This is 1 of the major reasons that I think Fitzy has been a failure. When Crawford retired it's his job to go get a capable goalie. If you have to overpay for a trade you do it. Bernier was hurt early in Camp & he was shutdown at the start of December. Mac didn't start on time because he was still recovering. It was as clear as it gets that he was shutdown early January. Once again Fitzy doesn't do what it takes to get a real goalie. Kahkonen went to SJS for cheap & Fitzy got Hammond who was on LTIR for Schnarr. Schnarr easily could've been the difference in Utica making it to the 2nd round or not.
So Fitzy in his press conference says we don't really know where this team is at because of the goaltending issues. Well who's fault is that??? It was clear by November that Bernier was done. It was clear in December that Mac was done. His job is to go out & find a trade for a capable goalie. Had he done his job he wouldn't be sitting here today say we don't really know where the team is at because of his 2yr incompetence to not find a replacement for Crawford & then not find an adequate replacement for Bernier & Mac.
Campbell Husso Kuemper were flat out to risky for term & $. VV gave us a gift of 3x$3.4. This is a statement of he wants to be here for the full 3yrs. If Mac has the big resurrection he's going to take the #1 spot & get a big raise. If VV pushed for the $5 that he'd have gotten & became the backup it turns into we've gotta pay to move him. If he's a 20+ win backup at $3.4 he isn't going anywhere. If he becomes the clear starter at $3.4 he becomes a major value to us. He's set himself up nicely to be here for the full 3yrs.
For year's our Goalies have been playing behind a sub par defensive group with inexperienced forwards making defensive mistake after defensive mistake. Now, for the most part, we've got experienced fwd's not making those mistakes & an excellent defense. There's people saying we're going to have 1 of the best right side D's in the league. Not just our fans. Siegenthaler was fantastic last year. Graves is above average. Smith wants to mentor these guys. Plus Bahl Okhotiuk Walsh Nemec are gonna be pushing hard for a starting spot on the left. Palat & Haula both play the game the right way. They don't cheat for offense, they play physical, & when a Dman gets deep in the O zone they can cover the Dmans spot adequately.
This should be the 1st season in a long time that our D should make our Goalies look better than they are. I'm really looking forward to this season
I agree with most of what you said but I don’t blame Fitz as much. He picked up two capable G’s and had terrible luck. Maybe he could have gotten someone but we’d hate for him to overpay with a team that wasn’t making the playoffs either way. The other good thing it that sucking in G moved them up in the draft (plus good ping pong ball luck). I see NJ making a pretty big jump this season with capable goaltending.
In November when it was crystal clear about Mac & Berny's injuries is when Fitzy should've acted & we weren't out of the playoffs yet. Even if we didn't make it we lost the learning to win year & really seeing what this team was capable of. Just like Fitzy said in his interview we don't really know what this team is capable of. Had he gotten a real goalie we would know. Goalies are always way cheaper than any other position & we could afford it.
I agree that it's fantastic that we got Nemec but did it cost us anything in free agency or trades? If we're at say 85-90pts do players see us as right on the cusp & maybe Johnny doesn't go to Columbus. Maybe Tkachuk thinks he could make the difference getting us over the top. Do we get a guy like Marchment? Then again maybe Campbell or Kuemper have more interest in coming here & their weaknesses that made them such a gamble wind up killing us. It's just such an unknown.
I like where we're at though. We are better at goalie, defense, offense, & got a great coach. I'm excited about this year
I think Fitzy made the right decision here. There was nobody available worth heavily investing in this year. While I think he deserves a shot I don't think he should be the plan to be the #1 guy. VV has 42 wins in his 1st 2yrs. He's good but not great. Great contract. He's got upside too. Biggest killer to a season is off-season rehab instead of off-season training. That's what Mac had. After a full off-season of training we're going to see a big bounce back year for him. If he's playing like he did the last 2yrs Daws will be better than he was last year. Bernier will be back at some point. We've basically got plans A, B, C, & D
This is our 1st real team defense. Most of the inexperienced fwd mistakes will be gone. We've got really good experienced Dmen. Instead of needing Mac to steal games for a win we'll just need VV & Mac to be good. Don't give games away, steal some games here & there. We'll be in the playoffs
nice exploration, CJ. I found it interesting that you think bringing in Vanacek is an endorsement of Blackwood, because when the trade happened Chico's reaction was sort of opposite - he said that if he were Blackwood and saw that the team brought in another younger goalie like Vanacek, he would be worried about losing his job long term. Where as the last 2 guys to come in the last two years were older, mentor types.
I could see both arguments though. Could you imagine if both goalies played well this year!?
Given that NJ had the worst goaltending in the league last season, I don't see getting the, what, 10th(?) best goalie on the market -- one who han't even started 40 games in a season yet -- as anything other than a partial endorsement of what's already here.
If I'm Blackwood, I'm saying "Oh okay I only have to beat out Vanecek? Cool. Honestly I thought I might be traded lol"
Yeah, I hear you. at the same time, I think contract and term (plus the uncertainty of not landing any goalie!) was the big deterrent to us pursuing one of the more established UFA goalies.
Looking back, besides our defense (which wasn't good) sticking with Schneider/kinkaid was likely Shero's downfall. Goalies could easily be Fitz's downfall this year too, if Blackwood and/or Vanacek can't provide reliable starts. Fitz has undoubtedly improved the D core and solidified the offense. I hope he is right about Blackwood rebounding.
