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GranteedEV · 10-23-2018, 05:39 AM

In 18 career starts, Rittich is up to 12 "quality starts" for a .667 QS%

Here's a list of all other goaltenders with a .620 or better QS% over the last decade with as many starts:

Antti Ranta - 85 quality starts / 130 starts
Andrew Hammond - 33 QS / 49 GS
Juuse Saros - 29 QS / 46 GS
Linus Ulmark - 17 QS / 26 GS

Rittich is actually the only guy in this group with a SV% less than .921 but has the fewest GP - which speaks to how much his outlier bad games (@Vegas) drag him down. The one thing that stands out about this list is that it's not a list containing "starters". While starters are able to put up a QS% over .620 in their up years (e.g. Gibson @ 39 qs out of 60 starts last year) they have their down years too (Gibson only 28 qs out of 49 starts the year prior). And perhaps ALL goalies need more time between starts to recover, as baseball has discovered with pitcher rotations. Often what makes a starter is not actual "consistency" but "being named the starter" - a chicken-and-egg scenario. All you can do to name a starter is look at what you have in a backup.

Looking at these five backups, then:

Hammond is a wierd case as no one seems to believe in him being anything more than a hot run in 2014-15 (even though fifteen of his twenty-six starts since then were QS) but the other three guys are all interesting cases. Raanta is a guy many of us wanted to acquire before Arizona won the sweepstakes. Saros is the guy many of us want to acquire right now. Ulmark is off to a nice start this year and appears to be in Buffalo's future plans.

I can't tell you if Rittich is "a future starter" given the sheer subjectivity of being named a starter - but he does seem to be a damn good goalie who, if he plays the next eighteen starts as dependable as he played the last eighteen, should deserve to be named a starter. And he certainly deserves at least eighteen more starts this season.

Of course, once someone is named a starter they can't go Darling and have a terrible year, but it's a risk you take. A risk Edmonton took with Talbot, a risk Arizona took with Raanta, a risk the Jets took with Hellebuyck.

10-23-2018, 05:39 AM	#37
GranteedEV Franchise Player Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Calgary Exp:	In 18 career starts, Rittich is up to 12 "quality starts" for a .667 QS% Here's a list of all other goaltenders with a .620 or better QS% over the last decade with as many starts: Antti Ranta - 85 quality starts / 130 starts Andrew Hammond - 33 QS / 49 GS Juuse Saros - 29 QS / 46 GS Linus Ulmark - 17 QS / 26 GS Rittich is actually the only guy in this group with a SV% less than .921 but has the fewest GP - which speaks to how much his outlier bad games (@Vegas) drag him down. The one thing that stands out about this list is that it's not a list containing "starters". While starters are able to put up a QS% over .620 in their up years (e.g. Gibson @ 39 qs out of 60 starts last year) they have their down years too (Gibson only 28 qs out of 49 starts the year prior). And perhaps ALL goalies need more time between starts to recover, as baseball has discovered with pitcher rotations. Often what makes a starter is not actual "consistency" but "being named the starter" - a chicken-and-egg scenario. All you can do to name a starter is look at what you have in a backup. Looking at these five backups, then: Hammond is a wierd case as no one seems to believe in him being anything more than a hot run in 2014-15 (even though fifteen of his twenty-six starts since then were QS) but the other three guys are all interesting cases. Raanta is a guy many of us wanted to acquire before Arizona won the sweepstakes. Saros is the guy many of us want to acquire right now. Ulmark is off to a nice start this year and appears to be in Buffalo's future plans. I can't tell you if Rittich is "a future starter" given the sheer subjectivity of being named a starter - but he does seem to be a damn good goalie who, if he plays the next eighteen starts as dependable as he played the last eighteen, should deserve to be named a starter. And he certainly deserves at least eighteen more starts this season. Of course, once someone is named a starter they can't go Darling and have a terrible year, but it's a risk you take. A risk Edmonton took with Talbot, a risk Arizona took with Raanta, a risk the Jets took with Hellebuyck. __________________ "May those who accept their fate find happiness. May those who defy it find glory." Last edited by GranteedEV; 10-23-2018 at 05:53 AM.