[Signing] Oilers sign Bryzgalov. (1yr, $2.266mil)

[killer_carlson]

Originally Posted by Jacks

His first game may be against us, not sure if I like that or not?

I was thinking the same thing. And depending upon how the next couple go, they could be rather close to us in the standings.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by stemit14

This is such a sad signing. There is nothing bold about this move... It's a low risk, low reward signing. He couldn't make it on an ECHL tryout but the oilers will sign him right now. Rather than fix their defensive issues... They think this guy will solve all their problems? I hope he gets lit up even worse than their other goalies are.

While I agree its not a bold move, it is actually a low risk high reward signing. The likely hood of it paying off, agreed is low, but the fact of the matter is the best case scenario in his signing is the Oilers get an elite level NHL goalie for the remainder of this season. Bryz has proven he can be elite in this league, he hasn't proven he can do it consistently and not be a disaster at some points either. But there is tones of POTENTIAL upside here.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

While I agree its not a bold move, it is actually a low risk high reward signing. The likely hood of it paying off, agreed is low, but the fact of the matter is the best case scenario in his signing is the Oilers get an elite level NHL goalie for the remainder of this season. Bryz has proven he can be elite in this league, he hasn't proven he can do it consistently and not be a disaster at some points either. But there is tones of POTENTIAL upside here.

When has he shown he can be an elite goalie?

He has 1 season where his GAA and SV % were top 10 in the NHL. Now those aren't the only determiners of who is elite or not (although Quick, Rask, Lundqvist routinely in top 10 in each) but considering he has played behind some very responsible defensive teams in Phoenix you would think if he has been elite his numbers would look better.

It may not be high risk in terms of the Oilers can't get much worse and have not much to lose but if they bring him in and he sucks then what do the Oilers do? Is Dubnyk going to be a good guy to send in? Do they burn it down? Spend big assets to get a better option?

With MacT being the new GM and Eakins a new coach seems like they can't fire either guy but at the same time seems like a last ditch effort of a desperate group that usually comes before a firing.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Bouw N Arrow

Bryz is an above average goalie still IMO. The flames should have signed him, philly was the worst possible market he could've went to but he got $$$.

I wouldn't be laughing at this deal if I were a die hard flames fan. Flames missed out.

This post shows a complete lack of understanding of the Calgary Flames' current situation and intentions, but is also right in line with your subtle, passive aggressive trolling towards the Flames ever since the day you literally dropped allegiance to one team and started following another. A true bandwagon fan.

[old-fart]

Brzy has one decent year playing behind a very good defence and defence first forward group with an excellent coach in Phoenix. How many of those things does Edmonton have?

Very good defence? They aren't even good, much less very good. They are likely the worst defence in the league.

Defence first forward group? Hahahaha. They might have two total forwards who know where their own defensive zone is.

Excellent coach? Doesn't appear so. There is a very obvious question if he is even a good coach, much less excellent.

Add in that Brzy has proven to be a major head case and the comedy is going to be fantastic for fans of every other team in the league.

As for why the Flames would possibly want Brzy, I have no idea. I'm not convinced he's better for us than Berra and Ramo, and we aren't supposed to win this year anyway so really - seems a bit stupid to even suggest we'd want to sign him.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by moon

When has he shown he can be an elite goalie?

He has 1 season where his GAA and SV % were top 10 in the NHL. Now those aren't the only determiners of who is elite or not (although Quick, Rask, Lundqvist routinely in top 10 in each) but considering he has played behind some very responsible defensive teams in Phoenix you would think if he has been elite his numbers would look better.

It may not be high risk in terms of the Oilers can't get much worse and have not much to lose but if they bring him in and he sucks then what do the Oilers do? Is Dubnyk going to be a good guy to send in? Do they burn it down? Spend big assets to get a better option?

With MacT being the new GM and Eakins a new coach seems like they can't fire either guy but at the same time seems like a last ditch effort of a desperate group that usually comes before a firing.

He had 3 seasons with the Coyotes where he was a top goalie statistically. Sure you can debate the merits of the system, but the point is his ceiling or "best game" is proven to be very good. I also doubt its unlikely he can do it consistently or he'll find that form in Edmonton, but it's a pretty low risk gamble with high potential for Edmonton.

For perspective, anything you just said about Bryz could be said about Kipper. Kipper never had any success except when playing in an uber defensive system, but I doubt many would say his best game wasn't elite.

[moon]

Kiprusoff put up elite level stats, breaking the record for modern day GAA and won the Vezina.

Bryzgalov put up mediocre to bad stats during his time in Phoenix ranking 30th in GAA and 38th in SV% his second year in Phoenix.

09-10 is about the only time you could argue he was a top 5 goalie in the league and that was for one season as his numbers dropped back to middle of the road the following season.

Which 3 seasons would you say he has where he was a top goalie statistically?

07-08- GAA 16th SV%- 6th
08-09- GAA- 38th SV%- 30th
09-10- GAA- 6th SV%- 8th
10-11- GAA- 16th SV% 10th

Some of those lower numbers likely affected by some back-ups numbers being there but still shows never once top 5 in either category and only once top 10 in both.

His best season (09-10) his numbers are basically identical to Kiprusoff's and Kipper has 3 years that are statistically better and one that is very similar. So tough to say the same things about Kipper that yo do Bryzgalov.

