Our preseason goaltending situation

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by McLintock

The first few games are played and every goalie was given the opportunity to show what he has to offer. Now my questions. Do you trust in a Berra / Ortio tandem? Has managemant the balls to waive Ramo or play him with the Heat?
So far Ramo and Mcdonald are the odd mens out..

McDonald was much better than Ortio last night IMO (not that he was brilliant or faced much work), how are you coming to this conclusion at this point?

[Flash Walken]

I so badly want to eat a huge bowl of crow about Ramo.

On the other hand though, I don't want him to be TOO good and jeopardize a top 5 pick.

[Northendzone]

We clearly need to figured out the muddled goalie situation before the next game. Unless the flames are going to play split squad games all season. If so, we will need four keepers.

[Erick Estrada]

I sure hope that was a blip on the radar for Ramo as I feel he's Feaster's guy and will get a spot by default. Looked like hot garbage to me flopping around the crease although the phantom goal makes his stats look worse than they were.

[OzSome]

I have to say the goaltender battle will be Kari Ramo, Berra and Ortio as a starter or even a backup. Joey MacDonald will be one of the goaltender no matter what. I don't think Flames coaching management will have two rookie goaltender to start the season. With Joey Mac's experience, he can play as a starter at the beginning of the season or a backup. In Abbottsford on the hand, we might see the 2 goalies who lost out the battle, then Brossoit might be starting in Alaska or put on loan to another team's AHL team.

[BloodFetish]

Honestly, I'm just happy that after the Kiprusoff era there are three or four guys battling for his job, not just one or two.

Shows some foresight from the organization to go out and acquire Ramo and Berra. Don't know if either of them will do much in the NHL but at least they've put more bullets in the gun.

[Alberta_Beef]

So far I would rank the goaltenders as follows based on their pre-season play. Small sample size and will change with each game.

1. Reto Berra
2. Joey MacDonald
3. Joni Ortio
4. Karri Ramo
NR. Laurent Brossoit

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I sure hope that was a blip on the radar for Ramo as I feel he's Feaster's guy and will get a spot by default. Looked like hot garbage to me flopping around the crease although the phantom goal makes his stats look worse than they were.

A couple more performances like that from him and it will be a confidence issue. We saw how quickly people lost confidence in McElhinney. With that many goalies around he can't afford to have a couple stinkers in preseason.

[LouCypher]

I feel like Ramo is the favorite in the teams eyes but will need to show he can be sharp, Macdonald is in because he is a vet and can maybe help mentor and support who ever the other guy is. Berra I really have liked what small samples ive seen of him I think if he outperforms Ramo he is in. Ortio I think really wants to push and should be fine though going to the AHL to improve if it comes down to it.

[dammage79]

Berra's opportunity to be in the Olympics is a motivating factor for him as well. I loved what he did in the world's and has so far been the most stable (in thirty minutes of actual game experience) if he can keep this up the others will have to make a pretty significant improvement.

I'll be honest, I expected less frantic scrambling from Ramo, help or not. Covering the puck was a challenge and that never be a challenge.

We will see how it goes in the next couple of weeks but I'm willing to bet a turkey sandwich Berra wins the number one job by the end of camp.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

So far I would rank the goaltenders as follows based on their pre-season play. Small sample size and will change with each game.

1. Reto Berra
2. Joey MacDonald
3. Joni Ortio
4. Karri Ramo
NR. Laurent Brossoit

This along with the rankings.

My two cents are that it will honestly be too close to call by the end of the preseason and the Flames will be forced to keep 3 goaltenders, those being Ramo, Berra, and MacDonald. There is an outside shot that they believe Ramo and Berra are a good enough 1A/1B tandem to just run with them, leaving MacDonald with a demotion to Abbotsford to mentor Ortio in a tandem there.

If Ortio continues developing, he could be the starter as soon as next year. He looks like he's made a lot of progress since we last saw him and just needs to work on being consistent.

