Is Ortio for real?

[Dion]

I'd have no problems with Ortio being brought back to fill the backup position. His game still needs some work to where he can develop some consistancy in his play.

I also see Ramo not being offered another contract. His dollar value makes him too expensive to keep as a possible backup.

[JJ1532]

I think Ortio could be a very solid backup option, but he hasn't shown enough to trust him with the net full time. Find a starter for the next 2-3 years whilst Gillies and McDonald get time in the minors, then reassess.

[Corral]

Not sure how easy it is for the Flames find these so-called starters ... if someone with profile has been cast away or traded by another team ... good chance they aren't a #1 goalie ... ie Reimer, Elliot, Anderson ... and the Flames are thus far better off developing Ortio and other guys in the system.

[GranteedEV]

Ortio is real, but he seems to have slow starts every year. If he can figure that one part out about his game he is a #1 goaltender.

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by Corral

Not sure how easy it is for the Flames find these so-called starters ... if someone with profile has been cast away or traded by another team ... good chance they aren't a #1 goalie ... ie Reimer, Elliot, Anderson ... and the Flames are thus far better off developing Ortio and other guys in the system.

And yet the Flames need another NHL capable goaltender for the next few seasons, and other guys in the system that aren't Ortio aren't ready.

[Geeoff]

Originally Posted by Corral

Not sure how easy it is for the Flames find these so-called starters ... if someone with profile has been cast away or traded by another team ... good chance they aren't a #1 goalie ... ie Reimer, Elliot, Anderson ... and the Flames are thus far better off developing Ortio and other guys in the system.

Well if you have 2 decent goalies, it's not a bad situation. Plenty of teams go with this model, allows the option of going with the hot hand.

Any of those guys are a better option than Ramo, depending on the acquisition cost.

[ComixZone]

Reimer and Ortio next season, and I'm pretty happy.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Reimer and Ortio next season, and I'm pretty happy.

Pretty happy with a bottom-ten finish?

[LIP MAN]

I'm fine with him as starter. He's been fairly solid, but we do need to find a goalie to compete for that #1 spot. I honestly think he could surprise everyone and steal the net next year.

[jlh2640]

He deserves a full year as a NHL goalie and see where it takes him.

[Itse]

I would be nervous but not without hope if Rämö and Ortio would be our pairing next season. I think there's a decent chance they'd give us perfectly adequate goaltending over the season. Ortio could even turn out to be a really solid starter. I also think it's not easy to find a goalie that would seriously improve on that pairing.

But no, I don't think the Flames should stop looking for better options.

[Erick Estrada]

I think he's played his way into the backup conversation next season for sure but there's zero chance he's going to be anointed the starter and zero chance Hiller or Ramo return in any capacity. The Flames will likely spend a lot of time and resources trying to find a starting goaltender in the offseason but I wouldn't rule them out from signing a goaltender to compete for the backup spot to compete with Ortio. Anything going on post trade deadline has to be taken with a grain of salt so while Ortio has looked competent the team realizes that things are different when players are just playing out the string without any pressure to win games.

[sharkov]

Looks like goalie of the future material. Would be good if we can get a mentor

[Robbob]

I agree. He has earned the backup for next year, maybe a 1b situation considering.the goalie market. The net is a huge concern next year.

[Poe969]

I think if the Flames plan on keeping Ortio around long term, they should set their sights on a guy like Ward in the off season. He won't come in and be the uncontested starter but he's good enough to challenge for the position and he can mentor Ortio and help the team. If ward can be had on a cheap 2-3 year deal I think he'd be a perfect fit until one of the kids comes up.

[madmike]

He's nothing amazing, but he's real enough to be a backup I think. He looks great by comparison to the goalies the Flames have had this year.

[driveway]

I've been pretty high on Ortio since his return in February. We're not going to get a huge sample, but we're starting to get to a moderate number of games instead of a very small sample size.

Over the whole season, Ortio's 5v5 save percentage is .918, this is getting into a respectable range for an NHL goalie. He's right behind Ramo, Howard, and Gibson (all are .919) and ahead of guys like Ward (.917), Bobrovsky (.916), and Lack (.915).

