Top 6 goales in the Atlantic Division

by Hooks Orpik on Aug 3, 2009 1:01 PM EDT in News Comment 13 comments

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

The Superstar puts on past the King.

Over at Japers they made this list a top 10, but I'm not going to include the Brent Johnson's and Yann Danis' of the world in a list, so let's go with the Top 6 division goalies after the jump!

#6 – Dwayne Roloson – New York Islanders

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Dwayne Roloson	63	3597	28	24	9	4	166	2.77	1953	1787	.915	1

"Roly the Goalie" is on the wrong side of 40, but still had a very solid season last year up in Edmonton, keeping the Oilers in playoff contention for a long time. He’s obviously not a long-term piece in NYI’s rebuilding plan but could be a useful patch this season, especially if the #5 guy on our list falters.

#5 – Martin Biron – New York Islanders

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Martin Biron	55	3177	29	19	5	2	146	2.76	1718	1572	.915	2

Biron jumps teams in the Atlantic, joining NYI at a very discounted rate from his salary last season. Biron’s proven to be a solid regular season goaltender but once the playoffs hit he morphs into French Toast. Biron could be a trade deadline target, but for now he figures to jump into a net in Long Island that's been pretty demanding of it's goalies the past several years.

#4 – Ray Emery – Philadelphia Flyers

Ray Emery

#29 / Goalie / Philadelphia Flyers

Height: 6-2

Weight: 196

Born: Sep 28, 1982

Emery is back in NHL after a season sojourn to the KHL. So what, if anything, has the 27 year old learned? Long lauded for his pure skill, but questions still remain about Emery’s focus and consistency. The Flyers expect to be major players in the East this season, but how they fare depends largely on Emery. "Razor" was great in 2006-07, splitting time with Martin Gerber but leading the Senators in the playoffs all the way to the Stanley Cup final. He was just as horrid in 2007-08 when the wheels fell off in Ottawa he was almost literally driving the bus.

#3 -- Henrik Lundqvist – New York Rangers

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Henrik Lundqvist	70	4153	38	25	7	3	168	2.43	2007	1839	.916	3

"The King" comes in third on this list, but it’s no fault of his own. Lundqvist won the gold medal for Sweden in the 2006 Olympics and is the bedrock player for the New York Rangers. Technically solid, Lundqvist will rarely, rarely give up a goal low, he forces shooters to go high if they have any hopes of scoring. Lundqvist has won 30+ games in all four of his NHL seasons and has a career GAA and save percentage of 2.31 and .917, respectively. With numbers like that, one can see why he is The King. Now if he could just get a little more offensive support perhaps his playoff record would be a little better.

#2 -- Marc-Andre Fleury -- Pittsburgh Penguins

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Marc-Andre Fleury	62	3641	35	18	7	5	162	2.67	1850	1688	.912	4

Winning a Stanley Cup in dramatic fashion is only good enough to make Marc-Andre Fleury the second best goalie in his own division this year. MAF has made incredible strides from being young and raw as an 18 year old netminder. He was too over-active and his angles were not always perfect. NHL shooters will rip goalies up if they're not perfect and Fleury found he couldn't always rely on his incredible athleticism to bail him out. But boy did he learn, Fleury's game has matured to become more settled and more refined. He still has the exceptional speed and quickness to fall back on but has become a much more technical goalie. Don’t look now but the 24 year old goalie is already tied for 34^th all-time in career playoff wins (4 more wins boosts him to 25^th, so there’s a lot of guys in reach).

When you're so good at handling the puck the NHL makes a rule (the trapezoid) to limit your effectiveness like our #1 goalie is, it'd almost be criminal to rank Marc-Andre Fleury and all of his gaffes above him, right?

#1 -- Martin Brodeur -- New Jersey Devils

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2008 - Martin Brodeur	31	1814	19	9	3	2	73	2.41	870	797	.916	5

Brodeur may be 37 years old and he may not have won more than one series in playoff year since 2003, but he's still Marty freakin Brodeur. The NHL's all-time goalie win leader, will be the shutout leader too probably. Brodeur's benefited from a great system and great players of the years in New Jersey, but they've benefited just as much from having him as the last line of defense. Brodeur will invariably be one of the all-time greats, and even if he is getting to the end of his career he's still got some fire in him like when he was breaking sticks and complaining this year and his epic battles with Sean Avery show the old keeper still has some fire.

