Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
Yeah, the eye surgery may help. My personnel take on Irving's bad season last year is that he thought as the Flames backup and the lockout being on, he didn't prepare properly for the season as he thought he had time. He got caught with his pants down when sent to Abbotsford and never recovered. When the season resumed I think Kiprusoff got caught out of shape as well.
and thanks for the analysis of Finnish goalies and Gillies style, good post.
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I am not sure if Irving did get caught with his pants down or not. I just kept seeing him continually lose his spot to career AHL'ers. He would always be awarded the starting role in Abbotsford, and he would often end up losing it. Keetley, Brust and Taylor all took it from him. None of those guys are NHL caliber either.
Berra comes in and he plays solid on the Heat. Ortio comes in and plays lights-out.
I personally didn't like Irving's style in net, though he had his moments for sure. He just never got over that 'inconsistency' hump that separates good goalies from bad ones.