Quote:
Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan
So let me get this straight, it's an embarassment we don't want to throw a very promising goaltender to the wolves? Wolf is going to get his time, we are going to work him in. We are fortunate to have the Wranglers in Calgary to allow him to start games in Calgary and without hectic travel. He should be hitting up the road games with the Wranglers and playing more home games than not. Or whatever management wants to do.
The biggest concern I have with your brilliant idea of just slotting him in as backup is the potential injury concern to Markstrom. Assuming Vladar is gone, since he is the easiest to move, let's assume Markstrom is injured. That leaves us with Wolf and Dansk as our goalies. I am not comfortable with that tandem at all. Whether Wolf is one of the best goalie prospects or not, you need some sheltering when first entering the league. How do you think Saaros became one of the best? Eased in by Rinne. Shesterkin/Lundqvist, remeber that? Let us do the same with Markstrom and Wolf, Wolf will eventually surpass him if he continues his current trajectory, and he will surpass him rather quick too. Right now we need to focus on either utilizing Vladar as the backup and a trade chip for another desperate team, because injuries do happen. Not all teams have the luxury of a top goalie prospect more than capable of playing the backup spot.
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He could start the season as the number 1 and it wouldn't be throwing him to the wolves. Because he just spent 2 years dominating the best developmental league the NHL has to offer. There is literally, and yes I literally mean literally, no other path forward in his development right now than to play regularly in the NHL. Am I advocating he start 50 or 60 games this year? Of course not. What I am advocating is that every day Wolf spends in the AHL is a waste. of. time. There is nothing left to be learned there. So either s%$t or get off the pot. Everyone talks about roster management and how important it is to figure out what to do with Vladar, yet is it not monumentally more important to better manage the cost controlled years of Wolfs career? Assuming Wolf pans out, are you really going to be happy it took 3 pro years to even get him into a few games? And if he doesn't pan out, might as well find out now and stop trying to push things down the road.
And you name off some mentoring examples. Ok that's great. What mentoring is Wolf getting in the AHL? So we've got Rinne/Saaros, Lundqvist/Sherterkin, and your comparable is Dansk/Wolf? Because that was the older goalie that Wolf played with last year. Last year should have been his 'ease him into the NHL a bit' year especially when they had a nice opportunity with Markstroms child being born. But hey, I guess since things have been going great, why rock the boat???