However, this includes the spotty play Ortio had at the beginning of the year, and the couple of odd games in the middle. In October, he appeared in 4 games, but only started 2 and posted a .884 over those games. He then got another into another game on February 15, stepping in for Hiller in the second and posting a .818. He didn't play again for over a week, but since 2/23 he's played 13 games, starting every one of them.

In those starts, he's had only one truly bad game: February 27th against Ottawa when they came back on us from 4-1 down, and really that was one bad period. And that's stat wise, I remember that game pretty clearly and personally didn't blame Ortio for any of those Ottawa goals, though others may have a different impression.

Over those 13 games, Ortio's 5v5 save percentage is .928. That's a really decent number for an NHL goalie. I've said a few times that the line where you get into the bonafide-number-one-goalie category is right at .930, Guys around that .928 number are goalies like Quick (.928), Rask (.928), and Schneider (.929); just below are Allen and Jones (.927).

I did this before, and I'll do it again for fun, if you toss out that third period against Ottawa, Ortio's numbers suddenly get scintillatingly good. His 5v5 save percentage jumps up to .937, this would be the 7th best mark of any goalie who's played 600 minutes of 5v5 hockey this season. (I picked 600 minutes because it is approximately Ortio's 5v5 time played since 2/23, not including that 3rd period) This is bananas good. Now, I know that this is a very, very rose-coloured glasses look at Ortio because I think expecting one bad period out of 39 is totally reasonable and something which would likely continue ... but ... daaaammmnnn that's a hint at a really, really good goalie right there.

When you consider Ortio is still quite young for a goalie at 24, I think the Flames would be idiots if they didn't qualify him and at least give him a fair shot at stealing the starting job from whomever they sign.

For the record, the guy I want them to sign is James Reimer who's sitting at a .938 5v5 percentage for the season which is the 4th best mark of any goalie with at least 1000 minutes of 5v5 played behind Hellebuyck (.939), Lundkvist (.940), and Elliott (.945).


And, because I'm bored, and I hate Jonas Hiller so goddamn much, here's what Ortio's recent numbers do to our season record.
We've allowed 1763 shots against 5v5, this is right in the middle of the pack, 17th to be exact. Unfortunately we've allowed 153 goals, second worst, just above (you guessed it) Edmonton (162 5v5 GA). This gives us a team 5v5 save percentage of .913. If we had season-long Ortio, we drop to 145 5v5 GA (5th worst). However, if we had post 2/23 Ortio that .928 drops us all the way down to 127 GA, tying us with Detroit for 15th in the league. We'd go from -15 to +11 5v5. That would put us between Nashville and Minnesota in 11th place in 5v5 +/-. Worth pointing out: no team with a positive 5v5 +/- is out of the playoffs. Only two: Chicago (-1) and Anaheim (-8) are in with negatives.

Yes, it's the end of the year, yes these games aren't played the same as the middle part of the season, so it's not an apples-to-apples comparison.

But I think it does show that, improving the goaltending alone, without doing anything at all to our atrocious powerplay and penalty kill, and the Flames are at the very least a bubble playoff team again.

[foshizzle11]

I see him being a solid backup and maybe stealing the number 1 job some day but it won't be next season.

BT needs to find a legit starter, that should be this off season and if it isn't, it is a complete fail on BT's part to make this club competitive and speed up the rebuild.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

The difference between having good goaltending and bad goaltending is consistency.
I'm fine with him being pegged as the back-up next year but the #1 position still needs to be addressed.

I think its risky having Ortio pegged as the backup unless you have a real legitimate starter who can play a huge amount of games. Ortio has been horribly inconsistent and a backup needs to be able to come in after not having played for a stretch and a tleast be decent. I'd be interested in a veteran fringe NHLer signed to a cheap deal to compete with Ortio.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Pretty happy with a bottom-ten finish?

You're still not sold on Reimer? I don't understand why you aren't. He's been fantastic in San Jose after being very strong for Toronto.