Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
Other than the eight tough games to open 2014-15 (where he was still 3-3-1), Ortio stopped 1738 of 1876 shots for a .926 save percentage along with being an AHL All-Star between Sept 2013 to his injury in February 2015.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Brew
Those are great results for sure. But I suppose a lot of goalies would have gaudy save percentages if you take out their worst 8 game stretch.
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Superficially, that looks like a logical objection. If, for instance, you took some particular goalie who had a rough stretch between January 12 and February 8, and left out those games, it would certainly give a misleadingly rosy picture of his season.
But in this case, there are sound reasons to consider putting those games to one side:
1. Those were the
first 8 games of the season. They are therefore the oldest segment of the data. If, as one expects, Ortio is still developing, one would expect to see him put up better results as the season went on; and the place where he finished the season should be more likely to represent his current abilities than the place where he started.
2. One of Ortio's weaknesses last season, which I believe was pointed out by people in the Flames organization, was off-season preparation. He wasn't ready in October, and had to play his way into form. That being so, the games he played in October did not fairly represent his abilities. (It still remains his fault that he wasn't prepared. This is a diagnosis, not an excuse.)
3. This year, albeit with a limited sample size, Ortio performed very well in the pre-season, against opposition at least as good as the AHLers he faced last October. This suggests that he may have improved his off-season preparation.
What I see in Ortio is a goalie who is very good when he's on his game, but who needs to be healthy and well prepared to do it. Last October, he wasn't prepared. In that one game last April, he was recovering from a fairly major injury (and the team in front of him had nothing to play for).
If I'm in Treliving's shoes, I politely ask Hartley to give Ortio a regular-season start in the next week or so, to get a better read on his readiness for NHL action. Other than that, I don't rush to make any decisions until enough players return from injury to put the team over the 23-man roster limit.
At that point, assuming Ortio plays OK, I'm looking to (1) trade, (2) waive, or (3) send to the minors, whichever veteran goalie looks more expendable. Based on the evidence so far, that's Ramo; but if he turns into Kiprusoff Jr., or Hiller blows up like a Spinal Tap drummer, it could go the other way.