Joey MacDonald Our New #1

[Stanley]

For the most part Mac has played stellar for us in front of a weak D as others have mentioned...he has the composure and veteran leadership that would be great to have during this transition.

As far as I'm concerned Kipper is no longer in the future plans, pass the torch to Joey Mac while we groom our young goalies into our culture/identity and NHL icetime. He's deserving...

I just don't see how you can go into next season with 2 unproven europeans and to ignore Joey Mac in this transition given his attitude and compete level.

[Iggy3x]

Originally Posted by Stanley

For the most part Mac has played stellar for us in front of a weak D as others have mentioned...he has the composure and veteran leadership that would be great to have during this transition.

As far as I'm concerned Kipper is no longer in the future plans, pass the torch to Joey Mac while we groom our young goalies into our culture/identity and NHL icetime. He's deserving...

I just don't see how you can go into next season with 2 unproven europeans and to ignore Joey Mac in this transition given his attitude and compete level.

Maybe we should trade Mac when his stock is high. Similar to Jackman last year, except we missed the boat. That said, I wouldn't mind keeping Mac for one year as insurance. What is the chance that he becomes the next Thomas? Who knows.

[Plett25]

Originally Posted by Iggy3x

Maybe we should trade Mac when his stock is high. Similar to Jackman last year, except we missed the boat. That said, I wouldn't mind keeping Mac for one year as insurance. What is the chance that he becomes the next Thomas? Who knows.

Tim Thomas was 31 or 32 when he finally became an NHL starter, so maybe there are 3 or 4 good years left in the tank for MacDonald

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by blah blah

Irving and Taylor don't have contracts for next year and I think not only would it be a waste of contract spots to keep all of them just for tryout sake, but I really doubt both would re-sign into that situation. It's also probably not the best to plan at this stage to have two of those six guys on your list already destined for the ECHL. There's only so many spots for these guys in leagues that are best for their development, so the organization is going to have to cut one or two of them loose.

Technically speaking, MacDonald doesn't have a contract for next year either. If we really want to reduce the number of contracts allocated I think I would start with letting the UFAs go (MacDonald and Taylor) and keeping our RFAs. If Irving really doesn't deserve to stay on with the organization then I would keep Taylor.

Originally Posted by blah blah

I'd also rather keep MacDonald for a year if Kipper is gone to backbone a young rebuilding team. Feaster has said he doesn't want to promote a losing culture during the rebuild and just throwing as many new guys as possible into the NHL is a very Oiler-esque approach. We want the young guys to learn how to win, and closer games will teach them a lot more. The team is also in the business of selling tickets. Not filling in the important goaltending spot well enough could easily end up in blowouts and losing fans. It's easier to go into it with MacDonald and move him out if the guys beneath him step it up.

If Kipper is gone then I would give up on the idea of keeping a veteran goaltender to be the backbone of the team. MacDonald has been pretty steady this season but the reason we brought him in was to help the team "win now" as an injury relief / backup for Kipper.

With both of Ramo & Berra already 26 years old I do not think there will be any great benefit to either of them waiting an extra year before coming to the NHL, especially if it is to give a spot to MacDonald. Basically we are looking at a situation where we have 3 backup goalies. One is known, the other two are relatively unknown. In that situation I would gamble on the two unknowns for a single season.

If the '13/'14 season turns into a disaster with Ramo/Berra then we should go after someone like Bernier who can be our #1 for the next 4+ years while Ortio and Brossoit develop.

[mustache ride]

Bring over Ramo and the guy from the Swiss league. Let those two, MacDonald and any free agent fight it out for the two jobs. Start the rebuild with a culture of competition and winning. No one on this team deserves to be given a guaranteed job. Ever player should have to earn their job over and over again until this team is no longer the laughing stock of the league. That means no long term contracts, NTC or big raises.

