SB Nation - Martin Biron

Canadiens 3, Islanders 0: But Mother Nature gets last laugh

Dominik — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:33:24 -0000

More photos » by Kathy Kmonicek - AP

I feel your pain, Parkie.

If the Isles couldn't beat the Habs, at least Mother Nature is giving them a good kick in the teeth.

This isn't good. The Islanders powerplay continues to look anemic, the penalty kill continues to look lost, and while Jaroslav Halak made some stellar saves tonight, to call it a 40-save shutout is to flatter the quality of most of the Islanders' shots, which generally came from outside, through zero traffic, or -- when point blank -- with an eye for Halak's torso. Halak played quite well; the Islanders shot quite poorly. It was a shutout earned by both parties.

At the other end, Martin Biron should probably have a complex right about now, because his teammates have scored 12 times at 5-on-5 for him all year, while he and the boys have conceded 25. The increasingly disastrous penalty kill has been particularly awful for him, too, conceding 18 times, including all three goals tonight.

Game Sum. | Event Sum. | Recaps: nhl.com | Isles | Gazette

Final - 12.19.2009	1	2	3	Total
Montreal Canadiens	1	1	1	3
New York Islanders	0	0	0	0

Complete Coverage >

More to come about the game, but first a rant...

Best 'One-Trick Enforcers are Rather Worthless' Moment of the Night

Yeah, take away the instigator rule and I guess you could say six-minute man Georges Laraque could have attacked Andy Sutton for having the audacity to throw clean hip checks at the blueline. Instead, Laraque challenged Sutton to fight at the end of a (Sutton) shift, and #25 wisely declined. It's just not worth it and it's not necessary. Sutton wasn't throwing head shots and he wasn't endangering people's careers. He was throwing the hard bodychecks that the Don Cherrys and Mike "Strawman Argument" Milburys of the world pretend would somehow disappear if you looked into hits to the head.

The way you deal with that is by hitting back, not by pretending a guy who serves an actual hockey function should sit for five minutes just so a guy who serves no purpose other than sitting for five minutes can try to pummel him.

(Sorry, if I hear one more delusional hockey fan claim that the desire to look at concussions comes from people who "want hitting out of the game" -- or as Milbury called his straw men last night, "crunchy granola types," I'm going to flip. These people aren't worth listening to, they're impossible to debate because they package their outrage in an argument against a foe that doesn't exist (hello Straw!), and they don't even know what they're defending other than their own fear of change. Tell me you don't think the league can enforce rules right. Tell me you simply like concussions the way they are. Tell me you like MMA. Just don't tell me there are serious fans trying to remove hitting from the game, and don't tell me -- nor Andy Sutton -- that addressing headshots would remove the ability to body check.

Last night on Hot Stove Milbury actually compared debilitating brain injuries to his own knee replacement: "It happens." If one had anything to do with the other, 30 years ago the league would have mandated titanium orbs around every player's knee instead of requiring every new player wear a helmet. But see -- stop me if you've heard this -- turns out your brain is actually a pretty big deal. Even a bigger deal than a knee, shockingly. As Milbury demonstrates, being deficient in both departments. Talk about a village missing its idiot.)

Whoa, wait, where was I? Oh yeah: Laraque. '80s goon entertainment be damned (I was there, it was fun while it lasted), these one-trick enforcers simply aren't much of a factor anymore. They only fight each other and they bring nothing else to the table as hockey players -- not at this level. I've long since accepted you can't really disentangle fighting from the NHL game. I've also long since concluded it makes more sense for hockey players to fight other hockey players, rather than having Designated Testosterone Release junkies dress up as NHL hockey players to do nothing but give up 5-on-5 goals and fight each other to justify their place for five minutes of ice time a night.

So given that philosophical stance, yes, I was quite pleased to see Laraque's call go unanswered. Talk to me when Sutton does something worth fighting about, and then I'll call him out if he doesn't "answer the bell."

Game Highlights

The Powerplay: Still Weightless

So the Isles held John Tavares out of an early powerplay because, as they told Hockey Night in Canada, he wasn't moving his feet. He looked a little more alive later, but he was just one of several on the unit who didn't create enough traffic nor generating enough dangerous shots. It should be noted that the best chance -- a Halak blocker-side robbery of Matt Moulson -- was set up by a great Tavares pass.

It's a tired refrain that the Isles extra-man unit misses Doug Weight, but they do. Rob Schremp (6:18 on the PP), who looked good on the powerplay a few games ago, hasn't helped create much the last few nights. With some lineup decisions around the corner, I wonder how much longer he'll get if he doesn't ignite something in that role. But it's hard to pick on him when no one is scoring.

The Penalty Kill: What's Up?

With one-sixth of the game spent on the Islanders powerplay, ice time was low for some low-skill guys like Jon Sim and Brendan Witt. Witt only saw 10:35 of ice time, including 2:21 of PK time. He was on for the first goal (not his fault -- in fact, his last-dictch dive almost bailed out his teammates), but the other two goals were scored against the Sutton and Jack Hillen pairing, with Richard Park and Nate Thompson also out there.

So I'll ask what I asked in the game thread: What do you make of the PK? It was pretty solid the first month of the season. It's been barely above 50% (14 goals in 31 opportunities) in the last 8 games. So do you make of it a slump? Good luck early in the year meets bad luck now? Or are Park and Thompson and the blueliners behind them not as determined now that the early season hunger or job competition has receded? Or have the "most important penalty killers" -- the goalies -- just not stolen saves like they need to?

