Quote:
Originally Posted by CSharp
Who cares about save percentage. Kipper can win you games when the team in front of him totally sucks.
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I'm probably one of the biggest fans of Kiprusoff and he wasn't the same man when he retired that we remembered him as. The last year was full of soft goals and bad reads.
Kiprusoff's biggest losses as he aged were his reaction. He never had flawless technique, but always fast enough to prevent them from becoming massive issues. Unless you ask SebC. Either way though, that and being impossible to rattle was what let him make the miracle saves.
The last couple years, Kiprusoff's ability to do that got worse and worse. I think it was 2 years out from retirement, he gave up a tonne of sharp angle goals. He still made the highlight reel saves we all love and cherish, but the odder goals kept piling up. Reaction is one of the first things to go from a goalie it seems and Kiprusoff's reactions aged poorly the last couple years.
True, his last year shouldn't be indicative of his play. After he returned from his injury, things seemed to get better. Especially the last couple home games, which were classic Kiprusoff. But I don't think there is room in the Toronto system, as it is today, for an aging veteran. Reimer probably would do a better job on most nights at this point.
At this point, saying winning games while the team in front sucks is pretty much a given with the Leafs. They had some of the worst shots against stats to start the year. The only reason they won games was because the tandem had .940 save percent.