Comparing Goalies Under and Over 30

 

This weekend I asked you to submit ideas via my Facebook fan-page to determine the subject of today's blog. There were some awesome ideas submitted, some of which may even be written about down the road. But the winner of the contest is Margann Laurissa, who suggested that I compare the stats of goalies under the age of 30 to those of goalies over the age of 30. This was an awesome idea that combined two of the things I like most; goalies and a challenge.
Let's begin the comparison:

I have chosen three goalies under 30 and three goalies over 30. For the goalies under 30 I wanted to find goalies that are in their prime or entering their prime where as two of the three goalies I chose over the age of 30 are entering the final stages of their careers. We will be comparing the goalies based on their statistical performances from last season (regular season).

Goalies Under 30:

Jonathan Quick (26)

After Quick's performance last season that ultimately won his team the cup, one would be out of their mind not to include him as one of the best goalies under the age of 30. The scary thing with Quick is the fact he appears to be just entering his prime now. The end of last season marked his 4th season in the league (3rd as a full time starter) and he already has a Stanley Cup to his name, not a bad way to begin your career! After his performance last season there is no question Quick will be the Kings goalie of the future.

2011-2012 Regular Season Stats: 69 games, 35 wins, 10 Shutouts, 1.95 Goals Against Average and a .929 Save Percentage.

Marc-Andre Fleury (27)

While statistically speaking Fleury didn't have a fantastic campaign, he was put in a tough spot. The Penguins went without Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang, two vital players for the majority of the season and the Penguins back-up goalies couldn't be trusted in important games which resulted in Fleury starting 23 consecutive games at one point. Fleury was a work horse this season and at the end of the day he was able to backstop his team into the playoffs.

2011-2012 Regular Season Stats: 67 games, 42 wins, 3 shutouts, 2.36 Goals Against Average and a .913 Save Percentage.

Carey Price (25)

Although Price and the Canadiens had a rough season last year, there is no question in my mind that he is still an elite goaltender. With better players in front of him and actually scoring goals (yes we're looking at you Scott Gomez) the Canadiens will have a much better season and Price's stats will reflect that. Price is finally starting to find himself as a goaltender. He admitted last season that in the past he was "young and immature" his play on the ice reflected that. But last season we saw a much more composed goalie, Price has finally come to the point where he is becoming a mature goalie. He knows what it takes to win, and isn't whining nearly as much. This is all positive for Habs fans as I wouldn't be surprised if Price led them back to the playoffs next season.

2011-2012 Regular Season Stats: 65 games, 26 wins, 4 shutouts, 2.43 Goals Against Average and a .916 Save Percentage.

Goalies Over 30:

Martin Brodeur (40)



Brodeur is the ageless wonder in net. One game it looks like his age has finally caught up to him, then the next games he plays like he's 25 again. It's really exciting to watch him play and incorporate the old style

into his game in the new era of the NHL. Last season he led the New Jersey Devils to within two wins of the Stanley Cup, not bad for a guy who just turned 40! There's times when I watch him play and think he could go on and play forever. Despite being 40 and "past his prime" he is still one of the elite goalies in the league.

2011-2012 Regular Season Stats: 59 games, 31 wins, 3 shutouts, 2.41 Goals Against Average and a .908 Save Percentage.

 Tim Thomas (38)

While Thomas has proved himself to be a nut case over the last little while (but hey, what goalie isn't a little crazy?) he is still a very good goaltender. A year removed from the Bruins historic Stanley Cup win, Thomas' stats went down a little this season causing many to question whether he should remain as the starting goalie. Those who questioned that received their wish this off season as Thomas announced he would be taking a year off of hockey to "find himself". While his plan is to come back to play hockey again after his year long sabbatical Thomas' career is winding down.

2011-2012 Regular Season Stats: 59 games, 35 wins, 5 shutouts, 2.36 GAA, and a .920 Save Percentage.

Ryan Miller (32)

While including Miller in this list may be a bit of stretch he's a goalie that fits right in the middle. He's just over the hump of 30 but not approaching his 40's and likely still has 4-5 more seasons left in the tank. Plus did you really think I was going to leave him out of this article? Miller battled injuries and consistency problems last season but was still able to brake the franchise record for most career wins with 235. In addition to setting a new franchise record he became one of only two goalies to have 30+ wins in 7 straight seasons. While his stats don't speak volumes, in my books Miller is still elite.

2011-2012 Regular Season Stats: 61 games, 31 wins, 6 shutouts, 2.54 Goals Against Average and a .916 Save Percentage.

One of the questions Margann wanted answered, was to see if age had any bearing on the stats of goalies. I'm not going to lie the statistics from last season were a lot closer than I expected them to be. The 6 goalies compared above all have relatively close statistics.

3 things to take note of-

• Jonathan Quick and Tim Thomas are the last two Stanley Cup Winning goalies. They had the highest save percentage amongst the 6 goalies. But if you look at Thomas' stats from last season (9 shutouts and 2.00 GAA) they are almost identical to those of Jonathan Quick's from this season!


• All three of the goalies under 30 played in 60+ games while only Ryan Miller of the over 30's played in more than 60 games.


• Amongst the three goalies Jonathan Quick had the best stats, ironically he won the Stanley Cup. Sometimes stats do matter.