I didn't find Biron terribly at fault on any of the goals tonight, though I am still waiting to see the game-stealing form that tells me, "Oh yeah, you're a #1." I did find the Canadiens PP unit -- buoyed by the return of quarterback Andrei Markov, who potted two -- moved the puck around entirely too easily.

Scott Gordon's Take

Here's Scott Gordon, responding to questions about his special teams, which couldn't handle the Habs' approach, as well as the play of Biron. Gordon said "at 5-on-5, I don't think they were in the same ballgame" -- and if you look at the Corsi tally for the night, you'd think he has a point: Not a single Islander was on the ice for more 5-on-5 shot attempts against Biron than shot attempts at Halak.

December Swoon?

It's been brought up before, and it was brought up last night -- an amusing reset of my jinx-defying "surely they won't go 10 games without a win again" -- so it's worth noting the Isles are 3-6 so far this month. Worse than any Julian calendar-marked demarcations, though, is the fact they've been shut out twice and are 1-3 at home, losing by a combined 12 goals in those three losses. For the brave fans who drove out in a blizzard to endure the invasion of Habs fans last night, that's a crappy reward.

Bottom Line

The Islanders are still a team that's relying on a lot of young, green players to be their best players, while looking to some long-in-the-tooth and/or marginal vets to fill out the rest. Two of their top four defensemen are Jack Hillen and Andrew MacDonald, which is a lot to ask. Not a single player who is looked upon to score has been around the block in this league. This is the recipe for some pain that, I think, most of us expected. As luck (and tradition?) would have it, we're getting a heavy dose of that pain this holiday season.

But one day Kyle Okposo will score again, Park will bury his shorthanded breakaway, Moulson will return to putting those point-blank shots inside the post instead of into the goalie, and Frans Nielsen will bury his chance in front instead of pass to no one. That's the idea, anyway.

Islanders All-Decade Team: The goalies

Dominik — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:40:47 -0000

More photos » by Douglas Healey - AP

Rick DiPietro's long, strange 2000s trip begins and ends in Bridgeport*. >>*alright, technically 2000-01 was with IHL Chicago, but still: poetic license and all that.

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Note: The "aughts," a regrettable hockey decade in many ways, are coming to a close. Sure, sets of 10 begin with one, not zero -- but picking a starting point when marking time is a subjective human pursuit, like picking your favorite player. We don't call the avocado green appliance decade "the '70s plus 1980," so we're not going to pretend the aughts continue past the fast-approaching Dec. 31, 2009. With that in mind, we'll close out the year by picking our Islanders All-Decade Team. It's a little bit sorrow, a little bit nostalgia, a little bit regret, and a little bit hope.

With five more wins, Dwayne Roloson will become the fourth-winningest Islanders goaltender of the decade.

That speaks not so much to a goalie merry-go-round as to the prominence of three guys: A "15-year" guy whose acquisition defined Mike Milbury decision-making, a future GM who's determined to avoid Milbury's mistakes, and a supposed future Hall of Fame waiver claim whose hot-and-cold 103 games in Orange and Blue was symptomatic of his NHL career.

A poll, and a little more about these guys, after the jump. We'll be tallying votes, but in the comments you can elaborate on your 2000s memories, or even pick who you'd have as backup and third-stringer on the all-decade team.

Rk	Player	From	To	GP	MIN	W	L	T/OT	PTS	PTS%	SO	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%
1	Rick DiPietro	2001	2009	273	15674	117	112	29	263	0.51	14	729	2.79	7681	6952	.905
2	Garth Snow	2002	2006	127	6718	44	52	13	101	0.463	4	309	2.76	3196	2887	.903
3	Chris Osgood	2002	2003	103	5736	49	39	10	108	0.551	6	253	2.65	2639	2386	.904
4	Joey MacDonald	2008	2009	51	2912	14	27	7	35	0.365	1	163	3.36	1657	1494	.902
5	John Vanbiesbrouck	2001	2001	44	2390	10	25	5	25	0.313	1	120	3.01	1177	1057	.898
6	Wade Dubielewicz	2004	2008	37	1926	16	13	2	34	0.548	0	82	2.55	1020	938	.920
7	Yann Danis	2009	2009	31	1760	10	17	3	23	0.383	2	84	2.86	933	849	.910
8	Dwayne Roloson	2010	2010	22	1301	11	5	5	27	0.643	0	63	2.91	688	625	.908
9	Wade Flaherty	2001	2001	20	1017	6	10	0	12	0.375	1	56	3.3	470	414	.881
10	Mike Dunham	2007	2007	19	979	4	10	3	11	0.324	0	61	3.74	552	491	.889
11	Martin Biron	2010	2010	15	830	2	9	2	6	0.231	1	46	3.33	450	404	.898
12	Chris Terreri	2001	2001	8	443	2	4	1	5	0.357	0	18	2.44	205	187	.912
13	Peter Mannino	2009	2009	3	133	1	1	0	2	0.5	0	10	4.51	87	77	.885

This data is from Hockey-Reference.com, and the goalies are listed by games played between the 2000-01 season and 2009-10. The years in the "from/to" columns denote the calendar year in which a season ended. (Yes, I left off the last half of the 1999-2000 season; like I said, human markers of time are as subjective as "player X was bad in November but December magically made it all better.")

