Quote:
Originally Posted by TheScorpion
Quick and Crawford weren't very established before they won in 2012 and 2013
Same deal with Matt Murray in 2016 and 2017
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Matt Murray was flanked by MAF in both of those years, and Murray was a highly touted young goalie.
Quick was actively establishing himself as an elite goalie, as was Crawford.
They weren’t some 33 year old goalie who can’t keep it together over a full season and falls apart in elimination games.
If we had a goalie the same quality as Crawford or Quick, it would have been Rittich this year truly establishing himself - instead he fell apart. Those are the differences between being a top goalie, and not.
The Blues (Binnington) and Chicago (Niemi’s year) are the exception to the rule that you need established high end goaltending or young elite goalies who are just breaking out to win the Cup.
Hell, to even consistently move beyond the first round you need high quality established goaltending. The Flames have cycled bottom tier goalies in and out of the line-up for 6 seasons. There’s no defending it, it’s just a failure.