Jose Theodore- 25-7-6 2.80 GAA .909 SV%
Semyon Varlamov- 13-3-3 2.57 GAA .911 SV%

Yet the Caps goalies are looked at as a weakness. Fans that think the Caps will be upset due to poor goaltending are in for a surprise. With the Caps offense, which has shown the last 2 postseasons in can score in high numbers, Theo does not need to stand on his head. He just needs to avoid the catastrophic meltdown. If he’s just avg the Caps can win. If he’s great the rest of the league has no chance.

Posted by eric from baltimore on 03/18/10 at 10:29 AM ET

@ TPSH, dumbass, the word is spelled ‘g-a-u-g-e.’  F*&(ing illiterate douchebag.

@ Eric: goaltending in Washington is seen as a liability because Théodore is a wildly inconsistent goalie.  2 good years in Montréal followed by long stretches of mediocrity.  But at his best, he can be great.  For a period.  And those numbers aren’t that good, really.  As for the larger issues with the Caps, can you tell me who their defence is beyond Mike “Overhyped” Green?  I say Green is over-hyped because he’s a defensive liability.  For me, this is the Caps’ greatest problem: defence.  They can score, and the goaltending is better than average, but the defence scares me.

Posted by Harrald on 03/18/10 at 10:38 AM ET

You cannot win in the playoffs without good goaltending.  It is hard to imagine how that could change.  That makes the Philadelphia Flyers an easy first round opponent for a top seed in the East Conference.  Sure it might be a physical series, but it would be a short one where the outcome is not in doubt. 

Well, lets just give the Cup away even though it is March 18th…

While Leighton isn’t playoff proven, he’s got far superior numbers than every other netminder in the Atlantic.  Gotta start somewhere.  And the lack of playoff experience should parlay into an immediate first round exit.  I fail to see the author’s logic on that one.  I believe Cam Ward stepped in with no experience and not only won a Cup, but a Conn Smythe as well…

And while the Flyers couldn’t afford the “DEMANDS” of Biron & Niittymaki, it turns out that they could have had they been patient.  Emery signed for 1.5MM while Boucher went for 900K totalling 2.4MM.  Biron signed for 1.4MM while Niitty was a steal at 800K, which only equals 2.2MM…

Right now the rumours are circulating that Leighton will be out a month.  To combat the loss, Esche may be flown in for a look.  But I guess he provides the requisite “experience” so detrimental to the author’s point of view…

Posted by ProjectMayhem on 03/18/10 at 10:40 AM ET

@ Harrald

  Gage and gauge are alternative spellings of the same word .

ProjectMayhem

Robert Esche is not a solution because he cannot play in the playoffs since he would be signed after the trade deadline (besides isn’t that just an Eklund rumor?)

Posted by PuckStopsHere on 03/18/10 at 10:55 AM ET

Yet the Caps goalies are looked at as a weakness.

Caps goalies are looked at as a weakness because

1) Theodore’s numbers aren’t exactly reassuring and the only thing consistent about his play over the years is that he has been wildly inconsistent, though mostly not very good at all.
2) Varlamov’s always hurt and is still something of an unknown quantity. Maybe he’ll be a legit #1 for many years, but he hasn’t played nearly enough for anyone to be able to say that (Price has a lot more games under his belt and is still a question mark). 1st/2nd year goalies that looked much better than Varlamov have fizzled quite quickly before.

can you tell me who their defence is beyond Mike “Overhyped” Green?
The most baffling deadline move in the league was Washington’s trade for Joe Corvo. The absolute LAST thing their lineup needs is yet another PP point man with a rocket shot who doesn’t know his way around his own end. Washington is more saturated with guys like that than any team I can remember.

Then again, Washington’s so much better than the rest of the abominable East, that maybe it doesn’t matter what Washington does or doesn’t do.

Posted by steve on 03/18/10 at 11:44 AM ET

Gee, it seems like only yesterday when in response to TPSH’s column that the Ottawa Senators’ lot would be improved with better goaltending, that I suggested the Philadelphia Flyers presented a more compelling case. This seems like a good time to test our respective hypotheses.

Philadelphia and Ottawa are currently separated by two points, with the Flyers holding a game at hand. Projecting playoff spots based on current winning percentage—a mugs game at this point, but bear with me—the Senators would finish fifth in the Conference (meeting Pittsburgh in the first round), and the Flyers would settle for sixth (squaring off against Buffalo), with the two clubs separated by a single point.

What’s interesting to note—and here I must give TPSH his full props—that Buffalo is now just three points ahead of Ottawa, and while I project the Sabres to finish the season 6 points ahead of the Senators to secure the third overall in the Conference playoff birth, Ottawa has arguably an easier schedule down the stretch and has two head-to-head meetings with Buffalo. Ottawa’s goal of netting that third overall spot is not out of reach if things break the right way.

