Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Brew
Stats are like that though. They count good and bad games. His career save %, to pick one number is .91. That seems like a fair starting point for an expectation for him. Is that solid starter quality? I think it depends if you believe he is actually better than that based on some excellent seasons with the Canucks.
Markstrom is far from the only goalie who has been injured so when you compare stats to his peers, IMO you need to take that into account too. Gibson last night was coming off a minor injury and he played great.
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For sure, but there's always some context required when looking at stats. 1/3 of Markstrom's games came before he became a starter. Tim Thomas was 33 with only 80ish games to his name (at a SV% less than .910) before he came on. Obviously I'm not making the comparison, but the closer you look at the stats, the more accurate of a story they tell. Kiprusoff is regarded as one of the best Flames of all-time, an absolute world-beater. Most of us saw him carry the team on his back for a lot of years. Career SV%? .912. Taking career SV% isn't entirely helpful for a lot of guys, nor is judging based on one season or a couple games. That's how you get boneheads relying on some revisionist history to argue Talbot was some no brainer choice over Markstrom. You have to hone in a bit more than that.
Even look at Gibson. Looked like a world-beater last night, right? He was worse than Markstrom last year. And the year before that. His SV% over the last two seasons is .904, but we can all confidently say he's a pretty stellar goaltender, right? Carey Price, good? or trash? .907 over the last two years. I think most people would still call him one of the best in the league. Maybe not $10M good, but way up there.