Rick DiPietro's save percentage includes his developing-on-the-fly years as well as his playing-while-hurt figures from after the 2008 All-Star break. 2006-07's .919 was his high mark, and he was carrying that same form under Ted Nolan into 2007-08 until ... well, you know.

Chris Osgood's 103 games include that bright 32-25-6/2.50/.910 in 2001-02, as well as the 17-14-4/2.92/.894 he put up the following year, when he was dumped to the Blues for Justin Papineau and an exchange of picks that netted Jeremy Colliton. (Yes, a goaltender who would later appear in two more Stanley Cup finals was traded for Justin Papineau -- and it didn't even feel wrong at the time. This is why every "Osgood for the Hall" discussion always feels caveat-heavy unless you're an Osgood fanatic or family member.)

Garth Snow played 24 more games than Osgood, yielding a higher GAA, lower save percentage and fewer shutouts. But bigger pads. Definitely bigger pads.

Heh, Dwayne Roloson after 22 games has by far the highest win/points percentage of the lot. It will be fun to revisit this after this season's over to see where he stands. The flip-side of such small sample sizes and that particular stat: Martin Biron currently has the worst.

Outliers: The highest save percentage on this list belongs to Wade Dubielewicz, but please don't use that for your "he could have been a starter in this league!" argument. (Alright, seriously do whatever you want. This is for fun.) Breaking my plea from the previous sentence, Yann Danis' minimal sample size but lofty numbers tells me, again, that the Maple Leafs picked the wrong Islanders 2B goalie from last season. To be fair, I'm not sure if the new father Danis would've picked Leafs chaos over Lemaire safety anyway.

Your Islanders Goalie of the Decade

So this position was an easy one: For longevity, for prominence, for a star that shined the brightest, for a guy who carried this team the longest, the straight-forward pick for goaltender on the Islanders 2000s All-Decade Team is Rick DiPietro. Injuries and curious contract aside, he's been the man. It is funny, though, that the guy on this list with the most playoff wins in an Islanders uniform is actually Chris Osgood, who picked up three during that exciting 7-game playoff series with the Leafs that I'm, finally, ready to put to bed.

It's somehow fitting that the brightest star is a guy whose career now hangs at the mercy of rehabbed knees and hips; the second-busiest guy became -- overnight -- the club's scoffed-at but actually quite astute GM; while the guy with the most Isles playoff wins in the decade didn't even win a series, continued to hit rock bottom after he left the Island for Justin freaking Papineau, then resurrected his game enough to play a much-maligned role in the Red Wings winning one Cup and falling just short for a second.

If that doesn't paint a representative picture of the Islanders' curious highs and lows in the 2000s, I don't know what does. I heartily look forward to the 2000-teens, where the future looks brighter at this and every other position. Thank god.

Poll

For the Islanders 2000s All-Decade Team, your pick in goal is:

Islanders Gameday: Let's play two, Battle of NY style

Dominik — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:02:26 -0000

Update: One of the lineup moves for the defeated is scratching overpaid, underperforming Wade Redden, and my god does his reaction tell you everything you need to know about how absolutely out of touch he is about his performance as a Ranger:

"Redden was not shy in expressing his opinion that he was being made a scapegoat for the Blueshirts’ miserable string of games that included Wednesday’s 2-1 Garden defeat to the Islanders.

“I’m not pleased to be singled out,” said Redden, scratched for what is believed the first time in his 13-year NHL career. “We’re going through struggles as a team and the fact that I’m sitting out, I’m not real happy."

Tortorella's Terribles (14-16-3) at Gordon's Golly Go-Go's (13-14-7)

7 p.m. EST | Nassau Veterans Mem. Coliseum | MSG, MSG+, radio

Mourners: Blueshirt Banter | Scotty Hockey

The sorry thing about tonight's tail end of back-to-backs is the Islanders have (real, but not justified) reason to relax after taking the opener, while the Rangers have absolutely no excuse if they don't come out like it's a Game 7. The Rangers are in a tailspin, and nothing would cap off "rock bottom" of such a spin like being meekly swept by the Islanders.

If the Smurfs don't come out like a bat out of hell (Query: Who, actually, has seen a bat fly out of hell to know that it is worthy of the phrase?), they are essentially conceding that there's no hope for them until someone blows up the roster or fires the decision-makers. (Heh.) That would be a justified concession, actually, but it's not one that professional competitive players typically like to make, regardless of what the Garden fans tell them.

Lots of unknowns as of this mid-day posting: Does Martin Biron get his turn? Will the Rangers' biggest change be the one they can least afford -- debuting Chad Johnson in place of Henrik Lundqvist, the one part of their team who isn't broken? [Update: No. Lundqvist goes back in, while Redden and Kotalik sit.]

Suffice it to say, despite on-ice evidence to the contrary the meme that only one team considers this a rivalry is, well, not backed up by evidence. Quoth Marc Staal:

"The Islanders are a huge rival for us," defenseman Mark Staal said. "For us to come out the way we did in the first period was embarrassing."

Agreed.