While I hold to my conclusion that coupling better goaltending to Philadelphia’s superior offense could lead Flyers on a better playoff run as opposed to the Senators, as far as playoff positioning, better goaltending for Ottawa could almost guarantee the North East Division lead. I doubt even with improved goaltending the Flyers could leapfrog both Pittsburgh and New Jersey to claim the Atlantic Division.

But here’s the takeaway thought for the day: Assuming Ottawa gets the bounces and muscles Buffalo out of the Division lead, third place overall would theoretically pit the Senators against the Flyers in the first round of the playoffs. You would have to like the Flyers’ chances in that match-up.

Posted by Matthew McCallum from Redding, California on 03/18/10 at 11:49 AM ET

Matthew

At this point, you are clearly right that the Flyers need goaltending more than Ottawa does.  Of course Philadelphia’s best two goalies are hurt and no Ottawa goalies are.

Assuming the goalies on their roster are healthy and playing at expected levels, I would still pick Ottawa as the team that would have the biggest benefit from a better goalie, but it clearly something that could be argued either way.

Posted by PuckStopsHere on 03/18/10 at 11:56 AM ET

Robert Esche is not a solution because he cannot play in the playoffs since he would be signed after the trade deadline (besides isn’t that just an Eklund rumor?)

Leighton’s injury doesn’t appear to be season ending.  If he’s out four weeks (standard for a high ankle sprain), this gives the Flyers more depth for the final month of the season.  I’d have to argue that Esche & Boucher are better than Leclaire and Elliott.  Neither of those guys have impressed at all.  Even Backlund is likely to be an improvement over those guys…

Philadelphia has 13 games remaining, 7 on the road, 5 vs. playoff teams and two vs. the NY Rangers.  Ottawa has 12 games remaining, 8 on the road, 5 vs. playoff teams.  However, since the Olympic Break, Ottawa (with no injuries to their netminding tandem) have won only once - against Edmonton, the worst team in the League.  Clearly, the ship is adrift at sea…

But go ahead and explain again how Leighton’s inexperience all but guarantees a first round exit?  I’m very curious as to the supporting fact or circumstances you’ve selected for that highly rational notion.

Posted by ProjectMayhem on 03/18/10 at 12:57 PM ET

But go ahead and explain again how Leighton’s inexperience all but guarantees a first round exit?  I’m very curious as to the supporting fact or circumstances you’ve selected for that highly rational notion.

I am not arguing this.  At least not by itself.  Leighton is a goalie who has no playoff experience.  Leighton has been given several shots at being a NHL goalie and failed in all cases except this one.  That makes his recent results suspect - it looks unsustainable.  *If* you are right and Leighton is back in a month that has him back in time to start the playoffs (and possibly with no NHL games to tune up before then), that would mean that any momentum he has from his current hot streak is lost and it would mean that he would have to play himself back into the shape he was in before the injury.  That is not a good situation to be in when it is playoff time.  It is reasonable to call a healthy Michael Leighton the worst starting goalie on a playoff team - what about one who isn’t fully healthy?

Posted by PuckStopsHere on 03/18/10 at 01:17 PM ET

It is reasonable to call a healthy Michael Leighton the worst starting goalie on a playoff team

You make this statement as if it is reasonable.  That’s total insanity.  What basis do you have for that claim?  Fact is you don’t have any basis.  What a dolt.

How many playoff series has Tuukka Rask won?  How many playoff games has he appeared in?  Started?

What are Brodeur’s numbers this year?
What are Fleury’s numbers this year?
Are Leighton’s SVP and GAA better than both?
Leighton is worse than Leclaire or Elliott?  Have you completely gone mad? 

What do you base your insanity on? 
This is totally ridiculous.  Half a brain gets you in trouble.

Posted by ProjectMayhem on 03/18/10 at 01:38 PM ET

Are you seriously trying to suggest that Michael Leighton is a better goalie than Martin Brodeur or Marc-Andre Fleury?  Do you think for a minute that Pittsburgh or New Jersey would trade their number one goalie for him in a straight up deal?

Posted by PuckStopsHere on 03/18/10 at 01:41 PM ET

This year his numbers certainly indicate that.  That is what we call “reasoning”... using numbers and facts to prove a point.

To claim that Leighton is the worst starting goalie on a playoff team is based on zero fact.  That is pure opinion based on foolishness. 

Nice recovery on getting blown up though by trying to spin it.  That has all the logic and reasoning of your intitial statements.

Posted by ProjectMayhem on 03/18/10 at 02:20 PM ET

You actually think some numbers show Michael Leighton has proven to be a better goalie than Martin Brodeur this year?

Which numbers?

Brodeur .914 saves percentage 2.35 GAA 39 wins 7 shutouts

Leighton .905 save percentage 2.83 GAA 17 wins 1 shutout

Are those your numbers?

