SalarySwishSalarySwish
Avatar

Element23VM

Member Since
Jun. 16, 2022
Favourite Team
New Jersey Devils
2nd Favourite Team
Montreal Canadiens
Forum Posts
1316
Posts per Day
1.9
Forum: Trade Machine ProposalsWed. at 7:02 p.m.
Thread: If Washington leans more rebuild than re-tool
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Augustus</b></div><div>Believe me, I've seen a lot. Luongo may have been that guy, but he got to game 7 of the Cup Final. Sucked big time in the games played in Boston, but still got there. Game 7 could have gone differently, you just never know. Jose Theodore won a vezina and hart in the same year didn't he? But could never quite lead his team anywhere. Even Carey Price took the Habs to the Covid Final, but he didn't finish it off either. Evgeni Nabokov couldn't get the Sharks over the hump, but was it really his fault? Curtis Joseph was a great goalie but never won a Cup, but I don't think it was all his fault either.

I hear you, but I don't honestly believe it was Ullmark's fault the Bruins lost last year. He was playing hurt, right? Between him and the coach, he shouldn't have even been in some of those games, but put some of that blame on the coach for keeping the rotation going.

If you're looking for a goaltender for New Jersey, you'll be hard pressed to find a goaltender around the league right now that is guaranteed to be "the guy" ... Jake Oettinger, great but hasn't proven anything - Vasilevskiy, great but couldn't keep the puck out of the net sometimes against Florida. Bobrovsky, great, but at least last year screwed the pooch in the Final. Even Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur had their moments. Mike Vernon went from winning a Cup in '89 to being undressed and beaten "like a rented mule" by Pavel Bure in OT game 7 in 1994's first round. Won a Cup again 3 years later. Point being, the options are slim. Markstrom, Ullmark, possibly Saros ... who else is available? None of them have proven anything at all, really, except in the regular season.

Besides, Darcy Kuemper proved you don't need the best goalie in the league to win a Cup if you have the right team in front of him.</div></div>

My philosophy is that you need legendary goaltending to win a cup with an average team (Roy 93)

You need great goaltending to win a cup with a good team (Brodeur 03)

You need good goaltending to win a cup with a great team (Vasilevskiy 21, Osgood 08)

And you need okay goaltending to win a cup with a star team (Kuemper 23)

Sometimes, occasionally, teams win the cup in a weak year. But NJ has "a good team", which means they need a great goaltender. It has to be Saros, or it has to be status quo. If Nemec turns into a superstar player, they could win with a good goaltender.

I also don't like the excuse the Ullmark was injured. Price got the Habs to the finals basically on one leg in 21.

Right now I'm watching the Bruins TML series and believed that the Leafs should have started Woll the whole time because I know Samsonov is a head case. I can't stand that. There's a biblical saying: don't lean on egypt, lest it be like a reed you lean on and it breaks and pierces your hand. There are goaltenders that look sturdy, but when they're tested in the playoffs, they break. Those guys get scratched off my list fast. If NJ gets one of my ****list guys, I'm going to hate the move and know they're going to get trounced in round 1.

My candidates are basically Knight (despite the off ice issues), Gibson, Askarov, Saros, or status quo and play an Allen Schmid tandem next year. Why? They should only spend assets on someone they can win the Cup with, and they don't have near Colorado's stud team of 22.