This pre-game is somewhat formulaic -- all too rare that we have back-to-backs with the same team. So discuss what you will here, or in last night's recap, or in the post-game presser post of Tortorella's (rather calm) tirade. And we'll see you around the bend.

Rangers vs. Islanders: "The Little Brother Syndrome", everything to lose, nothing to gain

Jim Schmiedeberg — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:37:59 -0000

Little brother comes to town tonight (photo courtesy of LIfe.com)

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New York Sports is replete with inner rivalries. The Yankees and Mets, the Giants and Jets, the Rangers and Islanders, and even the Knicks and Nets, although I can't say I've ever heard anyone ever get really excited for a Knicks-Nets game.

But each of these rivalries has a big brother-little brother complex to them. The Yankees have been around over 100 years, average a championship every 4 seasons, and have a worldwide fan base, while the Mets haven't had a team identity in over 20 years, and have just two measly banners to their credit, and years of futility and underachievement in their history.

The Giants and Jets follow a very similar path, with the Giants being one of the oldest teams in the league, numerous championships, and really only one prolonged bad stretch in their history (the 70's). The Jets have always lived in the shadow, and continue to live off a championship that happened forty years ago. (Yes Joe, we've heard the "Guarantee" story, at this point I can tell it better than you.)

That brings us to the Rangers-Islanders. The Rangers, with their 80-plus years of history, the flashy names, the bright lights of Broadway, and when newspapers pay attention to hockey: the headlines. The Islanders? Sure, they had their amazing dynasty in the early 80's, but they still suffer the same fate as the Mets, Jets, and I guess the Nets. I call it "The Little Brother Syndrome".

If you have younger siblings, remember when you used to play games with them? You'd beat them, usually by a wide margin, but you were supposed to. You were the big bad brother or sister: older, smarter, and presumably with more tools and resources for defeating your younger opponent. It felt good to win, it usually does, but there was also something missing because you felt like you were just doing what you were supposed to.

When the Yankees and Mets play, if the Yankees win, the Yankee fan mostly takes it in stride, its just another day at the office for them. Same goes for the Giants when playing the Jets, and Rangers when playing the Islanders. It's just big brother doing what big brother does.

But when little brother gets the best of you, your life becomes a living hell. Jet fans live to beat the Giants, and some Met fans would be ok with the Mets being 6-156 as long as those 6 wins came against the Yankees. Same rule applies for Islander fans; when the Isles beat the Rangers it makes their whole year. If you've ever been around an Islander fan after they've beaten the Rangers, you will know what I mean.

And in the case of the Islanders, baby bro is catching up to the Rangers. They are a hard working team that has played better than their record, and they have a flashy new toy in John Tavares. Meanwhile, big brother is struggling right now, his head isn't quite screwed on straight, like his girlfriend dumped him or something. But the Isles are still the little brother, and a couple of games against little brother may be just what the Rangers need to get their confidence going again.

Let's hope so, because nothing is worse than losing to your little brother.

Also, we are doing a Special "Blueshirt Banter Radio Rally" at 5:30 PM, leading up to the game. You can click the link below to listen to the show:

Blueshirt Banter Radio w/Mouth and Jim

Horton (4 points), Panthers nuke Islanders 7-1

Whale4ever — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:46:16 -0000

More photos » by Kathy Kmonicek - AP

8 days ago: Florida Panthers' Nathan Horton (16),hits the puck past New York Islanders' goalie Dwayne Roloson for his second goal of the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Dec. 14, 2009, in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

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Final - 12.14.2009	1	2	3	Total
Florida Panthers	1	2	4	7
New York Islanders	0	1	0	1

Complete Coverage >

Huge night on the scoresheet for Nathan Horton (3g, 1a) as the Cats roll at Nassau Coliseum. Eleven Panthers gained at least a point, while Tomas Vokoun stopped 30 shots to gain the win.

More to come in a bit, but enjoy the highlights; been a long time coming...

Khabibulin Done?

Derek Zona — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:48:42 -0000

via cdn.picapp.com

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Message boards and blogs devoted to the Edmonton Oilers are ablaze with talk that Nikolai Khabibulin could be done for the year as he has surgery to repair a herniated disc. Having suffered through the same injury, if he's had to go the surgical route, it's severe. At this point, a surgery like this brings into question Khabibulin's ability to continue his career in the NHL. If that's the case, Steve Tambellini has caught an amazing break in the world of cap management. Of course, the injury leaves him with a significant hole in the lineup as Khabibulin was brought in specifically to be a big-game goaltender and a playoff workhorse. For a team like the Oilers, battling along in 10th place, Tambellini has two options:

a. Find an affordable goaltending option to split time with Jeff Deslauriers and hope that superior defense saves the season.

b. Let Jeff Deslauriers and Devan Dubnyk split the work for the rest of the season and see if either one is a long-term solution.

Given the continuing state of the goaltending market, Tambellini shouldn't have to do anything major to land a serviceable goalie to help out the rest of the way. This is exactly why I think that Tambellini and his shadow management group will choose:

c. Go after a big name goalie and try to hit a home run.

Enter Tomas Vokoun. This weekend, Chris Botta reported that Randy Sexton is actively shopping Vokoun to anyone that will have him in what can only be a salary dump. He also falls into the light-thinking trap of reporting that Vokoun "...has the 2010-11 season left on his contract at a hefty $6.3 million..." even though his cap hit is $5.7 million. While the $6.3 million may matter to a somewhat cash-strapped team like Florida, the cap hit matters most to teams that fly close to the cap ceiling. Teams such as...the Edmonton Oilers.

