The Ilya Bryzgalov buyout talk isn't about to die down any time soon. Despite vehement denials from Flyers management that the team plans to use one of its two allotted salary cap compliance (AKA amnesty) buyouts on Bryzgalov, there is still rampant speculation that the team will do so when all is said and done.
Yesterday, TSN's Bob McKenzie tweeted the following: "It's not carved in stone, but in spite of what has been said in past, I expect PHI is likely to use compliance buyout on Ilya Bryzgalov."
I have mixed feelings on Bryzgalov, and I disagree equally with those who take any opportunity to ridicule or skewer him and those who automatically excuse and defend everything he does on the ice and says off the ice. I don't think he's a bad goaltender at all, just one who may be stylistically ill-suited to the system the head coach has wanted his team to play (due to Bryzgalov's average lateral mobility, below-average puckhandling, and inconsistency on his stick side in general) and, like all goalies, is made to look far worse than he actually is by leaky team defense.
Goalie is a brutally tough position to play. It's not just about mechanics and playing the angles. It's also about mental toughness, on-ice communication and mutual trust between the goaltender and his teammates. Good goaltending is symbiotic with competent team defense but it also has an effect on a team's offensive confidence.
That doesn't mean, of course, that the goalie is to blame if his team can't score goals. But leaky goaltending, especially in the playoffs, tends to eventually have a deleterious effect on offense. Let's put it this way: No matter how much on-paper offensive talent a team has, unless it is confident in can consistently come out on the right side of 1-0 or 2-1 scores when necessary, it will eventually stop producing the goal support needed to win on the nights when the opposition gets 3 or more goals.
Goaltending isn't all about goals against average or even save percentage. It's very situational in nature. Does the goalie make the momentum saves that can swing games? For instance, right after his team cuts a two-goal deficit in half after a long uphill climb to get back in the game, the goalie may have to come up with a semi-tough save. Does he make the stop or does his team find itself right back in a two-goal hole?
Ultimately, a team will win far more often than it loses if the goalie makes all the routine saves, comes up with the decided majority of the "not routine but not impossible" chances (example, partial deflections up high in the zone), is victorious in about half of the one-on-one duels (such as breakaway) where it's him against the shooter and perhaps makes a "miracle save" or two where it looks like he has no chance. But it's the first two categories of saves where a team truly needs consistency from its goalie.
The areas where Bryzgalov has come up a bit small at times during his Flyers tenure have been the second and third categories of momentum saves. He didn't allow all that many outright "soft" goals this season, but there were perhaps a few too many that got past him may not have been routine stops but which were still potentially stoppable. Beyond that, there were times were it looked like Bryzgalov had lost confidence in his own ability to stop breakaways (or penalty shot/shootout opportunities) and would either commit way too soon or react way too late.
The team had too many breakdowns in front of Bryzgalov, but he also had too many games where it seemed like most of the miscues others made ended up in the back of the net. He sometimes didn't help matters afterwards by breaking sticks, throwing his water bottle, etc. For all of Bryzgalov's philosophizing about his own mental calmness, he is a goalie who gets too easily rattled by commotion around him and too prone to giving in to frustration. Never for one second, however, have I doubted that Bryzgalov is a player who cares and is a competitor. If anything, I think he sometimes tries a little too hard and begins to press.
As far as Bryzgalov's personality and relations with teammates and coaches go, I am of the belief that disparate locker room personalities coexist fine when the team is winning but that losing magnifies personality clashes and makes it into an issue. There have been plenty of goalies who haven't been beloved by their teammates -- such as Tom Barrasso or Tim Thomas -- but at the same time have been key performers on championship clubs.
Ultimately, getting rid of Bryzgalov or keeping him around, will not solve the Flyers' over-arching problems, which start with team defense and puck movement and also includes a roster mix that has lacked a team identity that matches up well either to grind-it-out clubs or clubs with superior team speed. The Flyers collectively are a little too undersized in key spots up front and a little too slow on the back end and the wings.
