[Textcritic]

This is not a very good post.

Originally Posted by Split98

I think Johnson has proven to have great potential here in Calgary. Without him, we're talking about the draft right now. I don't pretend that the hot streak was the Johnson we can expect to see nightly, but he absolutely earned a spot here next year.

I completely disagree. Yes, Johnson's run was very important to the Flames run up the standings, but it is really impossible to say how much better or worse the team would have been with someone else in his place. The Flames would be worse off without Johnson, but still much better off than the Western Conference bottom feeders.

This year, he's our starter. Elliott has been given enough opportunity to take the reigns so I hope the Chad is given an extension and the games he's earned. If we can find a taker, try and move Elliott this year. Otherwise, show him the press box for the rest of the season.

Johnson is not the Flames starter. He has not been handled like the starting goalie to this point, and I see no reason to believe that this is suddenly about to change now. Johnson and Elliott are playing in textbook tandem scenario, and will continue to do so for the full season.

It is preposterous to suggest that Elliott should be relegated to mop-up duties as a backup goalie. The Flames needed him to win a bunch of games in December and he delivered. The Flames will doubtlessly need him to win many more games down the stretch, and I am hopeful that he will return to the form that he has characteristically shown over the course of his time in St. Louis.

I am not opposed to re-signing Johnson for another two years, but this is not a question that should be breached now, and likely not until the end of the season.

As Calgary4LIfe mentioned earlier, we have two goalies in the AHL right now that are going to need contracts next year. Rittich is a good goalie, and has put up 1.96/.929 this season. I'd love to see him get a few games on the Flames this year so see what we've got...

The only way Rittich will see any time in Calgary this year is if one of Johnson or Elliott sustains an injury. It certainly is something that could happen, but there is no way the Flames are going to call him up and play him just to "see what we've got." This team is competing for a playoff berth and will not jeopardize that on the faint hope that David Rittich is an upgrade on the two goalies in Calgary.

But a Johnson/Rittich or a Johnson/Gillies tandem has potential to be an upgrade on what we're seeing from Elliott. If we make the playoffs it'll be in spite of Brian's starts I doubt he sees a game in the post-season. I see no problems playing either one of those two in Brian's place. The bottom feeders he's beaten were certainly not something Rittich or Gillies couldn't handle... and he lets in enough softies that there's no risk trying someone else. Really, we can only improve on his starts.

This is nonsense.

...With Johnson now, I feel comfortable enough that we have someone in net that can cover the starts. He may not light the NHL on fire, but he's good enough to do the job. Or hell... he HAS already lit the NHL on fire once before. Who's to say that Johnson hot-streak ISN'T the real Johnson?

Either way, I've seen no upside to having Elliott around.

The upside in keeping Elliott around is in the distinct possibility that he performs much better than he has down the stretch. I like Johnson and I like how he has performed to date, but I am not in any way convinced enough to cast aside the other goalie who is the same age, and who has been among the League's leaders in each of the past four seasons.

It is way too early for the Flames to move on from Brian Elliott.