Of course looking at those numbers in a vacuum is rather pointless.  Lets look at how they did last year and the year before to get an idea if those numbers are what would be expected or above or below expectation.  Leighton put up a career best (before now) .901 saves percentage last year and Brodeur won the Vezina Trophy 4 times.  It is not much of a comparison.

Michael Leighton is having a season where his numbers and Ray Emery’s numbers are about the same.  It is broken into two parts.  Failure in Carolina and success in Philadelphia.  I suspect you want to throw out the Carolina numbers for no reason other than they do not support your case.  You run into problems of small sample size and bias in data selection.  Even with those problems, one could make an extremely good case that Brodeur is the better goalie.  Afterall, I expect to see Martin Brodeur get Vezina support and I doubt Leighton does.

Posted by PuckStopsHere on 03/18/10 at 02:30 PM ET

numbers are not everything with goaltenders (and my favorite player is brodeur, who has all the numbers).

If you look at the box score for the caps-panthers game, you see theo gave up 3 goals.  Obviously, 3 is not a good number,  but if you had watched the game, he was playing really well, gave up the first goal on a breakaway, the second he got in his glove but just over the line, and the last one was in the last two minutes of a 7-2 hockey game, with one team trying and the other trying to get out.  Stats won’t show how well theo has played the past 2-3 months, making critical saves at critical times.  that is what you need from a goalie to win, not the best stats.

just look at osgood, never would you compare him to brodeur, but he’s won 2 cups with him starting.

Posted by jon on 03/18/10 at 02:38 PM ET

Stop running on the tangents..  Don’t be an idiot.

You stated, It is reasonable to call a healthy Michael Leighton the worst starting goalie on a playoff team

My question for you is what is your “REASONING” on why?  I’ve given you “REASON"s why are you inaccurate. 

This is how an argument works.  So, tell me what your wittle brain is thinking…

Posted by ProjectMayhem on 03/18/10 at 02:40 PM ET

TPSH,

Please go back and re-read my post: I wasn’t commenting so much on the Flyers’ goaltending woes but rather AGREEING with your original premise that Ottawa could benefit more in the standings if their goaltending could be improved. No brickbats. Rather, the extension of praise.

Back when you made your original post back on January 20, 2010, Ottawa was in fifth place and Philadephia out of the playoff mix at 9th and tied with Atlanta. Based on goals for versus goals allowed, Ottawa was succeeding in spite of their goaltending. Philadelphia was not. My premise at that time was better goaltending would not necessarily improve the Sens’ place in the standings, but it would certainly make the Flyers a playoff club. (For that matter, if Atlanta had held on to Kovalchuk and picked up a solid goaltender, THEY might be in the playoff mix too.)

Now, two months later, both Ottawa and Philadelphia appear comfortably in the playoff picture—both succeeding in spite of their goaltending—with Ottawa actually having a chance at the Division crown WITH their current goaltending. Who would have thought? With a better keeper, they might have muscled Buffalo out of the way already.

It should be noted that Brian Elliott (Ott) and Michael Leighton (Phi) have been stellar in goal since that January post, while Pascal Leclaire has (hard to believe) gotten worse. It remains to be seen if Elliott is actually beginning to realize his potential. If so, a lot of questions are answered in the Ottawa net for seasons to come.

But now, of course, with the puck-stopper parade to sickbay, everything is up for grabs in Philadelphia. Brian Boucher just might be able to turn a disappointing personal season around, or Jeremy Duchesne (the Flyers’ second-lowest rated netminding prospect according to HockeysFuture.com) just might catch lightning in a bottle. But reality is expecting 0.500 hockey from those two for the stretch run might be optomistic.

Six points up on the NY Rangers with a game at hand and a baker’s dozen to play, it’s mighty hard to see how the Flyers fall out of the playoff picture unless there is a complete collapse. But the Rangers now have an opportunity. It will be fun to see if they can take advantage of it.

Posted by Matthew McCallum from Redding, California on 03/18/10 at 02:51 PM ET

Current playoff teams and starting goalies

Washington (Theodore/ Varlamov)
New Jersey (Brodeur)
Buffalo (Miller)
Pittsburgh (Fleury)
Ottawa (Leclaire/ Elliot)
Montreal (Price/ Halak)
Philadephia (Leighton/ Boucher)
Boston (Thomas/ Rask)

San Jose (Nabokov)
Chicago (Huet)
Vancouver (Luongo)
Phoenix (Bryzgalov)
Colorado (Anderson)
Los Angeles (Quick)
Nashville (Rinne/ Ellis)
Detroit (Howard)

Those are the logical playoff goalies.  It might be that Calgary or the Rangers slip into the playoffs.

Now rank these goalies.  I will pick the first goalie on each team where 2 is listed for simplicity.