[kehatch]

Originally Posted by mustache ride

Bring over Ramo and the guy from the Swiss league. Let those two, MacDonald and any free agent fight it out for the two jobs. Start the rebuild with a culture of competition and winning. No one on this team deserves to be given a guaranteed job. Ever player should have to earn their job over and over again until this team is no longer the laughing stock of the league. That means no long term contracts, NTC or big raises.

You want to sign all four to contracts? Because you aren't getting them all to camp to fight for jobs without them.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

It's going to be dark days around here when Kip is gone.

Kidd, Wregget, Fuhr,Vernon 2.0, Trefilov, Tabarraci, Brathwaite, Roloson, Turek, Noodles.

God. How depressing.

It scares me that we are going into next season with a couple of Euro goaltenders that may or may not pan out. Too uch uncertainty for my liking.

If Kipper does retire I would hope Mac is brought back for another season as insurance.

[FlameZilla]

Originally Posted by Dion

It scares me that we are going into next season with a couple of Euro goaltenders that may or may not pan out. Too uch uncertainty for my liking.

If Kipper does retire I would hope Mac is brought back for another season as insurance.

Berra & Ramo as 1a, 1b starters. We name the two-headed beast Berrorama.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

It's going to be dark days around here when Kip is gone.

Kidd, Wregget, Fuhr,Vernon 2.0, Trefilov, Tabarraci, Brathwaite, Roloson, Turek, Noodles.

God. How depressing.

Muzzatti and Roloson!

[FlameZilla]

Under contract next season we have Kiprussoff, Ortio, Berra & Brossoit. If Ramo gets signed that's 5 goalies. I reckon Kipper doesn't announce his retirement plans until management has assessed the new guys in camp. If there's a viable replacement he retires but if things look sketchy he has a gentleman's agreement with management to play out his contract & earn a cool $1.5 million.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Goalies are definitely tough to project, even old ones like JMac. But examples like Thomas or Roloson are the exceptions and not the norm - I would be shocked if JMac turned into a true no.1 goalie (league wise - not simply the de facto number one on a team without any capable goalies) at this point in his career

That said, Calgary doesn't have a lot of options

[mustache ride]

Originally Posted by kehatch

You want to sign all four to contracts? Because you aren't getting them all to camp to fight for jobs without them.

Sign them all and let god sort em out. Feaster went out a got the rights to the ten or so goalies so might as well see what they are made of. And since we now have the rights to the "Two best goalies not in the NHL", plus a guy that has played fairly well for us this season, it should be a great way to evaluate what we have.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by FlameZilla

Under contract next season we have Kiprussoff, Ortio, Berra & Brossoit. If Ramo gets signed that's 5 goalies. I reckon Kipper doesn't announce his retirement plans until management has assessed the new guys in camp. If there's a viable replacement he retires but if things look sketchy he has a gentleman's agreement with management to play out his contract & earn a cool $1.5 million.

I doubt it happens that way. If Kipper is going to retire he will do it before training camp. If he doesn't retire I think the Flames trade him before camp.

[GGG]

I dont want to go full Oilers and be terrible for the next few years. We need to keep an NHL proven goalie. Bring berra and ramo over and have one start in the AHL and be called up. Berra will be on a two way deal and shouldnt have to clear waivers so you can carry a 3 goalies at some points during the season to give him a few starts.

To audition goalies you need one average goalie to take the load of the rest of the team some times

[expatflame]

Not after the last game...

[Mattman]

That's actually not bad at all. Call up Irving and tank the rest of the season. No one will see anything becuase everyone's getting calls up anyways

[oldschoolcalgary]

Personally, I'd rather have the young goalies actually getting some experience as opposed to JMac...Irving is a guy that should be getting one last long look...not sure why management isn't playing some of th other gys at this point in time

[Stampede2TheCup]

Originally Posted by Wolven

Technically speaking, MacDonald doesn't have a contract for next year either. If we really want to reduce the number of contracts allocated I think I would start with letting the UFAs go (MacDonald and Taylor) and keeping our RFAs. If Irving really doesn't deserve to stay on with the organization then I would keep Taylor.



