Thursday, April 24, 2008

My Kingdom For A Backup Goalie

This may sound counterintuitive, but if new GM Mike Gillis wants to keep Bingo Bango Luongo happy, he needs to find a better CuJo-like backup goalie and convince Coach Vigneault to play that backup a minimum of 13 games.

If the ultimate goal is winning a Stanley Cup...or even going deep into the playoffs, playing over 70 games a season will not get you there.

Here are the regular season GP by the Final Four goalies over the past three playoff seasons.

06/07
Ana--Giguere 56 GP
Ott--Emery 58
Det--Hasek 56
Buff--Miller 63

05/06
Car-Ward 28
Edm--Roloson 43
Buff--Miller 48
Ana--Giguere 60

03/04
TB--Khabibulin 55
Calg--Kiprusoff 39
Phil--Esche 40
SJ-Nabokov 59


Conclusion: Uberstar all-world, but overworked, goalie = no Cup for you!
Fresh (preferably young) goalie = shot at glory.

Meaning, maybe Bob Gainey is onto a good thing dumping Cristobal Huet for Carey Price.
Hey, stranger Steve Penney-ness has happened in Montreal in past playoffs.

Riot on, Hab fans!

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