For what it's worth (and most Sens fans will probably say "not much"), Brian Costello over at the very well respected Hockey News wrote an article claiming that Cristobal Huet of the Chicago Blackhawks is not in the top ten or even top 15 goalies in the league.
He went on to list a myriad of goalies he'd pick over Huet and many who were on par with Huet. In fact, Costello went through almost every goalie in the league and noticeably absent from his list is any mention of Senators "number one" goalie Martin Gerber, not to mention newly signed backup Alex Auld.
"Here are 10 goalies I wouldn’t hesitate picking before Huet: Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Miikka Kiprusoff, Evgeni Nabokov, Henrik Lundqvist, J-S Giguere, Ryan Miller, Ilya Bryzgalov, Tomas Vokoun and Marty Turco.
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I’d probably even pick some of this next tier of goalies before Huet: Niklas Backstrom, Vesa Toskala, Marc-Andre Fleury, Rick DiPietro, Tim Thomas, Chris Osgood, Carey Price, Cam Ward, Martin Biron and Kari Lehtonen. That’s why Huet may not be among my top 15.
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There are other good goalies out there as well: Jose Theodore, Pascal Leclaire, Manny Legace, Nikolai Khabibulin, Manny Fernandez, Mathieu Garon, Jaroslav Halak, Josh Harding, Chris Mason, Dwayne Roloson, Mike Smith, Dan Ellis. It’s a very deep field."
- The Hockey News
So, did Costello just absent-mindedly forget about the Sens duo or is this a dose of reality for Senators fans who have fallen head over heels for their Swiss hero who perhaps only looked so good in comparison to the fallen Ray Emery?
Does anyone really disagree with Costello's sentiment? I don't think you'll be seeing too many publications or pundits picking the Senators to be real contenders this season and it will largely centre on the fact that the goaltending is simply sub-par compared to the rest of the league.
Perhaps only Edmonton has a weaker goalie tandem than Ottawa.
Or am I being too hard on Gerber here?
4 comments:
Respect is earned. You know the answer to your question.
gerber and auld = ahl semi-finals or echl champs. gerber and auld as an nhl tandem = 3rd and 4th stringers. An absolute disaster in the making.
Too soon to know. Goalies need a lot of starts, and consecutively. Paddock mishandled the goalie situation last season, that much was clear. Ottawa also allowed more shots than many teams in the league, and with a D that included Redden and Meszaros' second straight 'off' season, 200 year old Richardson and, for at least half the season, uh-oh Corvo and then a Commodore who couldn't play the Sens' system, they were often being outworked. The Sens were penalized heavily last year, and faced a lot strong PPs.
All of those things combined mean: who knows if Gerber's the real thing? I do think Sens fans make a lot of excuses for him. But he's shown that, at least now and then, he can play.
Having said that...I'd rather have Huet.
worst tandem in the NHL is now Colorado. No bones about that.
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