Michael Russo @Russostrib
#mnwild bringing Calgary #Flames first-rounder, goalie Leland Irving, to camp on a PTO. Fresh off KHL. Essentially trying out for Iowa
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I remember watching him at the 'Dome and he had the worst rebound control of any NHL goaltender I've ever seen play live. Pucks would hit him and bounce up 30 feet in the air constantly. Don't see that very often at the NHL level.
A shame he could never put it all together. Hopefully he gets a good shot with the Wild.
I would excuse him for this one. Irving looked great for a few years there and goalies are really difficult to project. We needed a heir apparent to Kiprusoff and he was one of the best goalies available at that spot. Sutter's biggest mistakes were taking two big, slow, project wingers in 04 and 08 and a big, slow project dman in 05. That's three wasted 1st rounders in five years as none of those guys ever had potential beyond being depth players, and they couldn't even do that. High risk/low reward is no way to draft in the first round, at least Irving had starter potential.
I would excuse him for this one. Irving looked great for a few years there and goalies are really difficult to project. We needed a heir apparent to Kiprusoff and he was one of the best goalies available at that spot. Sutter's biggest mistakes were taking two big, slow, project wingers in 04 and 08 and a big, slow project dman in 05. That's three wasted 1st rounders in five years as none of those guys ever had potential beyond being depth players, and they couldn't even do that. High risk/low reward is no way to draft in the first round, at least Irving had starter potential.
There is never an excuse for drafting a goalie in the first round.
You can flip a 2nd for a fully developed goalie with starter potential every off season. This year you had a choice of 4 or 5 of them. It only took a 3rd last year to get a guy that got a Vezina nomination.
Just say no to drafting goalies!
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There is never an excuse for drafting a goalie in the first round.
You can flip a 2nd for a fully developed goalie with starter potential every off season. This year you had a choice of 4 or 5 of them. It only took a 3rd last year to get a guy that got a Vezina nomination.
Just say no to drafting goalies!
Disagree, there can be good goaltenders with a very high ceiling in the first round, BPA is BPA. Vasilevsky was a 1st rounder. Dubnyk was a 1st rounder. Price was a 1st rounder.
The issue is development, and that's where the Flames failed with Irving as they failed to ever get him technically sound. You look at the Heat roster from back then and the heat roster next season you can see a clear difference in philosophy - even if the Heat lose every game next year the emphasis is on individual players improving their game. Back then it was "prospects will ride shotgun with older players lightening the load and we'll see who ends up decent".
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There is never an excuse for drafting a goalie in the first round.
You can flip a 2nd for a fully developed goalie with starter potential every off season. This year you had a choice of 4 or 5 of them. It only took a 3rd last year to get a guy that got a Vezina nomination.
Just say no to drafting goalies!
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There is never an excuse for drafting a goalie in the first round.
You can flip a 2nd for a fully developed goalie with starter potential every off season. This year you had a choice of 4 or 5 of them. It only took a 3rd last year to get a guy that got a Vezina nomination.
Just say no to drafting goalies!
I agree with that if it's a top 15-20 pick but Irving was drafted #26 and we didn't have another pick until late in the third round. The only goalies (that amounted to anything) that were drafted later on were Chad Johnson and James Reimer. They probably weren't on Sutter's radar and aren't very good anyway.
Let's say the Canadiens had drafted Kopitar with the pick they used on Price that year and then picked Jonathan Quick in the 3rd round of the same draft, then maybe they would have the 2 cups that LA has.
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Leland Irving to attend Wild training camp on PTO
