Philadelphia Flyers: Bryzgalov’s out, who’s in?

With the Flyers playoff hopes dissipating in the final weeks of the 2013 season many questions are being raised about Ilya Bryzgalov’s future in the City of Brotherly Love.

Ilya, has been adequate for the struggling Flyers this season and although he is not to blame for their poor performance (you can blame that one on offense production, and porous defence), he hasn’t been much help, and that’s enough for him to be crucified by Flyers fans in the vein of Roman Cechmanek circa 2003.

Philadelphia loves to blame their goalies for all their problems since they were treated to one of the greatest goalies of all time in Bernie Parent in the seventies, but if you look at some of the teams that won the cup without crazy stellar goaltending, such as the Red Wings with Chris Osgood in 98 (in 08 and 09 he played spectacular) and Blackhawks with Antti Niemi in 10, it’s quite clear that goaltending isn’t everything. But things have gotten so bad in Philadelphia that getting rid of Bryzgalov is probably the best for each party.

If the Flyers opt to buy out his contract this summer, which is more than likely considering no one will trade for that contract, Philadelphia will be in the hole for $23 million dollars over a 14 year span. This means that they’d finish paying him in 2027, at the ripe age of forty-seven. But at least they’ll have space for a goalie and this is where things get interesting.

There seems to be more NHL quality goalies than teams these days which has pushed some people out of jobs leaving them ready to be scooped up by desperate organizations; aka Philadelphia Flyers. And that’s not a bad thing because here are some of the guys out there: Ryan Miller, Jonathan Bernier, Jaroslav Halak/Brian Elliot (one of those guys), Tim Thomas, Kari Lehtonen (Dallas might use him as trade bait), and Niklas Backstrom.

Brian Elliot is a gamble and much like Ben Bishop in Ottawa, is the benefactor of a solid defensive team. Bernier will more than likely pan out, but Philadelphia doesn’t have the patience to develop a young goaltender so their best option is Ryan Miller.

Ryan Miller has been stupendous for the Buffalo Sabres since his breakout season in 2006. He’s posted seven straight seasons of thirty wins or more, won the Vezina Trophy in 2010, and received a Silver Medal for his play in the 2010 Winter Olympics. To say the least, he’s qualified for the job.

And unlike Bryzgalov who came from relatively small hockey markets, Anaheim and Phoenix, Ryan is used to a strong media presence. This is a big one because there are sure to be trying moments in a season for every team in the league and so being able to block off the media scrutiny will be a major skill to have in a hockey crazed city such as Philadelphia.

Miller will come with a price tag that’ll probably equate two first round picks and a few prospects but that’s nothing for the Flyers who know that their small window of opportunity to win a Cup is closing.

As for Bryz, well he might find himself on a team like Calgary, Florida, or (most likely) Tampa Bay. Calgary is a long shot because chances are Ilya doesn’t want to move from one intense hockey market to another. Florida always seems to need a goaltender so that might be his stomping ground for a while. Tampa Bay is starting to figure out that it doesn’t matter what new amazing goalie you put in net if you don’t have defence so they might jump on Bryz who could bring some consistency to their offensive minded team, even if that consistency is average.

It’s almost a guarantee that Ilya won’t be back come the 2014 season. He’s burned as many bridges as possible in Philadelphia, and his comical persona would be tolerable if it went alongside some wins which he hasn’t had many of lately. Miller would be the perfect fit as his past playoff experience and international play show that he’s a big game player (which is even better when you consider how awful Buffalo’s defence is). He could fix some gaping holes in the Flyers game and give some confidence to the forwards who wouldn’t be checking back to see if another goal was going in. It might cost them a lot but who knows how far the Flyers could go if they had a truly exceptional number one goaltender.

Alex Ovechkin has Returned to His Scoring Throne

Alex Ovechkin is back. In thirty-seven games this season Ovechkin has thirty-seven points and twenty goals and if he were to play a full regular season (eighty-two games) he would be on pace for forty-four goals and eighty-two points. Currently, he’s playing some of the best hockey since 2010, though no one saw this coming early on in the year.

Ovechkin started off the season slowly with a tumultuous five goals in sixteen games. Pressure was mounting from the media who was all over him for his lack luster play, and his perception around the league was best exemplified in TSN’s NHL Player Rankings which saw Alex ranked 12^th in the league behind the likes of Corey Crawford and Nazem Kadri- quite a drop from the man who was once in the debate for the greatest player in the NHL.

But since March 14^th, when the Caps played the Carolina Hurricanes, Alex has been on fire. Last night was the end of his nine game point streak that saw him tally fifteen points and ten goals, and since his porous start, Ovechkin, has moved up to fifth in goal scoring and is five short of Steven Stamkos’s league leading twenty-five goals.

The Caps have crawled back into playoff position going 7-2-1 in their last ten, and line mate Niklas Backstrom seems to have found his scoring touch alongside Ovechkinand is nearly a point a game player. It’s quite obvious that this team lives and dies with Alex Ovechkin and if he keeps at this pace there might be some Stanley Cup buzz in the Nation’s Capital come playoff time. 

Tampa Bay Lightning Takes Chance on Ben Bishop trade

Not since the days of Nikolai Khabibulin have the Tampa Bay Lightning had a number one netminder. Instead, they’ve had a mixture of young and inexperienced (Mike Smith, Johan Holmqvist, Anders Lindback), or old and on the way out (Sean Burke, Dwayne Roloson). So of course when it came to trade deadline this year Tampa took a look at their history of poor goaltending choices over the last several years and decided to do the exact same thing in acquiring Ben Bishop.

Ben has been solid this year- there’s no doubt in that- but much like Anders Lindback, who came to the lighting with little NHL experience, Bishop has played very little in the NHL (36 games). To put things in perspective, between Lindback and Bishop the two goaltenders have played 95 games in total which is a mere thirteen games more than one NHL regular season, and together they combine for thirteen minutes in NHL playoff experience. If the lack of experience wasn’t enough, the Lightning gave up top prospect Cory Conacher who is currently second in scoring among rookies.

Ben is indeed a big goalie but he benefited from the luxury of playing for a defensive minded team. Tampa needs to improve their defensive core, and opt for a more defensive minded game if they want any success with Ben minding their net. 

Toronto Maple Leafs: No Need for New Goalie

With the season winding down and the Maple Leafs sitting in a secure 6^th place with a nine point lead over the eighth place Rangers there is much speculation about what the Leafs are going to do with their goaltending situation. This would make since a few months ago but now James Reimer has earned the right to be the starting guy come playoff time.

It's not that Reimer and Scrivens are such an outstanding tandem. In fact, despite having a .918 save percentage and two shutouts, Ben Scrivens has been an inconsistent goaltender and by all accounts has a way to go to being a solid back up. But James Reimer has been superb for the Leafs and deserves the opportunity to play in the post season because of his progression as a goaltender over the last couple of years. If there is a goaltending move it would only be logical to pick up a veteran goaltender for a ‘what if’ scenario but even then that doesn’t seem like a worthwhile move.

James, has a .920 SAV and a 2.59 GAA alongside a 13-4-4 record, and has prior experience in the playoffs with the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays where he won the Kelly Cup alongside being named MVP of the playoffs. He has been the Leafs most capable and consistent goalie since Ed Belfour and should be given the chance to play net in the playoffs.