Goalie Prospects

[lockedge]

big_dl wrote:

I noticed that nobody has mentioned JP Levasseur. He escaped my radar for the longest time as well. And with Giguere getting older and no other major goaltending prospects in the system he\'s got a good shot at being a starter almost as fast as the other guys mentioned. I\'ve done a lot more reading about him now that I have him in a pool. I wouldnt put him top 10 or anything but I think he\'s got a legit at taking over from Giguere or at least challenging him a la bryz in 2 years at the earliest.

JP is a pretty good kid. I like him as much as Crawford. he\'s 1A/B stuff. Probably end up as a backup, but could sport start for a month or two if an injury comes up, and he won\'t be too damaging.

A good guy to keep an eye on, because once someone like him starts a few games and puts up decent stats, people are all over them and claim them to be the next goalie in line. It\'s a mini-gold rush, so to say.

Kids like Crawford, Levasseur, Curry, (and potentially Bishop, Dekanich and Tordjman) are that type of player who WILL make the NHL in some form, and have the ability to make a good impression, but will be Johan hedberg/Patrick lalime in terms of quality. They\'d only be starters on bad teams, or teams desperately cheap in goal.

[fzusher]

Wsn\'t there some talk last season that former NCAA star Bobby Goepfert was catching up to Levasseur on their depth chart, or am I misremembering something?

[hockeylifer]

\'Big_dl\': I think that Anaheim regards Hiller highly. I see him getting more opportunity to play in Anaheim. I know nothing about Levasseur so can\'t offer any opinion as to who is better, Hiller or Levasseur.

\"Sentium\', it wouldn\'t surprise me if Elliott was to become the backup in Ottawa. I appreciate Auld is signed, I don\'t know if it was one way or not, but Ottawa is in a situation where I think they go with the guy that has the winning hand. If Gerber fails and Auld doesn\'t light up, in comes Elliott. Will be interesting to see if Gerber can bounce back. If not, I think he is gone-Auld moves up and so does Elliott.

[Dakkster]

hockeylifer wrote:

\"Sentium\', it wouldn\'t surprise me if Elliott was to become the backup in Ottawa. I appreciate Auld is signed, I don\'t know if it was one way or not, but Ottawa is in a situation where I think they go with the guy that has the winning hand. If Gerber fails and Auld doesn\'t light up, in comes Elliott. Will be interesting to see if Gerber can bounce back. If not, I think he is gone-Auld moves up and so does Elliott.

That scenario is what I\'m hoping for and almost banking on That\'s kind of why I wrote \"Alexander freaking Auld\". I mean, how much of an obstacle is he, really? I think he\'ll take over at least the backup spot during the second half of the season.

[hockeylifer]

I think Gerber is on a very short leash. I agree that Elliott will, at least, be the backup by the end of the year. I could actually see him becoming the starter with Auld as the backup.

[lockedge]

fzusher wrote:

Wsn\'t there some talk last season that former NCAA star Bobby Goepfert was catching up to Levasseur on their depth chart, or am I misremembering something?

Bobby is a bit of an enigma. One game, he stuns me due to his amazing play. The next he stuns me by being very very mediocre. Sure, in the ECHL he was playing on a rough team and worked his sv% up to .912, which was nice. He wasn\'t given much help in front of him. If he had a good defenseman or two to cover his ass because he gives up bad rebounds. He\'s kind of the opposite of Roberto Luongo in terms of how may shots he can handle. If he\'s pummeled, he\'ll let one in and generally take the blame for not standing on his head, which will lead to his guard weakening and him letting in more. Floodgate syndrome. It\'s why I don\'t ever draft him because I get suckered in by the raw talent and pay for it because they never work out their confidence issues. A great locker room guy, supposedly.

His lost season due to college transfer was a hit against his credibility, I guess. It\'s why he\'s written off a lot and why he\'ll need to fight for whatever he can get.

I think we\'ll know where Bobby sits in one and a half, two years. He\'ll have had time with Allaire to work on his foundation and skating, which need the most work. He\'s an athletic kid, and he plays with a chip on his shoulder. He could be a starter if he works hard enough and gets enough help. There\'s a lot for him to work with, but there\'s a lot for him to work on.

Hope that rambling helped clear his situation up?

[His Dudeness]

Thanks sentium and lockedge, karma to you.

