Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
And I would question the validity of this claim. Is this an opinion that is borne of evidence, or is based on flawed perceptions of the defensemen?
I am personally sceptical about the causal link between when the puck is played by the goalie and whether or not that saves a defenseman from a hit. Of course, even if this is only a perception that makes the defensemen feel better about themselves and their game, that in itself might be of some value.
But again, I think there is a separate issue here: I believe that with such a highly active goalie behind them it is natural for defensemen to play more slowly, passively and with a lower degree of anticipation in their own zone. It makes sense to me that they would do so—even if only instinctively because they are expecting the puck to be moved. This also means that defensemen are moving the puck from behind their own goal less, and arguably not carrying it with as much speed from their own blue line once they get it on their sticks. I think this potentially creates more problems than it solves, especially when facing off against a very fast forechecking team on the other side of the ice.
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Its a stat they had someone tracking each game...Chris Snow maybe? I dunno, but he has no reason to make it up. Maybe I didnt hear him right or whatever, it was just a casual comment he made a couple weeks back on HNIC when they were talking about G's handling the puck in a general sense.