Pretty cut and dry, right? Would you rank the young Fleury above Brodeur now that MAF has won the Cup and Brodeur is 37? Roloson over Biron?

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Fleury is No. 3

Fleury will improve year by year, but he’s currently No. 3 in the division. Brodeur is the best around and Lundqvist put up decent numbers on a bad team. The Rangers are not a strong team, and struggled mightily. They made the playoffs simply because of Ludqvist. Their scoring inefficiency was offset by Henrik’s solid play.

by Dan J on Aug 3, 2009 2:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Fleury got the nod over Lundqvist, to me, in large part for two reasons:

- the head to head matchup in 2008. Sure, The King had to deal with Crosby, Malkin and Hossa while Fleury “only” had to guard against Jagr, Gomez and Drury…But their shot numbers remarkably similiar:

Fleury: 133 saves on 144 shots
Lundqvist: 129 saves on 143 shots

While that’s only a slight edge by the numbers, Fleury was significantly better by the Wins (4 to 1).

- Lundqvist was eliminated by the Caps, MAF beat them in 2009. The King got virtually no offensive support, hard to blame him, but Fleury got the job done in the 7th game w/ big save on Ovechkin, Henny let Fedorov blow the puck by him.

Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*

*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night

by Hooks Orpik on Aug 3, 2009 2:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If Lundqvist had gotten any offensive support at all, he would have beaten the Caps; he came within a goal of doing it practically on his own. Fleury made a key save, as you point out, but he was most certainly not the reason the Pens won that series.

by Knee high to a duck on Aug 3, 2009 4:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

you’re probably right, knee high.

When I constructed that argument, I thought of the Caps as a fairly even measuring stick — Varlamov made some nice saves against NYR, he made a bunch of really nice ones against Pittsburgh.

But considering the weakness of NYR’s offensive output, it’s not really fair to pin the loss on Lundqvist, so it might not be the strongest rationale.

I’ll still standby the ranking of Fleury over Lundqvist though.

Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*

*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night

by Hooks Orpik on Aug 3, 2009 4:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Even last season, Lundqvist played more minutes, had a better save percentage and had a lower GAA on a Ranger’s squad that was, other than him, mediocre.

He’s a money goalie with an Olympic Gold and has dragged his teammates, kicking and screaming, to the second round of the playoffs a couple of times and nearly did it again this year. Fleury can take over games, but I’ve yet to see him dominate a playoff series and he can be a bit fragile.

MAF is a good goalie who’s getting better, but if I had the choice, I would take Lundqvist in a straight-up swap as soon as I heard the offer (pending salary cap details, of course; that’s a hell of a contract.) I guess we’ll have to agree to differ on this one.

by Knee high to a duck on Aug 3, 2009 7:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I feel obligated to back Fleury but if you’re putting Lundqvist on a team with forwards like Pittsburgh has, then I’m taking him. It’s nothing against MAF – nothing at all. But the one recurring theme surrounding Henrik is that he has no one else on the team helping him out; offensively or defensively. Fleury has been shaky at times and has now gone through two straight seasons with an injury that left him out of the lineup for a while. He’s not exactly fragile, but Henrik is just about as durable and reliable as they come. He also doesn’t test his puck handling skills as much as Fleury does.

As Lilo said below me, how many times do you yell at him to stay in the net?

Sorry Flower.

Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.

by FrankD on Aug 3, 2009 8:10 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You might want to keep in mind that MAF is 2 years younger than Lundqvist. Fleury continues to improve leaps and bounds, especially last year with his rebound control. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of numbers MAF puts up this year and how they compare to Lundqvist.

On another note, Fleury has a ring, and has won 7 playoff rounds in the last two years. Lundqvist has won 1 playoff round. Fleury has proved that he can handle the pressure of the Stanley Cup playoffs, albeit with a much stronger supporting cast. Still, Fleury’s nerve has been tested when it counts the most, and MAF has delivered. Fleury came back after a horrific Game 5 to win a decisive Game 6 in Pittsburgh. He went into Detroit and took Game 7 not on the heroics of Malkin or Crosby, but by swallowing up everything the defending Stanley Cup champions threw at him. There’s a lot to be said for a goalie that has won a cup. There are a lot of question marks for those that haven’t.