Which goalie on the list has a career best .905 saves percentage, while all others are have higher career bests?  That player with the worst career best has sample size issues in that his 34 games this year is not particularly much for a number one goalie and it is entirely possible that a significant amount of luck could be hidden in a small sample size (ie a hot streak), when his established level of play (since Leighton has been in and out of the NHL since 2002 we have a pretty good baseline) is well below this.

Michael Leighton has proven himself over several years to be a good AHL goalie who can be an unspectacular NHL backup.  That makes him the worst of the potential starting goalies come playoff time.

Posted by PuckStopsHere on 03/18/10 at 02:53 PM ET

I think that REASONABLY the obvious choice is Ottawa.

What have Leclaire or Elliot proven to you?
What sort of career numbers do they have?
Post-season success stories?

What about Howard?
What about the size of sample?
Talk to me about his career numbers?
His post-season success stories?

And Craig Anderson?
This is his first year as a starter, no?
But his “sample size” makes the cut?
How is his career so vastly different than Leighton’s?
What sort of career post-season glory has he claimed/

Moreover, what’s your fascination with “the worst”?
You are Nancy Negative.  Smile.  It’s good for your soul.

Posted by ProjectMayhem on 03/18/10 at 03:08 PM ET

Leclaire put up some good numbers in Columbus (.919 and .911 saves percentages).  Elliott is outplaying Leighton this year (.910 saves percentage with more games which reduce sample size problems).  True Ottawa does not have a strong goaltending duo, but they have guys who have looked like NHLers for a while.  Leighton was all but shipped back to the AHL this season if not for the Flyers need for him due to injury.

Howard is on pace for the rookie of the year.  He has better numbers in more games than Leighton.

Anderson could be a Vezina nominee this year (though I think he may just miss).  Better numbers than Leighton this year and last several years.  Anderson had great numbers with not many starts in Florida and that is why he got the chance to be a number one goalie this year.

The answer to your question is yes.  Michael Leighton ranks beneath any of the other probable playoff goalies.  Michael Leighton has never had a good NHL season.  This one is not that great when you look at his numbers over the whole year.  He does have a solid hot streak since coming to Philadelphia.  Every other goalie on the list has a longer hot streak in his career, often many of them and they all lack the years of continuously getting set back to the AHL that Leighton has.  Add in a Leighton injury that he will likely not be fully recovered from and it is even less of a debate.

Posted by PuckStopsHere on 03/18/10 at 03:17 PM ET

You two are having the most ridiculous argument of the year.  Stupidity on both ends.  But keep it up.  Very entertaining as Boucher is clearly the guy, not Leighton.  The whole thing is totally ridiculous.  Leighton is a scrub who is finally starting to play well at the NHL level.  Anderson was sent down several times and is now established. 

And I wouldn’t really say that Elliot looks like an NHLer.  If anything he, looks like an AHLer.  A bad one.  Elliot was stellar when he came up, but has Knoblached his way to the lesser in terms of stats…

And PSH is right that Leighton hasn’t had a good NHL season, until NOW.  Which is exactly the boat that Rask is in.  His fellow seamen is Howard, who also struggled mightily at the beginning of this season. 

ProjectMayhem is right about the “negative nancy” thing though…Why are you two “dolts” arguing about this?  I can’t wait for it to get ugly.  That’ll be real entertainment.

Posted by Unicorn Force from DC (but like everyone here, I'm not a local) on 03/18/10 at 06:50 PM ET

I’m sorry but the Robert Esche thing was a joke I started a while back.  He is under contract in the KHL…he can’t play in the NHL this season…not that that’s a viable option.  It was also meant to be hilarious.  Next up: Ron Hextall.

Leighton isn’t a goaltender you ride into the playoffs neither is Boucher.  Boucher is an EXTREMELY streaky goaltender.  But less so recently (no shutout streaks for a while).  Leighton…well…he basically couldn’t win the job as backup to CAM WARD.  Got replaced by Manny Legace who basically shoveling driveways…hehehehe.

Posted by stoneman from vegas on 03/19/10 at 04:56 AM ET

Every playoff season in Philadelphia starts with “the goaltending is good enough”...but it never is.  Because they haven’t traded for, signed, or built up the goaltending for the team.  There were SEVERAL serviceable starting goaltenders available prior to the trade deadline as a rental or short term contract.  Off the top of my head: Garon, Toskala (sorry folks…he is serviceable), Biron, Danis, Auld, Conklin, and I’m sure many others.  Gotta pay the price.

I’m not willing to give Leighton a pass and compare him to Anderson.  Anderson EARNED his 1A goaltender status and starting job.  The guy comes to play every single night.  Who wins the Vezina?  Who cares…it’s all about the CUP.  (probably Bryzgalov in my opinion…he deserves it)

Posted by stoneman from vegas on 03/19/10 at 05:11 AM ET