The Chicago Blackhawks have high expectations for the season, they expect to go to the Stanley cup finals and bring home the cup. Although they are tied for the lead at the moment, the strengths of this young team have been questioned, the goaltending in particular. The duo of Cristobal Huet and Antti Niemi have been criticized by the analysts and raked over the coals by the panel of experts on ‘NHL on the Fly’ show. It is always easy to point out a weak goal and base judgment on that particular event, but I would like to compare the Chicago goalies to the other so-called stars this season.
Cristobal Huet has had some weak moments this season, but his Goals Against Average is a respectable 2.24. His save percentage is under fire though at .899. Let me run down the list of ‘star’ goalies who have been lauded for their contributions so far this season. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings, has been praised and given credit for the resurgence of the franchise, but his goals against average is 2.69 and his save percentage .898. Craig Anderson has been heralded as the second coming of Patrick Roy and his GAA is 2.32. Marc-Andre Fleury won the cup last year and the Penguins are flying high so far, despite the mediocre play of the goalie and a 2.52 GAA. It helps when your team scores 4 goals a game. Perennial star goalies Brodeur, Lundquist, and the goalie captain Luongo have GAA’s of 2.35, 2.52, and a whopping 2.79, respectively. No one has panicked yet over their failures.
The truth is that goalies shine and then become human again, but goals will always be scored; no goalie stops them all. The problem with the Blackhawks, although better goal tending would help, is their lack of scoring. The team scoring ranked 15th in goals per game, with a 2.80 average, before the Kings game Monday night. This is a team that is supposed to have a balanced scoring attack. Jonathan Toews returned to the line-up after suffering a mild concussion, missing 6 games, and during that span, the team did not score more than 3 goals in any game. The scoring is expected to increase when Marian Hossa joins the team.
Winning games takes the microscope off of the individual parts of the winning team, losing leads to massive analysis. Analyze all you want to, but don’t just point at the goalies and say that they don’t have what it takes to win. One month does not a season make.
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About Don: Don resides in Tampa Bay, from Chicago, played hockey in amateur men’s leagues in Chicago, Colorado, Florida. His favorite team are the Blackhawks. |
It’s always the goaltender’s fault. That’s not my opinion, but that just seems to be the way the blame goes. There’s always at least one goal every game that the goalie “easily” could have stopped. Sometimes this is the deciding goal, and this is what can give a goaltender a bad name. Take Andrew Raycroft for example when he was with the Leafs. He took the majority of the blame for all those games lost. But let’s face it, the Leafs never had much for goal scorers.
@ Robert,
You can a few of my thoughts on Coach Q here
http://realdenversports.blogspot.com/search/label/Joel%20Quenneville
If Huet can’t survive Montreal, he won’t survive Quenneville.
At one time in Denver, Q was rotating THREE goalies. It was a joke.
As for stinking in the playoffs, what I really should have said was that he can’t finish.
@FromThePoint – wow, not certain how you had such high expectations, but I’d say what coach Mustache did for the Hawks’ post season was inches short of a miracle. Even Calgary was supposed to dominate them.
Though, I am curious about what you mean by goalie-killer.
Chicago’s coach is a goalie killer. All the stat analysis in the world won’t change that. You may get to the playoffs but you won’t get far after that. Coach Mustache stinks in the playoffs.
Well I removed Hasek because he didn’t play in 2008/09 and this is no longer active, and then if you count down he’s tied for 5th or 6th if you count in Hasek, he just happens to be listed below two other goalies that have the same save percentage average as him.
Unless I’m not counting, it says he’s at 8th. Whether he’s 8th or 5th, though, that’s still very impressive.
He’s averaged about 44 games per season since the lockout, so it’s not like he’s had little exposure too.
good link
According to that list Huet sits tied for 5th among active goalies.
Well, that stat I mumbled off was off the top of my head but upon some research I was a little off. Here is a link to a list of top save percentages since the lockout. Huet’s is still very impressive — http://www.coppernblue.com/2009/7/28/965832/the-best-goalies-since-the-lockout?ref=yahoo
@Tyler I agree that I believe Huet is not a clutch goalie.
@Jordan, your statistic surprises and impresses me. 2nd best since the lockout? Do you have a URL w/ that stat, or am I gonna have to whip this up myself?
although I definitely am with you on the comment about Brodeur and Luongo… nobody makes too big a deal about their struggles, and I agree that Marty has played pretty poorly in the playoffs lately. But at the same time, all that just goes to show what a reputation does.
Ehh, I don’t know about that… Huet led the Canadiens to the playoffs once, and lost in the first round. In fact, his playoff resume sucks. Decent numbers, but, Lose lose lose. Also… he was not the reason Washington made the playoffs. he played great, but so did a certain guy named Alex. Just because Huet happened to start ten games or so when Washington was playing the best hockey they had in years doesn’t mean he was the catalyst for anything. He doesn’t have what it takes, which is why every team he plays for slowly kicks him out the door. It’s not a coincidence that he’s never stayed in one city for more than two seasons… which should not be the case for a goaltender in his mid-thirties.
The fact of the matter here is everyone is all the NHL analysts were so negatively critical of Huet before the season started that everyone is just primed to point out his faults and notice any mistakes he makes. When Luongo has a slow start, nobody notices. The fact Brodeur has choked in the playoffs every year since the lockout – notbody notices.
But lets forget Huet lead Montreal to the playoffs a few seasons in a row, not to mention came up HUGE for Washington and was practically the REASON they got into the playoffs with his clutch play. He’s Huet, he’s not good right? He only has the 2nd best save percentage in the league since the lockout among starting goalies but he’s not that good, his save percentage sucks so far this year.
Give it a rest already and let the guy play. He has what it takes, people just need to give him a fair chance.
I like Crawford too I was hoping he’d get some starts. I think they should try to make a trade for Cory Schneider, Tukka Rask, or Josh Harding… all three are great goalies stuck in pretty crummy roster situations. I think either one would be a better option than Huet.
I am not the biggest fan of either Huet or Niemi. I was hoping that Corey Crawford would get a chance. I agree that goal-tending is the Hawks weak link, sometimes players rise to the occasion. The number of shots allowed show a better story of the good and bad goal-tending as they reflect more blocked shots or better defensive zone play.
I don’t know what Huet’s potential is – I haven’t read the scouting reports. What I do know is that he was complete garb when Khabby went down last postseason.
Niemi seems to be ok.
I definitely agree that goalies take a lot of unnecessary heat, but they aren’t like other players. You cannot judge them by their stats, especially GAA–it’s just not that kind of position. GAA is just as much a statistic for a team as it is for a goalie. The Blackhawks need to score more, but so does half the NHL. Losing your captain for two weeks is a monstrous setback. I think Huet is still the weakest link on the Blackhawks by a landslide. Jon Quick is playing a lot better than Huet is up to this point in the season, regardless of numbers. Same can be said of Brodeur and Anderson, they may have similar numbers but they are just better goalies and that gets reflected when you see them play.
The most important thing is, you can’t count on Huet to make that one “Big save”, and that’s what wins Stanley Cups. Just look at what Fleury did with 3 seconds left it game seven. What it boils down to is Huet is just not that good. He is not a clutch goalie– he never has been, he never will be, and they will not win the cup with him in net…. Which is a shame, because I’d love to see it in Chicago.