Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
Other people whined about the announcement.
A bit of a break? Markstrom had 3 games and then they had a week off, so basically they reset. After they restarted, Rittich played the 3rd game, Markstrom started two more and Rittich started again. No one was calling for Rittich after those first two starts. So, yeah, Markstrom got 7 starts in a row. And he went 4-2 until he had a terrible game against Vancouver, which is when I think he got dinged up.
Since then Rittich has started 2 games of 3. One planned, one maybe because of the injury, although arguably he would have started against Hutchinson anyway.
But the main point is that Markstrom’s injury may or may not because of overplaying and it’s foolish to just blame Ward when you don’t know, especially when he’s had a couple self-inflicted collisions, not to mention McDavid trying to run him over.
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It was 11 starts in 27 days before the wheels fell off, and 14 starts to Rittich's 2 in that same time. The 7 starts in a row was also a case of 7 starts in 14 days.
Of course we don't actually know what caused Markstrom's injury, but I'm saying it doesn't
look good on Ward when he's riding his star goalie like that leading into him having a bad game, speculation that he's overplayed and tired, and him then getting injured. Injuries come easily when when the body is tired.
The issue is also not about what the fans wanted. I'm saying it
looks bad for Ward because player management is his responsibility. The fans don't make roster decisions. That's entirely Ward's decision, and in retrospect it looks questionable. Playing a goalie much more than he's used to and him getting injured naturally raises questions as to the relationship between the injury and the volume of games played in a short time.