In the big picture, I believe that goalies get excessive blame (and credit) for team-wide issues that go beyond their own already substantial role on the ice. It's just easier for people those who follow the game casually or are "storyline" driven to focus on one or two players. Then you've got the ones whose primary barometer is a player's salary, as if making more than a certain amount of money ought to make someone superhuman and impervious to injury, fatigue and the wrong roster mix around him.
Should the Flyers amnesty Bryzgalov or keep him around? From a cap management perspective, there is certainly a convincing argument to be made that the Flyers could get comparable season-long performance for cheaper. From a hockey standpoint, the Flyers need to improve in other areas to give their goalies -- whether it's Bryzgalov, Steve Mason or anyone else -- a chance to consistently keep the club in games. Simply putting the goalie carousel back in motion again isn't going to solve a thing.
There's one other key question to consider; one which only Bryzgalov himself can honestly answer. Does he even WANT to be with the Flyers anymore?
Clearly, he does not like the local media. He may not particularly enjoy the city itself. There may even be teammates and coaches with whom he doesn't have a warm and fuzzy relationship. None of that matters so long as he's willing to commit himself totally to doing his absolute best to contribute to the success of the team. Doing that means doing a better job of putting aside -- and not creating -- distractions.
I will be fine with whatever decision the Flyers make on buying out or keeping Bryzgalov. I just hope that the team makes smart decisions on improving the other areas that are bigger obstacles to returning to contention.
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Apart from yesterday's McKenzie tweet about Bryzgalov, he also tweeted that the team is on the hunt to improve the blueline -- no big secret there -- and "may" be willing to trade one of Brayden Schenn or Sean Couturier in the right deal. Of course, it remains to be seen what the Flyers would consider the right deal.
In addition, Dennis Bernstein tweeted that the Flyers might pursue a trade for Los Angeles Kings backup goaltender Jonathan Bernier in exchange for Matt Read (which Bernstein claims was discussed near the trade deadline before the Flyers acquired Steve Mason from Columbus). If such a deal happened, I suppose the Flyers would have Bernier and Mason compete for the starting job next season.
If the Flyers jettison Bryzgalov, I would hope they wouldn't simply put all their eggs in the basket of hoping that Mason's strong play in a small sampling of late-season games and Calder Trophy back in his rookie season will translate to consistently strong play next year. At the same time, I'm also not wild about the idea of trading for yet another still-unproven NHL starting candidate in Bernier.
Bernier is a former first-round pick by LA who entered the NHL with a lot of hype as a potential franchise goaltender. He played very well this season in 14 regular season appearances behind one of the best team defenses in the League.
But it should also be said that Bernier, who will turn 25 in August, still has only 62 games worth of NHL regular season experience because Jonathan Quick took the Kings' starting reigns and hasn't given them up. It should also be noted that Bernier's learning curve in the NHL has been a little more protracted than was initially predicted (but the expectations were probably a little excessive in the first place). Bernier is somewhat undersized for a current-day NHL goalie and, at times, has overrelied on his reflexes. Over the balance of his still-brief career, he's been prone to some very ugly goals and bad rebounds.
This past year, Bernier appeared to take definite steps forward toward fulfilling his promise. Thing is, it was over a very small sampling of games and with a more conscientious team defense than he'd be likely to have next year in Philly.
Assuming they do no retain Bryzgalov, would the Flyers be best off going in with two still-unproven quantities in net hoping that one of them lives up to their early career billing or go out and acquire a veteran goalie who may not be a star but has a proven track record of being a competent split-time starter?
I don't pretend to know the answer. I'm just glad that it's not my decision to make. If pressed to come down on one side or the other, I would choose to keep an asset like Read and go the latter route. I just know that I don't want to see the Flyers' go down the path of putting all their faith in Mason with a discount backup goalie (such as Michael Leighton or Brian Boucher) or second-year pro Cal Heeter ending up as the alternative.
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