If it's not age related decline or injury decline than what is it?

I think a team is going to get a really good goalie for cheaper than he is worth.
- Santo_44

I do believe that part of the reason for his decline in production is due to the inexperience on the Ducks blueline this past season.. They traded Lindholm and Manson.

They had Drysdale, who is only 19. Simon Benoit is only 22. and Josh Mahura, who is only 23.
The rest, outside of Cam Fowler, were not that good.. Shattenkirk has been on the downswing defensively for years.. Sustr is slower than Roman Polak

I hear Mrazek is available. Habs don't need anything good, they will be dumpster diving all season to try to get a shot at Connor Bedard.
- winsix

WHL playoffs MVP Kaiden Guhle will help ruin our sure thing top 3 pick next year.

1st overall pick Shane Wright will also have something to say about that.

The future is bright in Montreal.

Enjoy Mrazek.

Comrie would either be a nice backup or one of a couple of guys fighting for the starting spot.
- Canada Cup

I agree.. Comrie would be a cheaper option, but they'd still need another goalie. I don't see Mrazek coming back.

WHL playoffs MVP Kaiden Guhle will help ruin our sure thing top 3 pick next year.

1st overall pick Shane Wright will also have something to say about that.

The future is bright in Montreal.

Enjoy Mrazek.
- Scabeh

At this point, I think Colorado will keep Kuemper..

As far as goalies though, Gibson, while risky, is the best option in my opinion.. Yeah, he's got the 6.4M cap hit, but it's locked in long term, so there's some cost certainty. Varlamov and MAF are well past their prime, but who knows.. Maybe the Leafs are on Gibson's no trade list...
- PatC80

6.4 for 3-4 years is a big red flag for me.
Leafs dont have the cap for that. People keep adding in Kerfoot to a potential trade for gibson, but then who do the leafs get to replace him?
I cant see Anaheim retaining 40 - 50% of gibson's salary, maybe 25% which means he still carries a 4.8 cap hit for the leafs.
Still high IMO for him.

WHL playoffs MVP Kaiden Guhle will help ruin our sure thing top 3 pick next year.

1st overall pick Shane Wright will also have something to say about that.

The future is bright in Montreal.

Enjoy Mrazek.
- Scabeh

Yeah, you're probably right.. Now you have a coach that will work with the young players.. It should be fun in a few years.. With that said, I hope you finish 9th in the East and don't get 1st overall again

From last blog-



That in and of itself makes a trade a pretty decent idea. With CAP retention, of course.
- GreatGigInTheSky

That plus the idea of firing both Mrazek and Holl into the sun are encouraging.

WHL playoffs MVP Kaiden Guhle will help ruin our sure thing top 3 pick next year.

1st overall pick Shane Wright will also have something to say about that.

The future is bright in Montreal.

Enjoy Mrazek.
- Scabeh

Wright reminds me of Lafreniere a bit....on that type of level.
No doubt you'll probably get past the 1st round prior to the leafs.

6.4 for 3-4 years is a big red flag for me.
Leafs dont have the cap for that. People keep adding in Kerfoot to a potential trade for gibson, but then who do the leafs get to replace him?
I cant see Anaheim retaining 40 - 50% of gibson's salary, maybe 25% which means he still carries a 4.8 cap hit for the leafs.
Still high IMO for him.
- Fakepartofme

6.4 for 5 yrs, is a lot.. I won't argue that and if Anaheim retains salary that would be a huge benefit to the Leafs.
At this point though, I don't see a better option. I think Gibson is still the best goalie that is available (Assuming, he doesn't have Toronto on his 10 team no trade list). The Leafs could maybe sign Comrie and DeSmith and get lucky that one of them gets hot come playoff time, but there is also risk in that too.

Wright reminds me of Lafreniere a bit....on that type of level.
No doubt you'll probably get past the 1st round prior to the leafs.

- Fakepartofme

I wouldn't take that bet.

Yeah, you're probably right.. Now you have a coach that will work with the young players.. It should be fun in a few years.. With that said, I hope you finish 9th in the East and don't get 1st overall again
- PatC80

I'm guessing the Habs will be better under a full year of St-Louis and the added interesting prospects coming up.

Of course, Price playing is also a big question mark to our potential success next year.

Don't get me wrong though, things should go alot better, but I still fully expect to be a lottery team again next season.


Just gotta get lucky now.

Wright reminds me of Lafreniere a bit....on that type of level.
No doubt you'll probably get past the 1st round prior to the leafs.

- Fakepartofme

Wright will be good IMO, not convinced he will be great. Lafreniere scored 31 points in his second season which is not that impressive. He's good, but even RNH scored more and he's been a disappointment.

6.4 for 5 yrs, is a lot.. I won't argue that and if Anaheim retains salary that would be a huge benefit to the Leafs.
At this point though, I don't see a better option. I think Gibson is still the best goalie that is available (Assuming, he doesn't have Toronto on his 10 team no trade list). The Leafs could maybe sign Comrie and DeSmith and get lucky that one of them gets hot come playoff time, but there is also risk in that too.
- PatC80

Is it 5 years? He still has 5 years left? Ugh.

I'm guessing the Habs will be better under a full year of St-Louis and the added interesting prospects coming up.

Of course, Price playing is also a big question mark to our potential success next year.

Don't get me wrong though, things should go alot better, but I still fully expect to be a lottery team again next season.


Just gotta get lucky now.

- Scabeh

St-Louis just has to double shift slew foot specialist Joel Armia and Habs can get that lottery pick.