I’m going with the guy that has a ring on this one…

"Oh, buy Sam a drink and get his dog one too!" - Mike Lange

by gorgalor on Aug 4, 2009 6:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah we can agree to disagree on this one.

As I said on my Twitter in the past two playoffs seasons compare the save percentages: Fleury: .920%
Lundqvist: .908%

Obviously there are other circumstances but I think Fleury’s still being under-appreciated for his contributions. Lundqvist brings a lot to the table in terms of consistency and staying in the lineup, I don’t think you’d be a fool to take him, but given recent playoff performances, I’d stay with Fleury.

Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*

*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night

by Hooks Orpik on Aug 4, 2009 9:43 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Can’t disagree—Brodeur’s just plain awesome. MAF gets better by the year, and will probably be the best in his division around the time I stop hollering “Stay in the g…d…. net!” at the TV.

"Darling, you say Brooks Orpik 'checked' that guy. He did not 'get under him and put him into the wall'."--Beloved to me, Winter 2007

by GreenEyedLilo on Aug 3, 2009 2:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

If this is who is best now...

I would go with MAF #1

Aside from Chris Osgood, Fleury has outplayed everyone he has faced when it counts(the playoffs).

Brodeur was awesome in the Cup years but has not been all that impressive the last few years in the post season. Looking downright average in a few series.

Ray Emery is a huge question mark coming into this season. He would be #5 on my list. Will he be the spectacular, Cup finalist, Ray Emery or the distracted bum of ‘07-’08?

http://hockeyplumber.blogspot.com/

by the plumber on Aug 3, 2009 4:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Brodeur is done!

Hey, it’s not that I don’t like the guy, or respect his accomplishments. But Brodeur was awful in RD1 against the ‘Canes last year. He played like a 37 year old that lost a step. Patrick Roy knew he’d reached the height of his greatness and bowed out before age got the best of him when he was 37. Sometimes it’s time to call it quits. Do you think that because grandma is 85 and has been driving for 70 years, she’s a better driver than someone that is 35? Hell no, you look at grandma and pray she doesn’t drive her caddy into a house because she forgot which peddle was the gas, and which one was the brake. I’m not saying that Marty needs to call it quits, but he’s not the same goalie he was in 1999. He’s nowhere near the best goalie in the Atlantic right now. I’m putting MAF and Lundqvist above him in my list. Marty’s Game 7 meltdown with 2 minutes remaining against the Canes last year really has to make you rethink his abilities.

"Oh, buy Sam a drink and get his dog one too!" - Mike Lange

by gorgalor on Aug 4, 2009 6:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I said “Brodeur is washed up” one time outside a Devils game and some dude got all up in my face. I was feeling the exact same thing – call it quits Marty. That’s not to say he hasn’t had a great career, but once he breaks the remaining record(s) I think he’s going to consider hanging them up.

Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.

by FrankD on Aug 4, 2009 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hmmm...

Agreed Brodeur has lost a couple of steps. He used to be a guy that often single handedly made sure NJ won. MAF over Lundquist…Hmmmm… Tough call, obviously MAF has a much better supporting cast, I would say consistently that Lundquist is the more solid of the two however MAF is the clutch Goalie. Look at his Playoff and OT record. Phenomenal. The odd thing w/MAF is that when he’s on, he literally steals games, when he’s off, he literally puts the Pens in a very tough situation. Strangely he is most vulnerable on rebounds (of which his issues far fewer than before) OR long range slappers. Seems to misjudge long range shots more than anything. As for Ray Emeryboard, I hope he’s the flop I saw in the Buffalo-Ottawa series back in ‘06, I remember one game won by Buffalo in very exciting fashion 6-5, I just knew Buffalo was going to win, because Emeryboard sucked. Obviously he was good in ’07 then regressed to his old self. I pray that’s the bozo that shows up in nets for the flyers!

by Dutch71 on Aug 5, 2009 12:51 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs