Oakland Goodlife

In the 2010-2011 season, the Oakland Goodlife made an impact on the Pacific North division of the AIHL in their return to the league, rolling through the regular season with a 23-1 record, and winning the AIHL’s top prize, the Champions Cup, with a 10-1 record. A greater part of their success relied greatly on the shoulders of their amazing goaltender, Kevin Silva.

Unfortunately, it seems that the Oakland Goodlife may not enjoy the 2011-2012 season this year, as the Goodlife will have to endure the season without Kevin Silva.

Reported by the AIHL’s radio show Mid-Day Rant, Silva will be leaving the Goodlife to pursue a career opportunity in Dallas, TX.

Kevin Silva ended the 2010-2011 season with a 15-1 record, posting a 2.15 GAA and 0.868 SV%, coupled with 2 shutouts. Silva’s numbers bolstered him to the top of the AIHL’s goalies, as well as earning him many end of the season awards such as Most Valuable Goaltender and Playoff Most Valuable Player.

To add salt to the wound, in the only 2 games that Silva was able to play for the Goodlife, Silva was perfect earning back to back shutouts stopping all 44 shots he faced.

The post-Silva era is proving difficult, as the Goodlife are now tied for 2nd in the Pacific North with the Ripon Savage with a 7-3 record, though it’s not entirely due to a lack of goaltending.

Current Oakland starter, Nick Swanson, is definitely his best to hold down the fort. Posting a 4-1 record, Swanson is rocking a fairly decent record of 2.80 GAA and 0.833 SV%.

In regards to the incredibly fast-paced and usually high scoring game of roller hockey, those are pretty good numbers, and should give the Goodlife some confidence in net for the rest of the season.

According to ESPN, Jean-Sebastien Giguere “could be an intriguing option for Chicago.”

We’ve mentioned before that Chicago has some troubles in net, however Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman has made it clear that there are no plans to move either of his struggling goaltenders.

Regardless, if the Blackhawks were to make any sort of change with their goaltending, Giguere could indeed be an interesting option for Chicago.

The former Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe winner could offer an interesting veteran presence for Corey Crawford. Both goalies are very big in net, and use their hulking size in a more “blocking” style of play, rather than the reactive style that is most popular today.

However, don’t hold your breath. The likelihood of Giguere actually going to Chicago are very, very slim.

DETROIT — The Detroit Red Wings have put goaltender Ty Conklin on waivers.

If Conklin isn’t claimed by noon EST Tuesday, he will be assigned to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

Simply put, Joey MacDonald has been a beast in his 8 starts, and Conklin has floundered in his 11.

With the numbers sported by Conklin this year, it will be difficult for a team to take a chance on him, even if they are hurting in net and need an emergency goalie.

Personally, I would see Marty Turco being recalled by a team before Conklin earns a shot.

It is never an easy task watching your favorite sport, while missing your favorite player. It’s this feeling that has made the 2011-2012 season of the NHL fairly difficult for me, as I have no Marty Turco.

While I do understand that there are better goaltenders playing in the NHL, I do watch Jonathan Quick as often as I can, I still feel that Marty Turco has a role in the NHL. Heck, it’s a role he’s already shown prowess in!

Last year, Corey Crawford had an amazing breakout season. Through hard work when earning starts away from Turco, Crawford quickly grew into Chicago’s number one goaltender. When this happened, Marty Turco took the back seat, acting as a veteran presence for Crawford. Now, Ray Emery is that veteran presence, but it’s a much different situation than when Marty was there.

So I figured that I would look around the NHL and see where I think Turco can offer a great presence, of course for the price of his Chicago days. If I were a GM, I understand that youth is important, and if I were to put my faith in youth I would definitely put a seasoned veteran behind him to learn the ropes. That’s just my point of view.

Look at Antti Niemi, came into Chicago and played behind an awesome defense. After winning a Stanley Cup, Niemi was looking for that starting goalie paycheck. Well, San Jose gave it to him and how the Sharks are struggling to keep pucks out of their net. Could Turco be a positive veteran presence in San Jose? Yes, but not for Niemi.

Alex Stalock Handling the Puck

Turco was always known for his puck handling skills, and the Sharks have a young goalie in their system who is an amazing puck handler, and the heir of the Sharks crease, Alex Stalock.

If Stalock plans to take over the crease anytime soon, why not have him back-up Niemi next season, or drop Niemi and bring in Turco. However, you don’t want to just dump an unproven goaltender in your nets. Stalock is working hard and could be ready to back-up San Jose this coming year.

And with all the goaltending problems that I see in San Jose, I would rather make that shake up in-goal to bring in an aging veteran and chaperone Stalock into NHL stardom.

So I pose this question, as I obviously want to see Turco come to San Jose in a veteran presence, if you could bring in any veteran goaltender to help out with your team’s young guy, who would it be and why?

Discuss!

Since his return to the NHL, Evgeni Nabokov has played very well for the New York Islanders. Sporting a .925 SV% and 2.24 GAA, it’s no doubt that Islanders GM Garth Snow would want to keep Nabby as the leader of his goalie corps, formerly led by superstar hopeful and current man of glass, Rick DiPietro.

According to Newsday, the Islanders are trying to do just that, and more surprising, it sounds like Nabby could be open to the idea.

“I never asked for a trade, I’ve never done this,” he told Newsday two weeks ago. “If they come to me, that’s a different story, but they haven’t done that. I like what I see over here. I like the direction this team is going. Now a lot of people said last season the reason I didn’t come here is because it’s a bad organization. That’s not true. I didn’t come because I didn’t think I was ready. I came to training camp ready to go, and I think it’s been good.”

At the time of this article, the Islanders are currently battling for the last playoff spot in the East, and have a very good chance of making it. It will be a tough battle, but with the young grit of the Islanders and the solid and consistent play of Nabokov, the former Sharks goaltender could be battling for the Stanley Cup in a matter of months.

Of course, either as an Islander or not.

According to Mr. Eklund over at Hockey Buzz:

That from a source who told me patience has run its course in Chicago…

While most rumors coming out of Hockey Buzz are just that, buzz, Chicago needs to looking at their crease and wondering “What happened?”

Corey Crawford is obviously struggling. While he’s definitely on pace to make as many starts as he did during last season, where Crawford blossomed into a #1 NHL goaltender, this season his numbers are astronomical. Looking at his stats, Crawford is just a couple notches above Columbus’ Steve Mason, who’s losing his starting role on the worst team in the NHL. And more than half way through the season, Corey Crawford has yet to post a shutout, mediocre compared to the 4 he had last year.

Crawford ended last season with a GAA of 2.30 and a .917 SV%. So far this year, Crawford is sporting an abysmal 2.99 GAA and .898 SV%.

The Razor

After spending a season abroad in Sweden, Chicago felt that Emery would be a perfect fit as a veteran back-up. While it seems that Emery will end up making a quarter of the starts in net this season for Chicago, his numbers are just slightly better than Crawford’s. Razor’s 2.80 GAA and .901 SV%, with 0 shutouts as well, are definitely not his best numbers while playing in the NHL, but they also aren’t the worst.

In regards to the Western Conference, the only team with more goals against is the Columbus Blue Jackets.

As the trade deadline approaches, Chicago should do something to address their issues in goal, either by bringing in some new blood or by bolstering their defense.

Though, we ask the age-old question: Should Chicago bring in a new goalie, who do they go after?

Turco is definitely available, but from the sounds of it, Turco will not return to Chicago. Most goalies that are being shopped are mostly back-ups, such as Jonathan Bernier out of LA and Josh Harding out of Minnesota.

Could Khabibulin return to the windy city? Edmonton’s playoffs hopes essentially lost, and the Bulin Wall has a Stanley Cup under his belt. Evgeni Nabokov could be dangled, and while the Islanders have a nearly insurmountable hurdle to overcome to make the playoffs, Nabby could offer that solidity in net that Chicago is lacking. After all, Nabby’s numbers are much more impressive than either Crawford’s or Emery’s.

It’s times like these where I’m glad I’m not an NHL general manager. Do you keep trusting your young goaltending core, hoping that they pull themselves out of their funk, or do you bring in that veteran presence to overtake the net, jolting the kids with the reality that their jobs are not safe?

SAN JOSE, CA – In a dazzling display of goaltending prowess, Miikka Kiprusoff did what he does best, leaving everything that he has out on the ice, as he held off the San Jose Sharks becoming only the 27th goaltender in the NHL to earn 300 wins.

“It’s a nice number,” he said. “But right now, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s a nice. But right now, we have an opportunity where we might get into the playoffs. We need those points. But yeah, it’s a good number.”

Does it mean anything more against his old club?

“Not really,” he said. “I played here a long time ago. But it’s a tough building to play in. It’s not easy to get points here. We played a really good game.”