If Khabibulin down and out for good, Edmonton will get cap relief to the tune of $3.75 million per season. The one way out of the ridiculous Over-35 Contract that the Oilers gave Khabibulin is contained in Article 50, Section 50.5 (PDF Warning) in the Collective Bargaining Agreement - AKA the Mike Rathje Section.

The Oilers have an over-abundance of small, skilled forwards that may be attractive to a Southeast team, especially a kid like Andrew Cogliano. Cogliano's speed has been dazzling scouts, personnel people, coaches and fans, but his game hasn't quite come together. He would be a perfect candidate to move to Florida as the central piece of a Vokoun deal. Edmonton would need to clear an additional $2 million in cap space to get Vokoun under the cap, space that can be provided by Ethan Moreau.

Would a trade of Ethan Moreau and Andrew Cogliano for Tomas Vokoun be so far-fetched? In this case, I don't think so. Tambellini gets to blame the "unforeseen injury" to Khabibulin and gets to move Cogliano without criticism from most quarters. Florida gets to clear a huge salary from the books and gets a promising young center in Cogliano and only has one season of Ethan Moreau at $2 million.

As far as the optics go, Vokoun looks like a coup for the Oilers management team, as he's a world-class goaltender (a real one, not like the crumbling wall was purported to be) on a team that is "pushing hard for a playoff spot". Vokoun also falls into the whale category that the crew of the Pequod has been hunting for the last two-and-a-half years.

I know, I know - Vokoun seems like an unbelievable option. Martin Biron, Jaroslav Halak, Ty Conklin - they all make much more sense. Ask yourself this - over the last two years, what has the Oilers management team been, if not unbelievable?

With Emery Out Six Weeks, Are There Other Goaltending Options?

Geoff Detweiler — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:00:22 -0000

Since Ray Emery was placed on Injured Reserve with an abdominal tear and will be out an estimated six weeks, the Philadelphia Flyers might want to look at acquiring a goalie for the rest of the season.

Currently, the Flyers are going with Brian Boucher as the starter and Johan Backlund the backup. Not exactly two goalies you expect to be on a Stanley Cup contending team. Asking those two to be the only two goalies for around 20 games (from December 8th to January 20th) is a little scary: that's almost a quarter of the season.

Do you feel comfortable with Boucher and Backlund manning the pipes for that long? Do you trust Ray Emery to return in exactly six weeks, ready to play at a level similar to his start? It's understandable if you don't.

So, what about goalies possibly available via a trade? After the jump, a look at Brian Boucher, Johan Backlund, and a few potential goalies available.

Boucher has been around for awhile. The former 1st round pick in 1995 broke into the league in 1999-2000, but never really had a firm grasp on the starting job anywhere he really went. He has never started more than 40 games in a season, which he did in 2002-03 in Phoenix. There, he split time with Sean Burke, Zac Bierk, Patrick Desrochers, and Jean-Marc Pelletier.

Last year, Boucher twice started 7 games in a row, going 5-1-1 and 2-4-1 in each set. His goals against average for each stretch was roughly 2.43 and 3.00 in those games.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Brian Boucher	8	415	2	5			18	2.60	183	165	.902	0

Johan Backlund:

He is making his North American debut this year with the Adirondack Phantoms. So far, he has a 6-8-0 record, with a 2.81 gaa and .903 save percentage. Everything out of Adirondack suggests Backlund is a big reason why the Phantoms are even in most of the games. He's even received this praise from Phantom forward Matt Clackson: "I'm happy we still have him. He's good enough to be up there (the NHL)." Well, now he is. How long it lasts and how well he does is anybody's guess. But let's hope he's better than we first saw in the preseason.

Now, if those two didn't inspire confidence, there are plenty of options outside the organization. As would be required, I went to CapGeek.com to look at what the Flyers could afford. Their daily cap calculator says the Flyers have over $3 million in cap space available. They also estimate $4.7 million available in "acquisition space (full-season cap hit.)" Not sure if I believe that, especially with the Jones fiasco, but CapGeek is generally pretty good.

With that in mind, the first goalie who would surely pop up in conversation would certainly be former Flyer Martin Biron.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Martin Biron	13	751	2	8			38	3.04	410	372	.907	1

Those numbers don't exactly look great, but if you look at Biron's even-strength save percentage, he's tied with Boucher for 29th in the league at .922. Among those with at least 10 games started, Biron ranks 20th. Also, his goals against at 5-on-5 is 2.39, ahead of Jonas Hiller, Jose Theodore, and Cam Ward. (Boucher's is 2.18, Emery 2.26)

What's important when looking at Biron though - other than the fact that he played for the Flyers the past two plus seasons - is his one year, $1.4 million deal he just signed. With Rick DiPietro starting to practice again, Biron appears to be the odd man out on Long Island. His short and affordable contract makes him easy to trade, something the Flyers certainly like.

