Quote:
Originally Posted by Tilley
He was the third goalie with the Heat because he couldn't/didn't want to sign with a European team during the lock out and the Flames didn't want him sitting around. By signing with the Heat it allowed him to stay in Canada with his young family and stay sharp working with the affiliate of his NHL team.
Irving could only dress for a max of 20 games. The Heat already has two 'AHL veteran' goalies so why get Irving in, when he's already established that he can play at that level. It was more important to have Irving ready to compete for the back up job when the lockout ended. Now Irving has his chance to show that he can play in the NHL.
|
It's amazing how many times this has to be said on here, yet people still don't know the situation. Not only this, but as others have mentioned, if Irving gets injured, the Flames were stuck with Karlsson, who at this stage is clearly not an NHL goalie. His rebound control was brutal. Irving played sparingly and stayed in game shape. His performance was clearly not being counted as he won the job here and there was no talk of signing Taylor or Brust depite their performances. That speaks volumes of what the Flames think of Irving compared to those two guys. They have the contract space open if either of those guys were NHL-caliber.