If one had simply taken the statistics of these six goaltenders without looking at their age, they would have a very difficult time figuring out which goalies were over 30 and which were under. That speaks volumes for the older goalies on the list. With the knowledge about conditioning and nutrition that there is today the goalies are able to keep themselves in top shape and have very solid seasons. Maybe one day the NHL can compile an all star game of players under 30 vs players over 30 and see who would win!

What do you think? Which goalie would you rather have on your team?

Cup Favorites Early Exit

Sunday was a great day for a lot of hockey fans, particularly fans who don't like the Vancouver Canucks and or the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both the Penguins and Canucks were eliminated from Stanley Cup contention after losing their first round series'. It's not every day the 2 teams picked by so many to face off for hockey's ultimate prize get eliminated in the first round!

Flyers win the series 4-2 over the Penguins
It's really weird knowing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, arguably 2 of the 3 best players in the world are no longer in playoffs. I didn't think the Penguins would be able to beat the Flyers, but I thought they would be able to put up more of a fight, they really made the Flyers job pretty easy. Malkin decided to take the first round of the playoffs off and it cost his team. As soon as the opponents realize that Malkin wasn't doing anything they turned all their attention to Crosby, and 99% of the time not even Crosby can beat 5 opposing players. It was a rough series for the Penguins and they just couldn't bounce back after some shaky goaltending. Bottom line though is key players for the Flyers stepped up while key players for the Penguins did not!

3 reasons the Penguins lost


1. Goaltending: I don't know what happened to Fleury but he was not the goaltender he was all season or in past seasons, he let in suspect goals, goals at the worst times and he just looked shaky. The Pens  scored a few key goals to take the lead, but a couple minutes later the refs were fishing the puck out of the back of the Pens net. For whatever reason the Penguins didn't get the goaltending they needed to advance in the playoffs. The only thing that keeps the Pens in the series at all was, Ilya Bryzgalov didn't play that much better than Fleury.

2. Star Players: The Penguins star players really didn't step up and help the Pens. Malkin, Crosby and Neal were all pretty much absent during the series, the three combined for just 8 goals in 6 games, heck the Flyers Claude Giroux had 6 goals and 14 points in the 6 games! Giroux and Daniel Briere carried the Flyers offensively during the season and showed some great leadership. What everyone forgets is the Flyers are doing all this without their Captain Chris Pronger who has been out for the majority of the season!
People talk about Crosby being the best player in the world, but right now the best player in the league/world is Claude Giroux. He was a clutch player for the Flyers and contributed in every game.

3. Discipline: The Flyers were able to get under the Penguins skin and bait them into taking stupid penalties. It was most evident in game 3. The Pens lost their composure, and tried to out tough their opponents which was never going to happen! Philly was able to get into their heads and throw them off their game.

LA Kings win the series 4-1 over the Vancouver Canucks
Most of Canada rejoices with me as the Vancouver Canucks are eliminated from the playoffs and may have just wasted their last chance to dominate the league and win a Stanley Cup.
You have to believe with this loss there will be some major changes coming in Vancouver; first of all they need decide if they're keeping Loungo or shipping him out of town, right now all signs point to him leaving, especially after the Canucks virtually told him they have more faith in Schnieder (after game 4 and 5 starts), there are also rumblings of a coaching change in Vancouver, and who knows if the free agents will stay or go! This was probably the Canucks last chance to make it far with their current roster. Just goes to show that 2 presidents trophies don't mean anything, as the Canucks still have not won a cup. I saw an interesting tweet earlier: "Giving a team the Presidents Trophy, is like giving a student an award for having the highest mark in the class before the exam!" Seems like the Canucks can't seem to pass the biggest test!

3 reasons the Canucks lost

1. The absence of Daniel Sedin: One thing fans noticed is that 1 Sedin without the other is pretty much useless. Henrik did nothing during the first 3 games while his brother was injured. It was obvious he didn't have the good chemistry with his line mates! As soon as Daniel was back he started to score again, and compete harder. Without his brother Henrik looked lost out on the ice, seems like Daniel may be the anchor between the twins. Without Daniel and Henrik scoring the rest of the Canucks weren't able to pick up the slack and ultimately the Canucks got outplayed.

2. Didn't win at home: The Canucks lost all 3 games at the Rogers Centre in Vancouver, during last seasons playoff run the Canucks won every single game 1 at home which put them in a nice spot. But Vancouver was not able to win a single home game this series.

3. Started the wrong goalie: Now this isn't a criticism towards Roberto Loungo, as he surprisingly played really well, his team just couldn't score. But we've seen for the last little while that the Canucks are a different and arguably better team when Cory Schnieder is net, which is why I believe the Canucks will keep Schnieder. But neither goalie got any support from the team, so the goalies are not to fault for this early exit!

The Canucks are not the same team that went to the Stanley Cup playoffs last season, They seemed weaker and not as ready to battle this season, and got outplayed by the Kings.

It's a tough break for the two Stanley Cup favorites, but perhaps a lesson well learned for both teams. The regular season (Presidents trophy) means nothing come playoff time and reputation means even less. Teams must stick to their true identities and not change their game to play like their opponents, for some reason the Pens weren't confident playing with their own style and tried to play the Flyers type of hockey!

Now let's see how the Bruins do...