Quote:
Originally Posted by The Big Thirsty
the days of him being a top 10 goalie are over.
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Honestly, what the hell are we expecting out of him? Any more time we get of classic Kiprusoff is just a bonus.
He's an athletic goalie who's over 37. The first thing that goes is reflexes and we've seen that the past few years. Kiprusoff's ability to make up for his sometimes questionable angles played and misreads with highlight reel saves has slowly vanished. We can see this in many of his "soft" goals, where impossible angle shots go in or he acts slightly too late to make an amazing stop (see: tonight's five hole goal. A little faster and he'd have gotten it. 5 years removed from his prime, that's not happening though).
It's a miracle if he only starts breaking down now (and that's an if. I keep telling myself this is the year he'll finally fade away, but he keeps proving me wrong). He's on the back end of a front loaded contract, so he should be overpaid. If he isn't still, then the team had a great contract play out for them.
So, what should the Flames do? Play who's best. Kiprusoff is a workhorse mentally through and through (60-70 in an 82 game season seems to be his new limit though). He'll play an intense schedule as needed. The question is if his technique and reaction combination are still up for the task. Statistically, I think we'll see him be a usable starter this year (10-20th dependant on what exactly he rebounds to), a low ranking starter next year (20-30), then a fade into backup quality until he retires. That is, if he hasn't by then. It's a little steep a decline, I understand, but I suspect we'll see more and more of this weird allowed goals type of play to begin to ramp up as he can't magically track and catch the puck where no other man could.