Next, the Flyers might look at Carey Price. The beleaguered Canadiens goalie carries a cap hit of $2.2 million and will be a restricted free agent at the end of the year. Over the summer, there were rumors that saw Price coming to Philadelphia, but that never happened.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Carey Price	22	1294	9	10			58	2.69	668	610	.913	0

Currently, Price is 25th in the league in GAA and 21st in save percentage. Looking at his even-strength numbers, Price has a .925 save percentage, good for 15th in the league among those with 10 starts or more. His 5-on-5 gaa is 2.33.

The obvious upside with Price is that he's young (still only 22) and certainly has a lot of talent. Playing in Montreal can never be good for young goalies, so a trade could possibly see Price up his game. The downside is that he might just have a fragile psyche, no matter where he plays. He also could suffer from the hype, as a lot of people watch him play and leave unimpressed. Lastly, since he'll be a restricted free agent after the season, the Canadiens will probably want something significant in return.

Another goalie worth looking at is Dan Ellis. Due to be an unrestricted free agent after the season, Ellis carries a cap hit of only $1.75 million. Since breaking into the league in 2007-08 and stealing Chris Mason's starting job, Ellis has since lost his job to Pekka Rinne. That could make his value drop, which would further help the Flyers.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Dan Ellis	13	656	5	5			30	2.74	328	298	.909	0

Again, the numbers so far this year aren't very impressive at first. He's 27th in GAA and 23rd in save percentage, while he's 35th in even-strength save percentage at .918. At 5-on-5 he has a very pedestrian 2.60 gaa. The best attributes of Ellis are that he has post-season experience (2.52 gaa, .938 s%), has previously gotten hot for a stretch, has a modest cap hit, and the Predators are a favorite trading partner of the Flyers. The downside is that he's just not an elite goaltender, nor is he young enough to warrant a risk at age 29.

Continuing down the list of inexpensive, soon to be free agent goaltenders, next on the list is Josh Harding. Stuck behind Niklas Backstrom in Minnesota, Harding has failed to have a breakout year. His best season was last year, when he posted a 2.21 gaa and .929 s%, but that came in only 19 games (with a 3-9-1 record). He's off to a horrible start so far, but it's only been 6 games.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Josh Harding	6	324	2	3			18	3.33	137	119	.869	0

Obviously, those numbers are pretty bad. But, the good news is that it's a small sample size. Also, his even-strength save percentage is only .874, good for 63rd out of 67 goalies. His 3.29 5-on-5 goals against average isn't any better. Why is a goalie who's playing so poorly even being mentioned? He's only 25, he's coming off his best season as a pro, he's inexpensive, and he has good career numbers - 2.57 and .916. Bad? He's only played 64 games and has a career losing record, playing in a defense-first system. Either way, the asking price would be lower than most other available goalies, and the upside is clearly there.

While rather unlikely, another name that could surface is Jean-Sebastien Giguere. He has a cap hit of $6 million on a contract that expires after next season, but he's lost his job to Jonas Hiller (who, coincidentally is an unrestricted free agent after this season) and doesn't appear to be happy about it.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Jean-Sebastien Giguere	12	708	3	4			31	2.63	370	339	.916	1

This year, Giguere has been good, but not great. There was a great story by Jonathan Willis the other day breaking down Giguere's play the past few years that showed his poor showing last year was mostly a result of his father dying in the middle of the season. Needless to say, Giguere - a former Cup winner and Conn Smythe winner - would be the type of elite goaltender so many people want the Flyers to have. However, he's 32 years old with a very large cap hit. The Flyers don't have enough room to take on that salary, so a high priced player would have to go back to Anaheim, which might be a bit difficult to swing since we already traded high-priced players this off-season.

Other goalies of note who will be free agents after the season include Johan Hedberg, Cory Schneider, Jaroslav Halak, and Antero Niittymaki.

What do you guys think?

Flyers 6, Islanders 2: Isles continue flat play in front of Biron

Dominik — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:25:12 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

"Yeah, sure we looked beaten up, but you should have seen the other truck."

Browse more photos »

This one was all stink from beginning to end, with a couple of trademark John Tavares poached powerplay goals thrown in to temporarily ease the pain. The Islanders didn't show up in the first half, their penalty kill was ineffective (as it always is in front of Martin Biron), and the powerplay didn't come to life until it was too late.

Worst part is, the Islanders chose to lay an egg in a way that gets the Flyers out of their slump, hands them their first bit of affirmation under Peter Laviolette, and lets them leap the Isles in the Atlantic standings. Way to go, guys.

[Update: No, even worse: Two injuries, with Tim Jackman and Sean Bergenheim out for the Toronto game]

Game Sum. | Event Sum. | Recaps: nhl.com | Isles official | BSH

FINAL	1	2	3	Total
New York Islanders	0	2	0	2
Philadelphia Flyers	2	3	1	6

Join the Game Thread

Until the last couple of games, Dwayne Roloson and Martin Biron's surface numbers were relatively similar. But as mentioned a few times here, even before tonight -- when the Islanders killed only two of five Flyers powerplays -- Biron's PK save percentage was considerably lower than Roloson's. Something is going on here:

While Shorthanded	Shots	Goals	Saves	Sv %
Roloson	97	9	88	.907
Biron	88	16	72	.818

Tonight's short-side goal by Jeff Carter was a Biron mistake -- and one of the "book" weaknesses oft noted about him. But is that the only explanation? Does simple bad luck have something to do with it? Do the Islanders come out flat (outshot 37-24, 15-5 in the 1st) and have to climb up a hill of bad penalties (and zero goal support) in Biron's games, simply by chance? I can accept that Roloson is the better goalie, but not by this margin.

