Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
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.
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Markstrom's never posted a GAA below 2.5. Gibson and Price have. Markstrom's claim to fame is a year he posted a GAA of 2.77.
The problem with the Markstrom hype is that it revolves around "look what he did behind a team that gave up a lot of shots" and not "look what he did".
The Flames are not a team that give up a lot of shots. Goalie play doesn't translate linearly from lots of shots to few shots (hence why the quality start% stat has a modifier for shots fewer than twenty!).
In Markstrom's claim to fame year, he had a QS% of .581 which is... a good year, but not a superstar year. His career QS% is .518
In Price's peak year, he had a QS% of .667 - and his CAREER QS% is .574
See the huge gap there? Most people would tell you Carey Price is overpaid - even though his average year is about on par with Markstrom's absolute best possible year.
Markstrom has had two starts this year and neither is, statistically, a quality start. It's astounding the free pass he's been given. David Rittich as a Flame had a QS% of .559 and few felt he was good enough. Markstrom's is good enough though, somehow. Because [insert Canucks had bad D excuse, even though we know defense does not impact goalie performance outside of shot volume]