Is trusting Mike Smith the best decision in net this year? What other options do the

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Kipper_3434

Joni Ortio should still be on this team and ready to play a 1a/1b role. Is there a more inept franchise at developing goalies? Serious question.

The Canucks have been horrible at developing goalies. All of their franchise-leaders were acquired in trades/signings. Schneider is the only decent goalie they've drafted and developed in the last 40 years or so, and they traded him before he played 100 games for them.

The Oilers haven't developed a decent goalie since Fuhr. Dubnyk was so bad after the Oilers were done with him that he was awarded the Masterton Trophy for being able to salvage his career in Minnesota.


The thing about developing goalies is that you can suck at it forever and all it takes is one success and your team can be set for a decade or more. Look at the Devils, they have a horrible track record with developing goalies ... except for the one time they had success and got arguably the best goalie in the history of the game.

[gamesaver]

Oh God, this fanbase... Blaming GMs for not developing goalies, but wants every single goaltending UFA signed during the summer. Guess what? Gillies, Rittich or Parsons are going nowhere if you sideline them all the time. It takes time and its not always looking good. Sometimes its frustrating. But then you give a shot to a guy like Rittich or Gillies and after 20 starts you go like: He no Kipper, sign someone else, please. Like really, get real. Remind me please, we missed the playoffs by how many points? We are not 1B away from cup this year.

[calgarygeologist]

Small sample size so far in terms of NHL experience but I don't see Gillies or Rittich as the future. Maybe one of the two can become the backup in Calgary. I'm fine with Smith for another year. He can be a solid goalie.

Ideally, I would probably give Gillies or Rittich a handful of starts in the early season and see how they look. Hopefully they can prove themselves and don't put the Flames in a hole for points early on. If they do stink it up send them back, roll with Smith and shop around for a new backup.

I understand that the young guys need time to develop and prove themselves in the NHL but at the same time there isn't much room in the standings for teams to be giving up points on a nightly basis. It was great to see the young goalies get a chance at the end of last season but at the same time a bunch of players seemed to have checked out so it made it tough on the goalies.

[Parallex]

We should sign Bernier. We can't make Smith the proverbial government mule again this year.

[ricardodw]

what a quandary... The Flames are ready win now.

It would be a minor miracle if Gillies moves straight to a #1 spot without a mediocre (by playoff team goalie standard) break in year and a first starter season where he plays 40+ games and wins half of them and is not the #1 guy on a playoff team.

Gibson 2014-15 23 games 13-8-0 2015-16 40 games 21-13-4
Vasilevskiy 2015-16 24 games 11-10-0 2016-17 50 games 23-17-7
Hellebuyck 2015-16 26 games 13-11-1 2016-17 56 games 26-19-4

Riitch has his 21 game season he needs 40 this year and likely the Flames miss the playoffs. If Gillies is the man of the future he needs at least 20 NHL games this season.

The Flames will be a playoff team if Smith plays as well as last year..... but the next (2019-20) year leaves them buying a goalie or taking a year to develop a goalie.

From a goalie development mode Riitch gets 40 starts , Gillies get 20 and Smith starts and wins 22.

Long term it makes sense that Smith gets 40 starts ( maybe all on the road) and either Riitch or Gillies gets the other 40 starts.

[cral12]

At least the hurriFlames won't be a landing spot for Cam Ward...liked him back in the day, but thankfully looks to be signing with Blackhawks.

[jlh2640]

He is our starter, I loved him last year. But we need someone who can play 20-30 games and rest the big guy for playoffs

[pepper24]

He's a our best option and a proven starter. Something the Flames haven't had since Kipper. He made the all-star game and when healthy is a top 10/15 goalie. The issue is if he gets hurt again. Rittich is a decent back-up but worry if he has to start a whole bunch of games due to injury again.

Where I worry is the year after. Not sure if Rittich or Gillies is the guy. Parsons probably will still need more time. Do they re-sign Smith or find another stop gap.

[Fire]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Flames extend Smith for an additional year. It will all depend how Rittich and Smith perform this year. If Rittich craps the bed again when given the opportunity to run with it, he will most likely end up back in Europe next season.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Fire

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Flames extend Smith for an additional year. It will all depend how Rittich and Smith perform this year. If Rittich craps the bed again when given the opportunity to run with it, he will most likely end up back in Europe next season.

I seriously doubt it. Rittich is only 25-years-old. He has looked really good in the AHL and still has a couple more years in NA to show that he is a NHL goalie.

[jaikorven]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I seriously doubt it. Rittich is only 25-years-old. He has looked really good in the AHL and still has a couple more years in NA to show that he is a NHL goalie.

I agree as long as he shows well again this year with some improvement over the course of the season. Any step back and then we need other options.

[GranteedEV]

The person I don't trust is Jordan Sigalet. He's never been able to squeeze consistency out of a goalie in his tenure here, including Smith last year.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Fire

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Flames extend Smith for an additional year. It will all depend how Rittich and Smith perform this year. If Rittich craps the bed again when given the opportunity to run with it, he will most likely end up back in Europe next season.

I could absolutely see Smith finishing out his career in Calgary with a series of one year deals. He's at an age where I doubt anyone offers him a multi year deal, and the Flames can continue to transition gradually to Rittich/Gillies/Parsons depending on how quickly any of them take the reigns.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

The person I don't trust is Jordan Sigalet. He's never been able to squeeze consistency out of a goalie in his tenure here, including Smith last year.

Smith's inconsistency probably had more to do with his injury than it did with Sigalet. The guy's survived the last two coaching fires, so he can't be as bad as some people think he is.

[ForeverFlameFan]

If we got to pick the backup for next season between Rittich and Gillies, who would you choose?

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

If we got to pick the backup for next season between Rittich and Gillies, who would you choose?

Whoever wins the job in camp.

[Brick]

I wonder if the Flames are considering Petr Mrazek?

[EVERLAST]

Regardless of who plays as a starter this team needs to play allot better in front of him.

We need to score goals and not rely solely on some magic goalie. Kipper used to carry this team for stretches and I don’t know how he did it sometimes.

This team as a whole needs to seriously figure out what it’s identity is allot faster this year under peters in order to get off to a good start rather than scrambling to make up or catch up.

I expect much better starts , and to have a more positive reaction when things don’t go well.
Folding early in games when we don’t score first is the hardest thing to watch.

Our goalies have a very hard job if Peters can’t direct this team to do everything together.

I watched too many games where individuals were trying to do it all themselves with no supporting cast.

Peters so far in everything he has said excites me as he really sounds like he has some love for this game and how it’s supposed to be played.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Brick

I wonder if the Flames are considering Petr Mrazek?

I seriously doubt it. Mrazek is a head case. I am sceptical that the Flames are looking at any goalies right now, and are hoping for one of Rittich or Gillies to grab the job in TC.

[tkflames]

Originally Posted by Brick

I wonder if the Flames are considering Petr Mrazek?

Outside of AHL pedigree, I don't see the hype on Mrazek. If that is the route, I would rather go with Rittich or Gillies. If anything, the right move would have been to pick up Grubauer to play 1B this year and then 1A next year.