Not much more to say about this disaster, but I do have a little Chris Pronger retrospective rant to get off my chest, along with video highlights after the jump.

Chris Pronger: Still a Tool after All These Years.

This is the devil's bargain you sign with Chris Pronger. Watching a decade of his awkward puppy years in St. Louis, where he grew from awkward, spoiled overpaid deer in the headlights to essential team captain and quarterback, I saw this all the time from Pronger: A dumb penalty behind the play, like his not-very-sneaky hit from behind on John Tavares last night, followed by an indignant expression of feigned innocence, as if there is no conceivable way he could have done ANYTHING wrong (Tavares lost a tooth on the play). That, along with a few more second-period Flyers penalties, nearly let the Islanders back in the game last night, briefly changing the game from 4-0 to 4-2. Apparently this will always be Pronger's Achilles heel, but there's simply no need for it.

For the life of me, I will never understand how a 6'4" tower of reach and strength, who can easily demolish and intimidate opponents with legal hits (which in my book always send a FAR more effective message than the cheap team-killing sutff), nonetheless chooses to try to do it with dirty, easy-to-call penalties. He's grown up so much since the days Mike Keenan (of all people) had to shame some sense into him, and yet you know even in his "mature veteran" 30s there will be multiple times this season where he will confound more discerning Flyers fans with dumb penalties that show he still hasn't figured out the balance between hockey intimidation and human douchebaggery. A pitiable trait for a future Hall of Famer, but there you go. We can't design our hockey players in a laboratory.

Next: The End of the Road

So Wednesday the Islanders' epic stint on the road comes to an end. After that, they have 11 of the next 13 games at home to look forward to -- with the only two "road" games at that cozy place in Manhattan. If they're thinking of looking past that challenging road tilt against the Leafs, who are on a 6-2-2 run, in the name of eagerly anticipating home cooking, I hope they think again. The Isles are in 12th place now, just one point above the Panthers and four points over the Leafs (two points with a regulation loss tomorrow).

Please show up, boys.

Game 28, Preview and Open Thread: Home Cookin', New York Islanders at Philadelphia Flyers

Travis Hughes — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:55:25 -0000

#11 New York Islanders (11-11-7, 29 pts) at #13 Philadelphia Flyers (13-13-1, 27 pts)
Wachovia Center - 7:00 PM EST - Philadelphia, PA
TV: Versus HD, TSN 2 HD
Radio: 610 WIP, XM 204
This is the open game thread.
Behind Enemy Lines: Lighthouse Hockey

The last time the Flyers won was the night before Thanksgiving against the New York Islanders. They'll go for a second consecutive win against the division rival tonight at the Wachovia Center. Let's try not to get embarrassed on national television, eh boys?

John Stevens last win as Flyers head coach came that night on Long Island. Peter Laviolette can get his first win as Flyers head coach against the same team -- a team he coached for two seasons at the beginning of this decade.

There really isn't a lot to say in previewing this game. There are a few lineup changes, as David Laliberte has been called up from Adirondack and will likely play in place of Riley Cote. Ray Emery is on the shelf for six weeks and Johan Backlund has been called up to replace him. He'll sit and Brian Boucher will start the second game of a back-to-back.

These guys just need a win. Badly. It doesn't matter who they're playing and it doesn't matter that they beat the Islanders two weeks ago. They're a hard-working team and the Flyers probably wont win without a complete effort. It's really the same problems they've had for weeks that they need to cure tonight. Get the special teams on track, work hard, get solid goaltending, and get a ton of pressure on the New York goal.

They did a few of these things last night, but they'll need to do all of them tonight. If not, we'll be looking to the bottle again before this one's over...

After the jump, questions to answer, the Flyers' line combos, and your starting goaltenders.

Flyers Line Combinations (subject to change)

Hartnell – Richards – Giroux
JVR – Carter – Briere
Laperriere – Pyorala – Asham
Laliberte/Cote – Kalinski – Nodl

Questions To Answer - many are the same as last night. Symbolism, or something.

Power play. Can they turn it around?
Goaltending. How does Boucher perform?
Sixty minute effort, yay or nay?
Can they outwork the Islanders?

Starting Goaltenders

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 PHI - Brian Boucher	8	415	2	5			18	2.60	183	165	.902	0

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 NYI - Martin Biron	13	751	2	8			38	3.04	410	372	.907	1

Islanders Gameday: Laviolette's limping, identity-crisis Flyers

Dominik — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:15:10 -0000

After a couple of days between games, now the really crazy part of December's schedule begins, against a team that is still disorganized under a new coach and, frankly, ripe for the kill.

[Note: This game is on Versus in the U.S. Apologies for the copy/paste error earlier.]

New York Islanders (11-11-7, 4th/Atl) at Philadelphia Flyers (13-13-1, 5th/Atl)
7 p.m. | The [R.I.P. Spectrum] Center | VERSUS, TSN, radio
New Laviolette Disciples: Broad Street Hockey

The Flyers are playing on back-to-back nights (the Isles get that pleasure tomorrow in Toronto), and while last night's 3-1 loss in Montreal showed mild signs of improvement over Peter Laviolette's debut, they still have miles to go. Travis's recap at Broad Street Hockey reminds me of the early days of Scott Gordon, with lots of talk of systems and the challenge of transforming a team overnight. Watching last night's game, the number of times the Flyers announcers said "Laviolette's system" -- as if trying to decipher a teacher's methods with an unruly classroom -- told me the Philly team is still going through those new coach pains we know too well.