[DieHardWingsFan]

Hey I was woundering when do you guy\'s see Chet Pickard making the roster for NAS? Ellis as Starter and Rinne as backup who know\'s if Pickard fight for the backup job if he does then How good is he going to be? Is he good enought to be a #1 goalie in the futur?

[fzusher]

Good rundown, lockedge. As always. Thanks.

[lockedge]

DieHardWingsFan wrote:

Hey I was woundering when do you guy\'s see Chet Pickard making the roster for NAS? Ellis as Starter and Rinne as backup who know\'s if Pickard fight for the backup job if he does then How good is he going to be? Is he good enought to be a #1 goalie in the futur?

Nashville has great depth in net. Depth that will not hurt them by keeping Pickard in development mode for a good while. He, IMHO has all of Ellis, Rinne and Dekanich ahead of him in the depth chart, so Pickard is looking at around 3-5 years of development. it\'s not unheard of for goalies to take that long obviously, as there\'s always a bottleneck on that position.

He has starter potential and has a full toolbox. He\'ll need time and good coaching, but he can be an average starter in the NHL. Should be, really. Unless something derails his development. He wasn\'t drafted for his talent level IMHO, although he has really great raw talent(Markstrom is ahead of him in current ability/talent, and maybe Allen as well but that\'s debatable). He\'s simply get the heart and determination to make good on his development and make the NHL. He\'s as much of a sure thing for a goalie in this draft.

He\'ll be a starter. It\'ll just take a while for that bottleneck to clear up.

[big_dl]

Hockeylifer: I didnt say Anaheim didnt like Hiller I said I dont see him a being a starting goalie. Meaning that while he may get a chance I dont think he\'s a goalie who\'s going to keep a starting role for years.

Lockedge: I agree with your assessment of Pickard and how long it will take him to get to the pros. I think in 2 years when he\'s done with Tri-cities a bit of the bottleneck will clear up a bit. But more importantly I think that Tri-cities will be a good to place to be for a couple of years as for the timing they seem to have gotten their act in order. I would further like to add that while I dont see Pickard as being as good as Price I do some of the same qualities in Pickard that can be seen in Price. You (lockedge) alluded to a couple of them already - heart and determination - but I would like to add that he\'s a very calm goalie.

[math28]

What about Michael Hutchinson drafted by boston in third round 08...Can he being a good goalie?

[lockedge]

math28 wrote:

What about Michael Hutchinson drafted by boston in third round 08...Can he being a good goalie?

Unfortunately, he\'s in Boston, and they have a franchise guy in the pipeline who\'s almost at the big show. Rask will have to leave Boston in some way shape or form for Hutchinson to be a starter. Or Hutch will have to move, but determining where he\'d go is impossible so I\'ll stick to Boston\'s system here.

I like his ability. He\'s as calm and collected as Carey Price, and he\'s the kind of goalie whose play inspires the team around him. The only worry I have with him is rebound control and that while he\'s incredibly athletic and has a great glove hand(maybe the second or third best in the draft), his foundation is a bit rocky. His positioning is good enough, but his D did a great job at forcing easy shots and basically kept Hutchinson in sight of the puck. He\'s not all that raw, but enough to be a tiny bit suspicious. I\'m worried he\'ll get to a point in his pro career and his progression will halt because his technical skill isn\'t as up to par as a lot of others. He\'s a very coach-able kid, which bodes well. You\'ll just have to watch him really closely. If he shows any sign of developmentally stagnating, sell. I\'ve been burned too many times by kids like him not to be cautious. Then again, it\'s rare that a kid comes along with such a strong head on his shoulders, and who has exceptional hockey sense. He\'s a safer bet, but still. Keep a close eye. He has potential to be an average starter(13th to 19th in the NHL). I think there\'s decent odds he\'ll pan out, but who knows? Goalies are tough to peg until a year or two after their draft year.

[ridinryan44]

Pickard has a long way to go, don\'t overrate him... Dan Ellis is gonna be givena year to prove himself, and Rinne is gonna be given the chance if he doesn\'t show up. Nashville\'s D is good.... Ellis should be ok. Even if he doesn\'t show up..Pickard is AT LEAST a year away... and IMO at least two years away from being given a chance... and that year is not gonna be a starting goaltenders typer numbers so if you\'re gonna pick up Pickard.. be prepared to wait.... same as any goaltender who just gets drafted who isn\'t carey price

I, personally, think Ellis will be around for a couple years... look at Lundqvist... a no namer who became a big time goaltender.... not that ellis is the same... but he\'s better (right now) than nashville\'s other options