Official Brian Elliott Thread

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by sun

Oh, is his body of work what we're talking about? My bad, I was responding to Haynes' tweet about preseason numbers.

I think my point here is that not all preseason numbers are created equal. In the case of Elliott there is no reason to expect that what we see now is anything different than what we can expect to see starting next week. The same cannot be said for the three goalies in camp last year.

[sun]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I think my point here is that not all preseason numbers are created equal. In the case of Elliott there is no reason to expect that what we see now is anything different than what we can expect to see starting next week. The same cannot be said for the three goalies in camp last year.

Fair enough about Ramo and Ortio. Though while Hiller had clear holes in his game, his numbers prior to last season were quite good.

I'm on record as saying Elliott is the best starter the Flames have seen since Kipper, but there are still questions he needs to answer (Hitchcock effect, starter workload, unpredictible D, etc) and I think his preseason stats are as worthless as Ortio's were. My problem with Haynes' tweet is the "but still" at the end of it tbh. It's no more a good sign than a .899 would be a bad sign.

[JerryUnderscore]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I think my point here is that not all preseason numbers are created equal. In the case of Elliott there is no reason to expect that what we see now is anything different than what we can expect to see starting next week. The same cannot be said for the three goalies in camp last year.

But if Darren Haynes is going to preface the whole thing by saying "Small sample size, vs sub-par line-ups, etc., but still..." then why bring it up in the first place?

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by JerryUnderscore

But if Darren Haynes is going to preface the whole thing by saying "Small sample size, vs sub-par line-ups, etc., but still..." then why bring it up in the first place?

Is the same thing as saying "take it with a grain of salt". He's saying don't read too much into it, but it's still a good accomplishment

[JerryUnderscore]

But if we shouldn't read too much into it, why bring it up?

Bad teams need to sell hope to their fans. They need to talk about how Connor McDavid or Austin Matthews will save their franchise.

Good teams go about their work and let it speak for them. If Elliott makes a great run during the regular season, let's talk about it. If he's a big reason why we make the playoffs (which I think he will), we can talk about that when it happens.

Tweeting about Elliott's save percentage in the pre-season (even with the "sample size" caveat) just feels like a bad team trying to sell hope; not something we need to be doing.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by JerryUnderscore

But if we shouldn't read too much into it, why bring it up?

Bad teams need to sell hope to their fans. They need to talk about how Connor McDavid or Austin Matthews will save their franchise.

Good teams go about their work and let it speak for them. If Elliott makes a great run during the regular season, let's talk about it. If he's a big reason why we make the playoffs (which I think he will), we can talk about that when it happens.

Tweeting about Elliott's save percentage in the pre-season (even with the "sample size" caveat) just feels like a bad team trying to sell hope; not something we need to be doing.

Brian Elliott has never played a regular season game with the Calgary Flames. People in this city are rightly excited about the prospect of having a great goalie in the net heading into the year. It wouldn't matter if the Flames were defending SC Champions—his addition to the team creates a buzz, and generates the legitimately optimistic promotions we are seeing. People would be talking about this one way or the other. There is a huge difference between promoting hope and selling FALSE hope.

[sun]

Let's say "Brian Elliott - so far, so good". I can get on board with that.

[btimbit]

His mask reminds me of something we'd see from Trevor Kidd. I like it

[JerryUnderscore]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Brian Elliott has never played a regular season game with the Calgary Flames. People in this city are rightly excited about the prospect of having a great goalie in the net heading into the year. It wouldn't matter if the Flames were defending SC Champions—his addition to the team creates a buzz, and generates the legitimately optimistic promotions we are seeing. People would be talking about this one way or the other. There is a huge difference between promoting hope and selling FALSE hope.

We might have to agree to disagree.

I get why people would look at Elliott's even strength save percentage over the last five seasons and remark that he's been the second best goalie. I believe it was Elliott Friedman that did that?

