think it, it's a hard position to play."
Hrudey was shocked at how Bryzgalov looked in the series, and not just on Dan Cleary's winner from behind the goal-line late in Game 4 that silenced the Desert Dogs.
"He's way better than that. Like Shane Doan said many times, he was their team MVP. But for whatever reason, he was just lousy. But he's not a lousy goalie," said Hrudey.
"It's such a confidence thing with goalies," said John Garrett, another ex-NHL goalie. "But unless you're a Patrick Roy or a Martin Brodeur, somebody who has that unwavering confidence, when it starts to go south on you, you can't get it back.
"You can't believe in yourself like you should. You haven't won (a Cup as a starter). Same with Rinne in Game 3 against Anaheim. Shots were going right through him, wrist shots. He hardly let in any of those in regular season."
"It's (Bryzgalov's playoff performance) not going to help him, for sure," said Hrudey. "When you're building a good team and you want to look at a guy like that and you see him losing so quickly and so easily in the first round of the playoffs, definitely teams would hesitate in signing him."
What the playoffs are proving is that there's little correlation between what goalies make or how dazzling they were during the regular season and their post-season performance. Luongo has a $5.33-million cap hit; Thomas, $5 million.
"I've talked to a lot of managers about it and it's a real dilemma. Do you save the money and use it elsewhere? There's no perfect formula," said Hrudey. "If you don't have the great goaltender in regular season, how much will it affect your team if you're not solid in every position?"
"In a lot of cases, teams want the $6-million guy just to get them to the playoffs. Maybe some teams aren't happy, but you have to get there first. Like with (Henrik) Lundqvist in New York," said Garrett.
Hrudey wholeheartedly agrees. "If they didn't have him, would they be there? It comes down to a choice of having a great goaltender who helps the team's chances or going with really good, but not exceptional goaltending on a bigger, stronger team like Detroit."
Phoenix Coyotes goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov says Winnipeg is too cold.
Bryzgalov said last week that he doesn't want to play in Winnipeg if the Coyotes get out the moving vans. This comes from a fellow who was born in Russia, in Togliatti, where they likely don't wear shorts and take strolls in parks in December. It's cold there, I presume, as well.
The Coyotes would, of course, have to want to re-sign Bryzgalov, who becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Off his less-than-stellar play against the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference quarter-final, when 17 pucks sailed past him in a Red Wings sweep, maybe he won't have to call Winnipeg home anyway should the Coyotes head north.
Bryzgalov's marketability has taken a tumble. If he was thinking of $5 million to $5.5 million US a season over five years, he'll be lucky to get a raise from his current $4.25-million salary-cap hit in Phoenix if you go on his playoff numbers.
As he so succinctly said last week, "in playoffs, goalies are heroes or they are goats. I am goat."
Only the Colorado Avalanche is looking for a goalie, and maybe the quirky Bryzgalov, won't like that spot either. Avalanche? Cold?
Bryzgalov has always been a breath of fresh air as a quote. He also mentioned Edmonton's weather as a reason why Chris Pronger left for Anaheim. There were a few reasons for Pronger to leave here. I don't recall the weather being one of them.
But Bryzgalov is just being Bryzgalov. He said there are no parks, nothing for his family to do in the winter in Winnipeg. I guess he's never seen the 1,100-acre Assiniboine Park, one of the bigger parks in Canada.
OK, Winnipeg is not Phoenix. But the lesson today isn't on geography or meteorology, it's statistics.
Bryzgalov, who had seven shutouts in the 2010-11 regular season and clearly helped the Coyotes to the post-season, reacted to pretty much every puck the Red Wings threw his way as if it was radioactive material. How does that happen?
But he's not the only netminder who had a strong season and then sprung a leak in the playoffs.
How about the three Vezina Trophy finalists? Roberto Luongo, Pekka Rinne and Tim Thomas were a combined 7-7, with a combined .886 save percentage, after Friday's games.
Luongo has given up 10 goals in his 40 shots for the Vancouver Canucks against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Rinne had an .865 save percentage in his first five games for the Nashville Predators against the Ducks.
Thomas hasn't been better than the other two for the Boston Bruins against the Montreal Canadiens. He has not been as stellar as he was during the regular season -until his effort against the Habs in the double-overtime thriller in Boston on Saturday night.
But among the four goaltenders mentioned, only Bryzgalov is a free agent and he's trying to hit a home run on the open market.
"He looked mentally tired and when you're physically and mentally tired from playing a lot of hockey, it's next to impossible to battle through that," said CBC commentator Kelly Hrudey, who got the Los Angeles Kings to the '93 Stanley Cup final.
"When the game starts to eat you up and it's hard to think it, it's a hard position to play."
Hrudey was shocked at how Bryzgalov looked in the series, and not just on Dan Cleary's winner from behind the goal-line late in Game 4 that silenced the Desert Dogs.
"He's way better than that. Like Shane Doan said many times, he was their team MVP. But for whatever reason, he was just lousy. But he's not a lousy goalie," said Hrudey.
"It's such a confidence thing with goalies," said John Garrett, another ex-NHL goalie. "But unless you're a Patrick Roy or a Martin Brodeur, somebody who has that unwavering confidence, when it starts to go south on you, you can't get it back.
"You can't believe in yourself like you should. You haven't won (a Cup as a starter). Same with Rinne in Game 3 against Anaheim. Shots were going right through him, wrist shots. He hardly let in any of those in regular season."
"It's (Bryzgalov's playoff performance) not going to help him, for sure," said Hrudey. "When you're building a good team and you want to look at a guy like that and you see him losing so quickly and so easily in the first round of the playoffs, definitely teams would hesitate in signing him."
What the playoffs are proving is that there's little correlation between what goalies make or how dazzling they were during the regular season and their post-season performance. Luongo has a $5.33-million cap hit; Thomas, $5 million.
"I've talked to a lot of managers about it and it's a real dilemma. Do you save the money and use it elsewhere? There's no perfect formula," said Hrudey. "If you don't have the great goaltender in regular season, how much will it affect your team if you're not solid in every position?"
"In a lot of cases, teams want the $6-million guy just to get them to the playoffs. Maybe some teams aren't happy, but you have to get there first. Like with (Henrik) Lundqvist in New York," said Garrett.
Hrudey wholeheartedly agrees. "If they didn't have him, would they be there? It comes down to a choice of having a great goaltender who helps the team's chances or going with really good, but not exceptional goaltending on a bigger, stronger team like Detroit."