It really amazes me how much a bad season really effects the way fans view a player. I'm sure I'm guilty of it too. I remember thinking Ovechkin was done after a couple of down years from what he usually does.
Still though, I can't believe how many folks think Bishop is finished as a top tier goalie after the 3 seasons he just had before this one. He was top 3 in Vezina voting 2/3 years, won 112 regular season games and carried his team deep in the playoffs twice.
IMO we should be looking at this down season as a well timed gift so that maybe we can get him at a much more palatable deal than the rumored 7 x 7 he wanted last off season. Plus the fact that he's free to sign now and we don't have to give up assets to acquire him.
Pekka Rinne - 34 years old
Craig Anderson - 35 years old
Jonathan Quick - 31 years old
Corey Crawford - 32 years old
Roberto Luongo - 38 years old
Ryan Miller - 38 years old
Look at the stats of that collection of elite goalies, Vezina winners, Jennings winners and Stanley Cup winners. All of them have years where their numbers dipped and then they bounced back, some of them would dip again, and bounce back. The older ones even had a so-so year around 30 or so and still went on to have elite years up until their mid 30's.
And when I say bad year, or down year, or so-so year, we are still talking about just average NHL numbers, not catastrophic Jonas Hiller circa 2015/16 numbers.
Man, I guess I've beat this drum to death. I've said my piece and we will see what happens, but if they sign Bishop I have every confidence he will give us mostly years of above average to elite goaltending even on a 5 or 6 year deal.