I can get behind reading interviews about Elliott being excited to come play in Calgary or that he thinks the team is showing great promise.

I just think we should temper expectations during the preseason. It will make his domination during the regular season that much better anyway.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by JerryUnderscore

...I just think we should temper expectations during the preseason. It will make his domination during the regular season that much better anyway.

That's fine. But surely you can appreciate why people are legitimately excited about his performance during the preseason? As meaningless as the returns are they do speak positively toward the likelihood that he will make a huge difference for the Flames this year.

[JerryUnderscore]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

That's fine. But surely you can appreciate why people are legitimately excited about his performance during the preseason? As meaningless as the returns are they do speak positively toward the likelihood that he will make a huge difference for the Flames this year.

Absolutely, I understand and appreciate why people are excited. They speak positively towards the future.

Hopefully you can also appreciate my desire to not succumb to Oilers & Leafs levels of homerism by not counting our chickens before they hatch.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by JerryUnderscore

Absolutely, I understand and appreciate why people are excited. They speak positively towards the future.



Hopefully you can also appreciate my desire to not succumb to Oilers & Leafs levels of homerism by not counting our chickens before they hatch.

I reject your equation of my comments or Haynes's tweet to "Oilers & Leafs levels of homerism" for precisely the point made above:

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Unlike anything from Edmonton and Toronto, Brian Elliot has actually accomplished things in the regular season and the playoffs.

[JerryUnderscore]

Okay, perhaps calling homerism is a bit extreme. However, since we've been in this situation before - namely, acquiring what seems to be a top end goalie - only to watch Hiller fall apart, I will continue to be cautiously optimistic about how Elliott is doing in the preseason.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by JerryUnderscore

Okay, perhaps calling homerism is a bit extreme. However, since we've been in this situation before - namely, acquiring what seems to be a top end goalie - only to watch Hiller fall apart, I will continue to be cautiously optimistic about how Elliott is doing in the preseason.

I don't recall Hiller ever being billed on his acquisition by Calgary as a "top end goalie." At the time he looked much more like a high-end journeyman who couldn't land a better position than starting with a (perceived) lottery team.

[JerryUnderscore]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I don't recall Hiller ever being billed on his acquisition by Calgary as a "top end goalie." At the time he looked much more like a high-end journeyman who couldn't land a better position than starting with a (perceived) lottery team.

I wasn't around these forums at the time of his acquisition, but my impression from reading other blogs and articles was that people were pretty high on him.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by JerryUnderscore

I wasn't around these forums at the time of his acquisition, but my impression from reading other blogs and articles was that people were pretty high on him.

Iirc people were excited that they got a big upgrade over the tandem we had before (Berra and Ramo) but it was no secret he lost his job in Anheim over underperforming. I was pretty excited Hiller's first year as well, and his first year here he wasn't terrible either.

[PugnaciousIntern]

I remember being excited, but knowing that he was declining and was hoping that the change in scenery would improve things. We were hoping for a 'return to form', because we knew if he continued on his career trajectory it would be ugly

[calgarywinning]

Watched Elliott play a couple games. His skill level and ability to make key saves while remaining calm and collected are stellar. Another great thing he does is remain in position and does not over commit too early.

Wrangled in a couple big shots and didn't allow big rebounds. Very big in net as well.

So there is a calmness and a little bit more ice open because of his competency.

Last night he made 2-3 stellar saves of which we have not seen since the Kipper years. Granted they were pre-season but they would have challenged anyone of our 3 goaltender tandem last year.

[Madman]

Elliott sits down with Flames TV to explain the new mask.

[Isikiz]

Looks like Elliott may be switching to pure white pads from red. While I was a huge fan of the red pads, we'll see if this switch can maybe give him a little more of an edge and a bit more confidence. As per Jermain Franklin on twitter.

While I'm a huge fan of how Chad Johnson's been playing, I would love to see an Elliott resurgence.