Based purely on my speculation, I would guess we see Berra or Ortio become the starter next season with Ramo as the backup.

[Caged Great]

Ortio shows flashes of brilliance, but also can be very mediocre. He needs to learn to be consistent in each game.

[Erick Estrada]

Hopefully this is where Burke comes into play as this team will need the absolute best goaltending possible to be competitive and politics can't come into play. For all we know Ramo was the player that Jay liked that Burke didn't.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Hopefully this is where Burke comes into play as this team will need the absolute best goaltending possible to be competitive and politics can't come into play.

I am taking this to mean that you literally want Burke to come in and play goaltender.

[MisterJoji]

I think most of you are right that Ramo has the inside track on the starters job, almost regardless of preseason stats. If Berra keeps playing great, I'd like to see him earn the backup or 1B spot over MacDonald. Then if both Berra and Ramo falter, you can throw MacDonald back in. Really hope Ramo picks it up though.

Edit: After watching the highlights, Ramo made a couple good 1st and 2nd saves with his D leaving him out to dry after that. In addition to the phantom goal, his night wasn't that bad. Excited to see him in a few more games. Berra's reflexes and agility in the shootout were phenomenal. So that's what it feels like to win in a shootout, feels good man.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Goalies need time to adjust from the KHL to the NHL.

Ramo and Berra will both get 15 games or so at least I would think. Not that big of a deal.

I would rather the Flames show patience and play these goalies and let them adjust. Get to know what they really do have before making a knee-jerk reaction. Flames are not competing this year. Let's just see what Ramo has (who was a huge fan-favorite in the KHL, and there is probably a reason for that outside his really cool hair). Berra looked pretty good. Ortio is also young but has great things about his game.

I don't expect anything to shake out goaltending wise until the middle of the season or so, and even then maybe not. Perhaps they stick with a three-headed monster all season until the trade deadline. Who knows? All I know is that there are a number of goalies that are relatively brand-new to the NHL (Yes, Ramo played NHL before, but not much, and not for years; Ortio had a handful of games a few years ago in the AHL as well) and they just need time to adjust to the different angles, the different crease, the different calibre of shots and plays, and the nerves.

If they still look like hot garbage by the end of the season, that is when I start questioning the goaltending situation.

[Henry Fool]

Yeah. Lots of veteran NHL goalies suck in the preseason too. Kipper sure did, but then he had nothing to prove either. It's an interesting question how long a team will allow someone to adjust.

Seeing some adversity in the preseason should be healthy. It's likely going to be an up-and-down season for everyone. We can hope for something better of course, but I feel that even if the goalies transition from the preseason to the regular season on a high, they'll get slapped back to the ground soon enough, and that's the dynamic they'll have to deal with all year long. And I don't mean just their lack of experience with NHL hockey, the team defense is likely to be awful as well.

[stemit14]

What makes it even more interesting is that Trevor gillies is considered to be one of the best goaltending prospects not in the NHL and everyone says he has all the makings of yet another great american goaltender. I know he's a few years away but it's nice to have several good options in goal both now and in the future. I hope there is no inside track for any of the goalies right now and that the starting job is earned plain and simple... Both Feaster and Hartley keep using the word "meritocracy"... I hope that's true and may the best goalie win.

[PlayfulGenius]

Originally Posted by stemit14

What makes it even more interesting is that Trevor gillies is considered to be one of the best goaltending prospects not in the NHL and everyone says he has all the makings of yet another great american goaltender. I know he's a few years away but it's nice to have several good options in goal both now and in the future. I hope there is no inside track for any of the goalies right now and that the starting job is earned plain and simple... Both Feaster and Hartley keep using the word "meritocracy"... I hope that's true and may the best goalie win.

Jon Gillies

[Itse]

82 games split three ways is about 27 games per goalie.

That's not a bad number for a rookie goaltenders first season, nor a bad number for a guy like MacDonald.

I would go with three goalies for as long as it takes for a clear #1 or an obvious weakest link to show up.