Quote:
Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm
Which goalies are given NHL playing time to develop???
Goalies either come in, play well, or they don't.
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There are goalies who are given opportunity especially when there is a belief in them prior to the season (which there was and should be in Ortio). It's not cut-and-dry that the first handful of games have to be a great or even solid string of performances.
Rinne's "rookie" season was 2008-09 where he played 52 games. His first five games (October/November 2008) he had a .866 / 3.54 and was pulled twice in 20 minutes or less.
Crawford's "rookie" season was 2010-11 where he played 57 games. His first four games (October 2010) he had a .901 / 3.03 GAA and lost 3 of 4 games. This was behind the defending cup champs, btw, not exactly a poor team.
Steve Mason, who
won the Calder Trophy, let in 4 goals with a .846 in the first game of his career. He started the very next night.
Kari Lehtonen, who Hartley coached in his "rookie" year, was treated similarily to Ortio this year. Through his first handful of starts (
4 starts between October through early January) he was at .876 / 3.10 GAA
Fact is seasoned veterans, when they struggle are still given every opportunity to work through their struggles (see this season: Quick, Varlamov, Bobrovski, Ramo, Hiller). Whether rookies "should" be given a similar leash is debatable, but it's not like cold starts are indicative of poor goaltenders. Ortio had a cold start, so did all those guys. The overall sample size with Ortio isn't there, so we don't know what we have in him yet. The eye test has told me for a long time that he's a better goalie than Hiller or Ramo though.