Quote:
Originally Posted by Blaster86
The only real issue with either deal is length. These first two seasons should be really good though.
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I disagree. Here's why:
- Stretching, conditioning and management of hips in goaltending circles has improved drastically over the past 5 years.
- This is why you're seeing more goalies play well into their mid/late 30's. See Rask, Anderson, Khudobin, Lundquist, Rinne, etc... If you're going to come back with Markstrom's injury history, all of these goalies have also dealt with major injuries.
- Markstrom plays a compact and efficient game. Big Jonathan Quick-like bursts is not common in his game, but is in his repertoire. He relies mostly on his size, puck tracking, calmness, and positioning. A guy like Demko may degrade earlier because of a reliance of pure mobility and is also why Holtby has been a declining asset for some time now.
It's actually highly likely Markstrom lives up (or gets close) to his contract. 36 is actually a perfect time for the team to part ways with him.
I've watched Markstrom play quite closely over this and last season. I'm pretty blown away the Canucks let him go for this price, especially when someone like Bobrovsky went for well over that amount and Holtby was only slightly cheaper.