[Flash Walken]

The worst part about this move is Bryzgalov's shakey commitment and preparation. Introducing that into an already volatile situation lacking in character and commitment is a terrible move.

Guy arrived to an elimination game 6 with his bags packed and ticket booked to go back to Russia following the game.

This is the guy that's going to help turn things around for the Oilers? He's probably got less compete than the character-lacking goofs he'll be joining.

[Vinny01]

I love this move for the Oilers. It is like they are worried the circus they are putting on up there was getting stale they decide to bring in Bryz who is going to be a great sound bite the rest of the year

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

re-run your stats and eliminate goalies who played less than half their teams games, or even just the goalies that played 10 or less games. He's top 10 each year when you eliminate those folks.

I actually don't feel Kipper is the same as Bryz, but the fact is Bryz has been a top flight NHL starter numerous seasons. Yes, not the best goalie in the league like Kipper was one year, but elite, I'd say so (for a small snap shot of time). Point was, he's put up numbers the Oilers could only dream of at this point in time, and the fact that it's possible he could do it again, although I agree unlikely.

Pay point with the Kipper comparison was not to say that he and Bryz are the same, but to say if you are willing to throw out Bryz's best results because it came as a result of a defensive system, then that same argument could be made to throw out Kippers best results for the same reasons.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

The worst part about this move is Bryzgalov's shakey commitment and preparation. Introducing that into an already volatile situation lacking in character and commitment is a terrible move.

Guy arrived to an elimination game 6 with his bags packed and ticket booked to go back to Russia following the game.

This is the guy that's going to help turn things around for the Oilers? He's probably got less compete than the character-lacking goofs he'll be joining.

This is the big issue for me.

Yes, the Oilers have had bad goaltending.

But they have also had horrid team defense. And they have dressing room issues and entitlement issues.

You aren't going to fix the goaltending until you fix the defensive play.

And you aren't going to fix the team defense until you get commitment from all the players.

And you aren't going to get commitment and buy-in from all the players until you fix the room.

So what do they do?

Move out a solid Dman and bring in one of the biggest head cases in the league over the last few years - a guy that quits on his team-mates.

Sounds like a plan MacT!

[CaptainCrunch]

I figure that the move to get Bryz was just so Lowe and Mac-T can go back to the whole tired "we tried" stuff that they've used with the fans in the past.

The cost of getting Bryz was steep, and this could be the ultimate in bad as Bryz could literally be a poisoned grenade thrown into a poor locker room.

I don't know if Ocktober is even going to be able to keep that locker room together.

This move was more about appeasing a restless fan base then doing something smart to improve that team.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

The cost of getting Bryz was steep, and this could be the ultimate in bad as Bryz could literally be a poisoned grenade thrown into a poor locker room.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

re-run your stats and eliminate goalies who played less than half their teams games, or even just the goalies that played 10 or less games. He's top 10 each year when you eliminate those folks.

I actually don't feel Kipper is the same as Bryz, but the fact is Bryz has been a top flight NHL starter numerous seasons. Yes, not the best goalie in the league like Kipper was one year, but elite, I'd say so (for a small snap shot of time). Point was, he's put up numbers the Oilers could only dream of at this point in time, and the fact that it's possible he could do it again, although I agree unlikely.

Pay point with the Kipper comparison was not to say that he and Bryz are the same, but to say if you are willing to throw out Bryz's best results because it came as a result of a defensive system, then that same argument could be made to throw out Kippers best results for the same reasons.

I think Bryzgalov is better then he showed in Philly, but at the same time he showed he struggles when a team doesn't play defense and Edmonton makes the Flyers look like the Devils of the 90's defensively.

Plus he was waived in Anaheim, played well for Phoenix under Dave Tippett, and then was bought out in Philly. There is an argument to be made there that he was a product of Dave Tippett's system.

[Enoch Root]

Or, he simply put it all together for a while, but then lost it again.

Not at all uncommon for goalies

[powderjunkie]

He being waved in Anaheim was always curious...Burke put it out that he was fulfilling a promise to let him play, but it seems crazy that no one would give up a 4th round pick back then...

[Red John]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

He being waved in Anaheim was always curious...Burke put it out that he was fulfilling a promise to let him play, but it seems crazy that no one would give up a 4th round pick back then...

Other GMs got together and agreed that no one would trade for Bryzgalov...they didn't want Burke to keep hording goalies and flipping them for other assets (after Burke went and grabbed Jonas Hiller despite having Giguere still).

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I think Bryzgalov is better then he showed in Philly, but at the same time he showed he struggles when a team doesn't play defense and Edmonton makes the Flyers look like the Devils of the 90's defensively.

Plus he was waived in Anaheim, played well for Phoenix under Dave Tippett, and then was bought out in Philly. There is an argument to be made there that he was a product of Dave Tippett's system.

Agreed. Bryzgalov has a couple good seasons in Phoenix... playing behind a team with a defence-first system. He is not an elite goaltender. Never was and never will be. He can be an improvement on Dubnyk, but given he is walking into a team with an abysmal defence and forwards that are afraid of their own zone, this has a much better chance of blowing up on Edmonton than anything else.

[sureLoss]

Darren Dreger ‏@DarrenDreger 55s Bryzgalov on the ice for first time yesterday with OKC. If all goes well...likely to start on Friday. Oilers very eager to see his work.


Guess who the Barons play on Friday? The Abbotsford Heat

[Table 5]

Is there any chance the guy plays the Flames on Saturday?