Quote:
Originally Posted by 868904
Those of you who want to put Gillies in as the NHL backup realize that he has less than 50 games of pro experience right?
Guur cited Jake Allen as an example. Well, Allen played 120 AHL games before he got 15 games in the NHL. Then they sent him down the next year for another 52 games.
Everyones favourite young goalie Matt Murray played 72 games in the AHL before debuting in the NHL AND in those 72 AHL game, Murray dominated the AHL.
Gillies doesn't have the pro experience and he hasn't come close to dominating the AHL yet to say he is ready.
When Gillies puts together a full season in the AHL of over 40 games with a GAA less than 2.5 and a save percentage over .920, that's when he is about ready to take the next step and even then, I would still be okay if the Flames kept him down and told him to do it again.
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Have you ever watched AHL games? AHL stats in particular for goalies are difficult to gauge. We've seen goalies like Danny Taylor put up stellar numbers for our AHL affiliate.
The only way you are going to know how well a goalie is going to play in the NHL is to play them in the NHL.
It's not a question of whether he is ready or not. We can't tell if he is or isn't ready if he isn't given the opportunity to be successful.
The Flames did the same thing back when Sutter was in charge. They would promise our young kids would get their shot and it would never happen.
Right now in order to acquire any of these young goalies it's most likely Gillies is going the other way. It simply makes no sense to allow another team to develop a goalie that we've patiently waited for. Especially when we know he's a damn good goalie.
This past season he came back from a serious injury, was playing with some very young Dmen and still put up respectable numbers. He looked solid in his 1 start in Los Angeles.
You've got Bishop as a #1 so it really can't hurt to give Gillies 15 games in year #1. If he's clearly not cut out for it we can try rittich or parsons or sign another backup.
To not try though would be a tragedy. Many fans on Calgary puck have wanted to see Gillies get the opportunity to the be the man. Now that the opportunity is knocking everyone is suddenly asking for another team's backup goalie...
Like seriously WTF