Quote:
Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf
all those goalies have their own question marks
Miller has had 1 good season
Smith is great in a Tippet system, so was Bryz
Thomas is retired
Nabokov is close to being retired
Bernier will cost a ton
Backstrom has never been the same since losing Lemaire
Hiller/Halak aren't as good as Luongo
look at the link posted above
Luongo is 6th, Thomas (2nd) and Smith (7th) are the only other's in the top 18
and to bring up Thomas, the last 3 years of that Luongo deal are extremely attractive to a cap floor team when he's barely getting paid but his cap hit is still 5.2
Jimmy Howard just signed a deal which is basically the same as Luongo's the next 6 years, I imagine Smith will (and it will be a mistake) get something close
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And Luongo has no question marks whatsoever. He's never imploded at crucial times. Plus, he's funny as hell.
Fact is, none of the goalies you listed above have had massive meltdowns in big games on the scale that Luongo has had. Sure, most of them haven't had the chance to play in big games, but at least they don't have that failure hanging over their head and in the back of their minds.
The only starting goalie who is similar to Luongo is Fleury, with the exception of Fleury having a cup ring.
I'm not saying Luongo isn't a good goalie, cause he is, but it's hard for any GM to just overlook his knack for imploding, especially when you look at the investment term. Certainty is paramount in any investment, and Luongo does not provide any certainty.