Kiprusoff is the type of goaltender much like Dominik Hasek, as the types of saves that he makes causes your jaw to drop, leaving you with no words other than “Wow.” Personally, I felt the same effect late in the third period when Brent Burns blasted a shot from the point, with Kipper making the save while losing his balance and falling forward, only to react to a rebound chance by Joe Pavelski. Pavelski’s shot ended up rolling down Kiprusoff’s back, on a trajectory straight to the net for a Sharks tie. It was Kipper’s aptitude in net that caused him to react by lifting his legs behind him, and hold on to the puck on his backside, preventing the puck from going into the net.

“Are you kidding me!?” I shouted as I jumped out of my seat, giddy as a little school girl, seeing one of my favorite goalies making one of the most amazing saves I’ve ever seen.

It was definitely the save of the game, nay, save of the year.

The Game

Being tested early, Kiprusoff stopping all 12 of San Jose’s first period shots. Kiprusoff played strong this period, being aggressive at the top of his crease while guarding any attempted passes from behind the net headed to the slot.

Kipper’s best save of the period came when Calgary coughed the puck up to Logan Couture in the neutral zone, whom held the puck while his counterpart Patrick Marleau broke into the zone. Couture calmly passed to the breaking Marleau, who was wide open in the slot, giving him the perfect scoring opportunity.

And just as calmly as Couture made his pass, Kiprusoff adjusted his angle, cutting it down by challenging Marleau who was racing through the slot. Marleau skated to the hash marks and ripped a shot high glove side, being robbed by the flash of Kiprusoff’s glove.

Kiprusoff made the save where most goalies should, irregardless of size, right on the top of the crease. Being in this position, Kipper gave Marleau the illusion that there were openings at the top of the net, but Kipper’s quick reflexes easily took those away.

Kiprusoff continued his aggressive play throughout the second. His aggressiveness at the top of the crease allowed Miikka to stay on-top of a couple of rebound chances that San Jose had. Since Kipper is strong with his lateral butterfly movement, similar to Jonathan Quick, Kipper was able to slide across with ease to stymy most of those plays.

It was a Calgary screen that caused Kiprusoff to lose track of the puck fired by Logan Couture at the top of the left face-off circle, surrendering his first goal of the game.

In a tic-tac-toe play, Marleau skated the puck to the right of Kiprusoff’s crease, passing it to a wide open Joe Thornton behind the net. Committing to a wrap around play, Kiprusoff slid across the full length of the crease in the full splits. However, Thornton’s intentions were not to wrap the puck around the post, but instead found a free Joe Pavelski who hammered the puck home in a relatively open net for a relatively easy goal.

San Jose applied more pressure in the third, firing 15 shots and swarming the net. Visibly tiring, by using his stick to support himself in his butterfly recovery, a broken play by Calgary resulted in the last goal of the game for San Jose, and the only Sharks goal in the third. After the Sharks won a face-off, Kiprusoff made an impressive save off a shot from the point that found its way on net through a massive screen. However, Calgary couldn’t answer San Jose’s overload on the net, allowing Handzus to dig out the puck out of Kipper’s pads and into the net.

Mr. 300

At 35 years of age, Kiprusoff is still a very amazing goaltender. He has continued to work hard and adapt his game to the ever-changing pace and style of the NHL. Whenever Calgary faces victory, or has hopes in the playoffs, it’s often due to the skills and abilities of Miikka Kiprusoff.

Personally, it will be curious to see if Kipper finishes his career in Calgary. Not saying that he will retire soon, but should Kiprusoff no longer be a part of Calgary’s organization, the direct replacements of Leland Irving or Henrik Karlsson still need some time to simmer in the NHL.

Personally, I’m a fan of having a veteran goaltender mentor the young guy, and Kiprusoff could be a great mentor for a young goaltender. Although, I would also enjoy seeing Kiprusoff winning a Stanley Cup. If he’s unable to do that, I would have no qualms with him moving to a team that could definitely use that veteran presence to drive a team deep in the playoffs, as Kiprusoff has shown that he can carry a team.

Though, this is all the just wishful thinking and strictly opinion. It’s highly unlikely that Kiprusoff will play anywhere other than Calgary.

Let’s just hope that if he stays a Flame, that Calgary can squeeze into the playoffs and play well enough for Kipper, as you know he will carry that team as deep into the playoffs as he physically can.

Save of the Year

Despite ending the month of January with back to back shutouts, stopping 55 shots between the two games, Antti Niemi continues to struggle establishing himself as an elite goaltender in the NHL.

It may not all be Niemi’s fault however. As Niemi continues to find his identity in net to offer that consistent goaltending that Stanley Cup caliber teams rely on, the San Jose Sharks as a team are struggling to find that consistency that takes the team to the next level.