This is 1 of the major reasons that I think Fitzy has been a failure. When Crawford retired it's his job to go get a capable goalie. If you have to overpay for a trade you do it. Bernier was hurt early in Camp & he was shutdown at the start of December. Mac didn't start on time because he was still recovering. It was as clear as it gets that he was shutdown early January. Once again Fitzy doesn't do what it takes to get a real goalie. Kahkonen went to SJS for cheap & Fitzy got Hammond who was on LTIR for Schnarr. Schnarr easily could've been the difference in Utica making it to the 2nd round or not.
So Fitzy in his press conference says we don't really know where this team is at because of the goaltending issues. Well who's fault is that??? It was clear by November that Bernier was done. It was clear in December that Mac was done. His job is to go out & find a trade for a capable goalie. Had he done his job he wouldn't be sitting here today say we don't really know where the team is at because of his 2yr incompetence to not find a replacement for Crawford & then not find an adequate replacement for Bernier & Mac.
Campbell Husso Kuemper were flat out to risky for term & $. VV gave us a gift of 3x$3.4. This is a statement of he wants to be here for the full 3yrs. If Mac has the big resurrection he's going to take the #1 spot & get a big raise. If VV pushed for the $5 that he'd have gotten & became the backup it turns into we've gotta pay to move him. If he's a 20+ win backup at $3.4 he isn't going anywhere. If he becomes the clear starter at $3.4 he becomes a major value to us. He's set himself up nicely to be here for the full 3yrs.
For year's our Goalies have been playing behind a sub par defensive group with inexperienced forwards making defensive mistake after defensive mistake. Now, for the most part, we've got experienced fwd's not making those mistakes & an excellent defense. There's people saying we're going to have 1 of the best right side D's in the league. Not just our fans. Siegenthaler was fantastic last year. Graves is above average. Smith wants to mentor these guys. Plus Bahl Okhotiuk Walsh Nemec are gonna be pushing hard for a starting spot on the left. Palat & Haula both play the game the right way. They don't cheat for offense, they play physical, & when a Dman gets deep in the O zone they can cover the Dmans spot adequately.
This should be the 1st season in a long time that our D should make our Goalies look better than they are. I'm really looking forward to this season
I agree with most of what you said but I don’t blame Fitz as much. He picked up two capable G’s and had terrible luck. Maybe he could have gotten someone but we’d hate for him to overpay with a team that wasn’t making the playoffs either way. The other good thing it that sucking in G moved them up in the draft (plus good ping pong ball luck). I see NJ making a pretty big jump this season with capable goaltending.
In November when it was crystal clear about Mac & Berny's injuries is when Fitzy should've acted & we weren't out of the playoffs yet. Even if we didn't make it we lost the learning to win year & really seeing what this team was capable of. Just like Fitzy said in his interview we don't really know what this team is capable of. Had he gotten a real goalie we would know. Goalies are always way cheaper than any other position & we could afford it.
I agree that it's fantastic that we got Nemec but did it cost us anything in free agency or trades? If we're at say 85-90pts do players see us as right on the cusp & maybe Johnny doesn't go to Columbus. Maybe Tkachuk thinks he could make the difference getting us over the top. Do we get a guy like Marchment? Then again maybe Campbell or Kuemper have more interest in coming here & their weaknesses that made them such a gamble wind up killing us. It's just such an unknown.
I like where we're at though. We are better at goalie, defense, offense, & got a great coach. I'm excited about this year
I think NJ would be crazy not to give MB another chance. He played very well early in his career and there’s no reason why he couldn’t again.
I think Fitzy made the right decision here. There was nobody available worth heavily investing in this year. While I think he deserves a shot I don't think he should be the plan to be the #1 guy. VV has 42 wins in his 1st 2yrs. He's good but not great. Great contract. He's got upside too. Biggest killer to a season is off-season rehab instead of off-season training. That's what Mac had. After a full off-season of training we're going to see a big bounce back year for him. If he's playing like he did the last 2yrs Daws will be better than he was last year. Bernier will be back at some point. We've basically got plans A, B, C, & D
This is our 1st real team defense. Most of the inexperienced fwd mistakes will be gone. We've got really good experienced Dmen. Instead of needing Mac to steal games for a win we'll just need VV & Mac to be good. Don't give games away, steal some games here & there. We'll be in the playoffs
Great piece, spot on like usual. Very reasonable and level minded analysis. Nice job !
nice exploration, CJ. I found it interesting that you think bringing in Vanacek is an endorsement of Blackwood, because when the trade happened Chico's reaction was sort of opposite - he said that if he were Blackwood and saw that the team brought in another younger goalie like Vanacek, he would be worried about losing his job long term. Where as the last 2 guys to come in the last two years were older, mentor types.
I could see both arguments though. Could you imagine if both goalies played well this year!?
Given that NJ had the worst goaltending in the league last season, I don't see getting the, what, 10th(?) best goalie on the market -- one who han't even started 40 games in a season yet -- as anything other than a partial endorsement of what's already here.
If I'm Blackwood, I'm saying "Oh okay I only have to beat out Vanecek? Cool. Honestly I thought I might be traded lol"
Yeah, I hear you. at the same time, I think contract and term (plus the uncertainty of not landing any goalie!) was the big deterrent to us pursuing one of the more established UFA goalies.
Looking back, besides our defense (which wasn't good) sticking with Schneider/kinkaid was likely Shero's downfall. Goalies could easily be Fitz's downfall this year too, if Blackwood and/or Vanacek can't provide reliable starts. Fitz has undoubtedly improved the D core and solidified the offense. I hope he is right about Blackwood rebounding.