If Kipper is gone then I would give up on the idea of keeping a veteran goaltender to be the backbone of the team. MacDonald has been pretty steady this season but the reason we brought him in was to help the team "win now" as an injury relief / backup for Kipper.

With both of Ramo & Berra already 26 years old I do not think there will be any great benefit to either of them waiting an extra year before coming to the NHL, especially if it is to give a spot to MacDonald. Basically we are looking at a situation where we have 3 backup goalies. One is known, the other two are relatively unknown. In that situation I would gamble on the two unknowns for a single season.

If the '13/'14 season turns into a disaster with Ramo/Berra then we should go after someone like Bernier who can be our #1 for the next 4+ years while Ortio and Brossoit develop.

There are many benefits to having MacDonald. Your backup plan of getting Bernier out of the blue isn't realistic, so one benefit is stability and not finding yourself up the creek without a paddle. It also promotes a competitive culture rather than just throwing a bunch of unseasoned players into a position. Icing a more competitive squad is more entertaining for fans so it's better from a business standpoint. Throwing new players to the wolves isn't always the best for their development. It can kill players' and even the team's confidence.

Macdonald still would allow all of the guys we keep to have playing time at a level that will help their development the most without instantly pressuring them all to succeed as rookies. Ramo can play in the NHL as much as he's earning and MacDonald can take a back seat. Berra can get more starts in the AHL than he would in the NHL. Brossoit can get a look in the AHL rather than the ECHL. Like I mentioned in my previous post, your idea of signing everyone and seeing who sticks would all but relegate him to the ECHL before the season starts.

MacDonald doesn't have to be considered a backbone. MacDonald can take a back seat and even be shipped/waived if Ramo and Berra are both doing well. The only way I'd consider MacDonald to be taking up room unnecessarily on a one year contract would be if Ortio really wants to come over to North America rather than playing in Finland next year. Signing Taylor instead of MacDonald might be a somewhat reasonable but it still leaves the results of the big club as a much bigger gamble and thus you would potentially lose all of the benefits I mentioned in the first paragraph.

You advocate bringing Ramo, Berra, Irving, Taylor, Ortio and Brossoit into camp but you ignore the fact they'd all need to be signed and that you'd have to put them all somewhere after. The logistics of that just doesn't work. It takes up roster spots unnecessarily just to delay making some decisions now instead of later. It also leaves six guys who should probably be in the AHL or NHL with four spots to fight for, and three of them need to willingly sign contracts into this situation. Irving and Taylor shouldn't and probably both won't want to re-sign so some decisions have to made long before camp. Cutting a couple of them loose leaves room for a veteran goalie to work as a flexible stop-gap into the mix of guys who are all very inexperienced at the levels they'll be playing.

[zunie75]

Not sure where we should go with the goaltending situation for the rest of the season and next year. But is anyone else here a little sad at how it seems Kippers career is going to end with a whimper?

Its almost insulting that with one week left in the season it appears as though the last memories we will have of him are of a goalie who may or may not have been stubborn in a possible trade, and played very poorly in his last few games/spent it all on the bench.

I really hope he gets to play out the rest of the season. Just as he always has. Thats his net. I personally want to see him go out in style. Either that or come back next season and light it up.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by zunie75

Not sure where we should go with the goaltending situation for the rest of the season and next year. But is anyone else here a little sad at how it seems Kippers career is going to end with a whimper?

Its almost insulting that with one week left in the season it appears as though the last memories we will have of him are of a goalie who may or may not have been stubborn in a possible trade, and played very poorly in his last few games/spent it all on the bench.

I really hope he gets to play out the rest of the season. Just as he always has. Thats his net. I personally want to see him go out in style. Either that or come back next season and light it up.

I get what you're saying, but really I don't mind. First of all most players end their careers with little glamour, and for goalies ending up as a whipping boy for poor play is always a risk.

And Kipper has always seemed like a strongheaded guy who does not care that much about adolation and fanfare. Ultimately he gets to decide when he quits and how he quits, which seems fitting in it's own way.

Besides, goalies are weird.