Steve Mason looked good today

[ShawneePanthers]

Still has sucky stats, but he held of the hawks to a single goal. A lot of people compare him to Raycroft because of the Calder trophy, but I still think he'd be like Schneider or Rask if he played for a better team. Gonna hold onto him stubbornly and pray he gets traded or the cbj get good.

[dongjohnson]

Originally Posted by ShawneePanthers

Still has sucky stats, but he held of the hawks to a single goal. A lot of people compare him to Raycroft because of the Calder trophy, but I still think he'd be like Schneider or Rask if he played for a better team. Gonna hold onto him stubbornly and pray he gets traded or the cbj get good.

Sorry, but you're quite wrong on that one. He's more like Gustavsson than Schneider or Rask. He's not going to make it as a starter long term. He's not solid mentally and that's 90% of what goalie is.

[ShawneePanthers]

Originally Posted by dongjohnson

Sorry, but you're quite wrong on that one. He's more like Gustavsson than Schneider or Rask. He's not going to make it as a starter long term. He's not solid mentally and that's 90% of what goalie is.

I mean- what kind of evidence do you have to back the assertion that he's not solid mentally?

I've seen an article before on him saying something to the extent of "you can't blame those goals on me" after one game a couple of years back, but he was young back then and I'm not really convinced that he's mentally unprepared to be a goalie. Every goalie (even Patrick Roy) has low points in terms of mental focus and Mason's still young. He's worked really hard over the offseason, and his form is looking more solid than it used to.

[Godin]

I think every player in the NHL is capable of having 1 good game a year.

[ShawneePanthers]

So you think every other game he plays he'll be bad?

[ShawneePanthers]

Last 2 games for the flyers, including tonight's ( 38 save effort with 16 coming in the 3rd period), have been good, so was the one before that, though he ran into a bit of bad luck with his D man sliding the puck into the net.


Too soon to say he's back, but I'd be lying if I said I'm not very hopeful

[cdubb]

One thing you realize is that ANY goalie can be good for stretches of games. Bishop was outstanding first couple games for TB. Eliiot/Allen/Halak take turns looking like allstars and scrubs in STL. Even backups like Enroth/Hedberg can do it for a couple games.

The difference is that great goalies can do this consistently, for an entire season, for multiple seasons. Good or average goalies can do well on the right team (PHO, STL).

Maybe Mason will do good for rest of the year, but Flyers traditionally have poor D ever since Prongers been hurt, and the media circus doesn't help mentally fragile goalies. Every career season since his rookie year suggests he's an average goalie at best.

[ShawneePanthers]

Originally Posted by cdubb

One thing you realize is that ANY goalie can be good for stretches of games.....

The difference is that great goalies can do this consistently, for an entire season, for multiple seasons. Good or average goalies can do well on the right team (PHO, STL).

I mean, I know it wasn't your intent to be condescending, but you haven't said anything that isn't already painfully obvious

Every career season since his rookie year suggests he's an average goalie at best.

He played in Columbus - a perennial doormat with terrible D. Only within the last year has columbus acquired decent D men as well as forwards and started to change the system up to tighten down on D. By this time, Mason was already a backup. I'll point out that in late 2012, he showed flashes of his old self during an 8 game stretch in March-April before floundering again early this season.

So sure, it's very easy to say he's just an average goalie (at best) having a good stretch. But the change in scenery, his young age, the massive amounts of off-season conditioning he did, and his Calder upside indicate to me that this may just be something more.

[cdubb]

Originally Posted by ShawneePanthers

I mean, I know it wasn't your intent to be condescending, but you haven't said anything that isn't already painfully obvious

He played in Columbus - a perennial doormat with terrible D. Only within the last year has columbus acquired decent D men as well as forwards and started to change the system up to tighten down on D. By this time, Mason was already a backup. I'll point out that in late 2012, he showed flashes of his old self during an 8 game stretch in March-April before floundering again early this season.

So sure, it's very easy to say he's just an average goalie (at best) having a good stretch. But the change in scenery, his young age, the massive amounts of off-season conditioning he did, and his Calder upside indicate to me that this may just be something more.

Ummm speaking of trying not to sound condescending, this entire thread was you stating your hope for Mason to be good again, then other ppl suggesting you keep your hopes realistic, and then you flaming them for their reasons.

As you keep repeating your various reasons why he might turn it around:
- tons of goalies have shown flashes of temporary success with change in scenery, few maintain it
- young goalies with Calder upside/flash in pan (Raycroft, Boucher, Carey)
- this goalie wasteland in CLB has produced good seasons by Leclaire, then Mason, and now Bobrovsky
- do other goalies not do off-season conditioning? Do you have personal evidence Mason did more than others, or more than previous years?

[ShawneePanthers]

do other goalies not do off-season conditioning? Do you personally know Mason did more than others, or more than previous years?

Er... yes, I know goalies do off season conditioning- I mentioned this because of an article I read on him changing his whole offseason routine - being much more rigorous than he was in previous seasons. I'm not going to bother addressing the rest of what you said about Raycroft, Carey, etc - that dead horse has been beaten.

I think my expectations are pretty tempered, I'm optimistic.