Quote:
Originally Posted by JiriHrdina
Again so what's the alternative? Yeah ideally they would have a guy like Schneider or Rask in the wings - or Bernier - but those guys are rare. And guess what - they were drafted in the first round - but not all first round goalies work out.
Take a look around the NHL and you'll find that teams got their #1 goalies in all sorts of ways. Off the top of my head
Anderson - traded for late in his career
Hiller - signed from Europe (I think)
Rinne - mid round pick that spent a lot of time in the minors
Halak - trade
Price/Ward/Fleury - all first round picks. Price/Fleury very high
Tampa guy (name escapes me) - trade
Mike Smith - trade
Varlamov - trade
CBJ - trade
On and on and on. Teams can find #1 goalies in all sorts of ways. Rarely do they have a guy graduate from back-up to become the #1.
So what do you want from the Flames? They have a number of guys in the system that could be #1s eventually and a guy that could be a starter a year from now. If not - they probably sign or acquire someone
By why are we panicking about it today - because a guy who couldn't hack it in the NHL has been sent down?
|
The alternative would be to spend about 1.5 on a backup, that would get you a decent older player who could take on 25 games a year, which could conceivably both extend and improve Kipper's last few years and would give the management the ability and desire to bring up the rookie you think might be the one earlier.