Wright will be good IMO, not convinced he will be great. Lafreniere scored 31 points in his second season which is not that impressive. He's good, but even RNH scored more and he's been a disappointment.
- winsix

I think Wright will be close to a PPG 2 way centre in the NHL. Kinda like Jonathan Toews in his prime.

He spent the last season really working on his defensive game, really going down low to help his defense.

He has almost no point "on the rush" because of it, which is unsusual for a CHL player.

Bottom line, I'm excited about the Habs picking him... unless of course they decide to go with Slafkovsky who looks like a fun project but with way more question marks imo.

I think the targets should be Varlamov, Gibson or MAF.. With that said, I could see Dubas sign Comrie and trade for Mackenzie Blackwood.
- PatC80

I said this yesterday, but it's hard to look at the numbers. I see some citations and I don't think they're that accurate. I mean this is last year based on appearing in at least 15 games and using 5v5 situations (67 qualified goalies):

HD GDSAA/60 (top 5: Sorokin, Shesterkin, Husso, Knight, Kuemper)

24. Stolarz: 0.08
26. Gibson: 0.07

60. Campbell: -0.3
66. Mrazek: -0.45


MD GSAA/60 (top 5: Comrie, Vasilevskiy, Allen, Francouz, Stolarz)

5. Stolarz: 0.23
54. Gibson: -0.14

10. Campbell: 0.17
66. Mrazek: -0.44

LD GSAA/60 (top 5: Vladar, Gustavsson, Murray, DeSmith, Holtby)

61. Gibson: -0.17
66. Stolarz: -0.25

15. Campbell: 0.11
29. Mrazek: 0.04


So what is the measure of a defense here? If we want to talk just quantity for now, Mrazek faced the 14th fewest HD chances / 60 and Campbell faced the 18th fewest. By the same token Stolarz was 26 and Gibson was 56th.

In terms of MD chances, Mrazek was 6th fewest and Campbell was 47th fewest; Gibson 32nd and Stolarz 37th.

CC points out that we needed some HD saves - and he is absolutely not wrong. But we don't give up that many HD chances by contrast - if a guy like Gibson is making the extra HD save, but allowing an extra MD goal (where there's a lot more shots faced), I'm not sure it's a tradeoff that works. Certainly their LD save performance was abysmal.

Fleury wasn't much better:

HDGS 44th / -0.07; MD: 21st / 0.08; LD: 35th / 0.01.

Varlamov:

HDGS 45th / -0.09; MD: 40st / -0.03; LD: 32nd / 0.02.

I wouldn't like the idea of Comrie since he has no history other than one 19 game season as a a backup. That's even less proven that Campbell.

St-Louis just has to double shift slew foot specialist Joel Armia and Habs can get that lottery pick.
- winsix

I honestly don't remember one occurance of a slew foot involving Armia.

This being said, he's had a pretty forgettable season so.... might be that.

I think Wright will be close to a PPG 2 way centre in the NHL. Kinda like Jonathan Toews in his prime.

He spent the last season really working on his defensive game, really going down low to help his defense.

He has almost no point "on the rush" because of it, which is unsusual for a CHL player.

Bottom line, I'm excited about the Habs picking him... unless of course they decide to go with Slafkovsky who looks like a fun project but with way more question marks imo.
- Scabeh

I think he will be good, Bedard might be better, Toews level would be excellent. I'm hoping Howard gets mono and the Leafs scoop him at 25

Gibson led the league in saves above expected from high danger spots, a real problem for the Leafs. Obviously they’re going to look at a lot of data and won’t get him, just hoping he’ll be better. If they get him, it’ll be because they think he fits. The best we can do do is look at little snippets of information.

But I do think they’re going to try to get the best guy they can or get a couple of guys they think have the potential to do if and let them fight for the net.

As far as I can see (and I’m a bit of an expert only because I paid a lot of money for goalie lessons for my kid), there’s Gibson who could be the real thing and there’s a bunch of so-so options.
- Canada Cup

Heard Chris Johnson on radio this morning say the Leafs are not one of the teams looking at Gibson.

Heard Chris Johnson on radio this morning say the Leafs are not one of the teams looking at Gibson.
- fifty__missions

Cool.
Onto the next rumour!

I honestly don't remember one occurance of a slew foot involving Armia.

This being said, he's had a pretty forgettable season so.... might be that.
- Scabeh

I rarely see Habs games, I've seen him get away with 2 against the Leafs in that small sample size.

I think he will be good, Bedard might be better, Toews level would be excellent. I'm hoping Howard gets mono and the Leafs scoop him at 25
- winsix

He most likely will.

I think he will be good, Bedard might be better, Toews level would be excellent. I'm hoping Howard gets mono and the Leafs scoop him at 25
- winsix

Bedard looks to be alot better, but we'll see.
Im hoping Wright ends up being a little better than Yakupov. That would be great to see for the habs.

I do believe that part of the reason for his decline in production is due to the inexperience on the Ducks blueline this past season.. They traded Lindholm and Manson.

They had Drysdale, who is only 19. Simon Benoit is only 22. and Josh Mahura, who is only 23.
The rest, outside of Cam Fowler, were not that good.. Shattenkirk has been on the downswing defensively for years.. Sustr is slower than Roman Polak
- PatC80

Just do me a favor and don't look up Anthony Stolarz's numbers.

I do believe that part of the reason for his decline in production is due to the inexperience on the Ducks blueline this past season.. They traded Lindholm and Manson.

They had Drysdale, who is only 19. Simon Benoit is only 22. and Josh Mahura, who is only 23.
The rest, outside of Cam Fowler, were not that good.. Shattenkirk has been on the downswing defensively for years.. Sustr is slower than Roman Polak
- PatC80

But why hasnt it had such a big impact on the back up goalie there?