[MyFlamesFirst]

Originally Posted by thymebalm

I'm one of those guys from Vancouver who is a flames fan so I happen to follow the Heat pretty darn closely.

Anyone in the Heat organization, or who watches regularly will tell you that Irving is a workhorse, and has put up some good stretches, but Taylor has been the better goalie since he arrived in Abby.

There could be a lot of reasons why Taylor didn't have a contract until now, like the fact that they already had 7 goalies in the system (Kiprusoff, Karlsson, Ramo, Irving, Brossoit, Gillies, Ortio) and likely figured that they'd be giving a contract to Ramo, Brossoit or Gillies by the next free agency period. That though Taylor may be better than Irving, they planned on having Kiprusoff just play all the dates anyway this season. It could be because they have their fingers crossed that Irving is still going to grow into that potential that they saw when he was drafted in the first round, after all, goalies can take longer to mature and develop. It could be because they wanted those contract spots to go after college free agents that they valued more than added strength in backup goaltending.

I'm a bigger fan of Taylor than Irving. I think that up until the lockout ended, Taylor was the better goalie. Maybe Irving has grown under the guidance of Malarchuck and the heavy workload of being an NHL backup. Maybe today Irving is better today than he was with the Heat.

Even still, though I appreciate the sentiment of the OP, the starter's job is Irving's to lose. If he continues to win hockey games, he should continue to play. I read a tweet before the last game where someone said they weren't worried because they think Irving plays better in the NHL than in the AHL...I'd say that's a bit of an anomaly.. but hey, maybe it's true.

I'm dying to see Taylor get a start in the NHL, I think it's such a great story on how hard he's worked to elevate through the professional rungs of hockey. But it's still not quite his turn. And he may not even get his turn this time around. Irving could win the next two games and Kipper could be ready to play...

5 years ago Taylor got to play one period of NHL hockey, and he went .80sv%. This time he may only get to open the gate. If he does gets to play, he will definitely do better than last time.

Great post. Agree completely. I think Taylors mental game is much stronger now listening to some interviews and I think he has worked hard enough to earn a shot at playing a game or two at the NHL level, especially is Irving is looking shaky. Irving has first priority but I don't think its fair to let him run with it if hes playing poorly, especially when Taylor is actually a pretty quality goaltender.