Niemi possesses a very aggressive butterfly style, which causes him to crouch very, very low. As Niemi tracks the shot in this stance, Niemi gets down so low that his hands are down by his knees, a style reminiscent to Bill Ranford. Unfortunately, this style of play is a double-edged sword for Niemi, as it exposes the extreme vulnerability of his top shelf. When Niemi is in this stance and has to react to high shots, he has to first straighten his crouched body, then react to the high shot on either side.

Pucks tend to find their way past Niemi this way.

One positive for Niemi, nay – the Sharks goaltenders in tandem, is that lately it hasn’t been the opposing team scoring against them. Which of course translates in to negative for San Jose’s D.

Just as Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle blasted a puck past his own goaltender when Thomas Greiss started against the Dallas Stars, Brent Burns tipped a puck on a 2-on-1 play in which the pass along the crease was going to miss its mark, re-directing the puck into the net for a Coyotes goal.

This is the consistency San Jose needs to find. Night in, night out, it’s unclear which players are going to show up. Will we be seeing that aggressive, shit down defense backed by a Stanley Cup champion goaltender, or will we see a defense lacking identity and confidence, over committing to plays as their goalie slides around on his knees watching the puck fly by?

As the Stanley Cup playoffs continue to draw closer, Antti Niemi needs to show that he is that Stanley Cup champion goaltender. The San Jose Sharks top D guys have to show more consistency. The San Jose Sharks have to do better, and to begin the transition to being that better team, the Sharks need to stop beating themselves and start beating their opponents.

How happy is James Reimer right now? 2 shutouts in a row!

Facing the Pittsburgh Penguins isn’t an easy task. Stopping all 25 shots they throw at you, is just as difficult. Regardless of the level of difficulty, Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender James Reimer isn’t the least bit intimidated and continues to solidify himself as a quality number 1 NHL goaltender.

As if he had to further prove that Optimus Reim is the man in Toronto, Reimer stood tall against the Ottawa Senators, blanking all 49 shots the Sens took.

Yes, a 49 save shutout performance by James Reimer.

Ed "The Eagle" Belfour

As the Maple Leafs continue to dangle onto the final playoff spot, the organization has to be confident in the fact that should they make the playoffs, they have a kid in net that is going to give them their first fighting chance for the Cup since the 03-04 season when Ed Belfour was their starting goaltender.

“I really wanted to step it up a bit and the only way I know how is to work hard and do what I think is right and so I went home and got in a little better shape (during the All-Star break),” Reimer said. “I never could have guessed that it would come with back-to-back shutouts. That’s a lot of fun to experience.”

It’s going to be tough for the Maple Leafs to get into the playoffs, but it’s going to be interesting to see how this young goaltender answers the call of the number 1 goaltender, bringing the hope of the Stanley Cup to Toronto.

Thomas Greiss improved his record to 7-4-1 last night in a relatively easy win over the Dallas Stars. In fact, his worst enemy that night was his own team.

Dallas started the game strong, taking a couple of quick shots early in the game. Greiss stayed calm and reserved, stopping a whipping 7 shots in the first period. The second period would be just as lackluster, but a bit more surprising.

San Jose played exceptionally strong in front of Greiss, as though they were playing for him, and not with him. Unfortunately Dallas would be credited with a goal when a fluke defensive play by Dan Boyle on Steve Ott would bring the Stars within 1 point of the Sharks. Ott was coming in locked and loaded on Greiss, whom was square to the puck. Boyle defended aggressively and was able to steal the puck away from Ott. Unfortunately, in a quick attempt to clear the puck from Ott, Boyle sent the puck flying towards his own net, only to catch Greiss by surprise and sneak through his five-hole. Greiss only faced 4 shots in the 2nd periods.

Dallas found a little bit of life coming into the third, increasing their overall shot output to 10 that period. Greiss stayed strong, playing aggressive at the top of his crease and staying square to his shooters. Early in the third, Greiss would stop a shot to his lower blocker side, over stretching so he can reach for the save. This left the puck sitting at the top of the crease, in which Greiss attempted to cover with his blocker.

Rather than either dropping his stick to pick up the puck with his blocker, or quickly cover the puck with his glove, Greiss attempted to weakly cover the puck with the edge of his blocker. This ineffective move made it quite easy for Dallas’ Jamie Benn to tap the unprotected puck into the empty net.

Despite his own team’s goal against and a flukey puck cover, Greiss still played very, very solid. While his starts are sporadic, thanks to Antti Niemi, Greiss is making the best of every opportunity he is getting. It’s just a matter of time before he earns a couple of starts in a row to further solidify his back-up role, and hopefully be part of a goaltending tandem that will take San Jose all the way.