But while a new system and new forms of blueline pinching can bring initial chaos, a team with talent can still gut out a win on any given night. The Islanders better be ready. They better bring it. If they get the first goal, they better go for the kill. A slot in the standings is at stake. [Continued after the jump, with a look at faceoffs...]

For a moment I thought to myself, "Wait...do you remember any such chaos when Lavi took over the Islanders?" Followed immediately by: "Of course you don't!" Not only was Laviolette's 11-2-1 2001-02 start this decade's greatest Islanders run (still), it followed a summer hiring, when he had plenty of time to plan and work in the new blood who would lead that team.

I'm really intrigued by what Laviolette might be able to do, though. If that team is to reach the promised land with this core, they've pretty much wed themselves to doing it with Laviolette. Even this season, there is still plenty of time -- more time than when Pittsburgh brought in Dan Bylsma -- and the Flyers have legit talent in a lot of places that Laviolette should be able to employ in a cohesive whole. The one thing Laviolette doesn't have is a motivated-by-something-to-prove Chris Osgood or a pure talent like Cam Ward. In the end, my expectation for the Flyers will remain as it has been for the last 18 years, revolving around one question: Can this goaltending take them all the way?

But enough about those punks in Philadelphia. There is another proud flyer of the Orange banner to think about...

Tonight's Lineup

Goaltending: Dwayne Roloson isn't the officially declared #1 goalie, but he's been playing and starting like he is. Still, tonight is a great chance to put Martin Biron back in, to hopefully get revenge on his old team while allowing "58-save" Dwayne Roloson to haunt Toronto tomorrow night. The last NYI-PHI meeting -- John Stevens' final win as Flyers coach -- didn't go so well, but not because of Biron's play. True to form*, the Islanders gave him no goal support after Brian Boucher stood on his head for two periods. Yes, that game on Long Island remains the Flyers' only win in their last ten games. Please don't let tonight be their second.

*In fact, among goalies who have played five or more games, Biron has the worst 5-on-5 goal support in the league, with just 1.25 GF/60 minutes (5-on-5). In contrast, the Isles give Roloson 2.88. But the record isn't all on Biron's teammates (unless they're tanking the PK): On the PK, Biron is allowing 11.08 goals per 60 minutes (of 4-on-5), while Roloson is allowing just 5.43.

Lines, Damn Lines and More Statistics: Otherwise, during this relative period of health, the lines remain the same. Jack Hillen is banged up but will play, while Andy Sutton (soon) and Doug Weight remain on the shelf (not soon), and Rob Schremp Hockey and Blake Comeau continue to sport the yellow jerseys.

What are the Islanders missing without Sutton and out-for-the-year Radek Martinek? Well, two of the 20 best defensive defensemen through the first quarter by James Mirtle's metrics, but also the two most prolific shot blockers on the team. At 5-on-5 this year, Sutton has blocked 7.4 shots per 60 minutes, while Martinek blocked 6.8. Witt has also blocked 6.8/60. There is some warranted thought that a lot of blocked shots in no way indicates you're a good team -- if you don't have the puck much, you face (and block) more shots, and if you don't have the puck you're probably the weaker team. But on an individual level, it's hard to not value a guy who can get in the shooting lanes, particularly in the anti-obstruction (hallelujah!) post-lockout NHL.

For the record, the Isles are again near the top (3rd as of last night) in blocked shots with 490. And who's in fourth, with 479? Why, your Stanley Cup champ Pittsburgh Penguins.

Faceoffs: Not Just a Crappy Travolta/Cage Sellout Film

Since we're wading into team stats, how's that once vaunted, later de-vaunted faceoff acumen coming along? The Islanders are currently 19th, at 49%. Not as good as they were in the early-going when we were in awe of their video work, not as bad as they were when they came crashing down from that high. But all of them are above 53.9% at home, while only Nielsen is even above 50% on the road.

NYI	Faceoffs	Win%
Frans Nielsen	323	52.6
Richard Park	399	52.4
John Tavares	411	48.4
Nate Thompson	152	47.4
Josh Bailey	284	43.0

As with any consideration of faceoff proficiency, we should remember that shorthanded faceoffs are harder (fewer teammates on the ice means less help to "win" the puck after it leaves the faceoff dot), so keep in mind that Nielsen, Park and Thompson's numbers come under more difficult circumstances than Tavares and Bailey, who never take PK draws. (Okay fine: Tavares has taken 5, Bailey has taken 16. Never say "never.") But for the shorthanded go-to guys, Park has taken 91 shorthanded draws (41-49), while Thompson has taken 45 (18-27) and Nielsen has taken 27 (12-15).

Anyway you slice it, Josh Bailey still needs work at the dot. But he's 20, so he still officially has slack from me.

That's the story for now. Let's. Go. Islanders.

Prediction: It's been a whole five games since we tasted OT (the Roloson Miracle in Toronto). It's time we renewed acquaintances, and it's time Kyle Okposo's post luck changes.