Conklin's Not Our Guy
There are two things that you need in a backup goaltender. First, the ability to come in and play-and do so well-after not getting in the net for a while, keeping the GP for the number one guy to a minimum. Second, in case of injury to your number one (please God no), he would give your team the ability to still win a Cup.
I hate to say it; Conklin fails on both accounts this year.
Hit the jump for why.
There’s no question that he’s struggled this year. But unlike those who proclaimed that the game against Chicago was a turn-around of his season, I simply saw the same goalie who’s been a well paid sieve all season long, with a little luck on his side. The puck bounces off him rather than getting sucked in like Howard’s gotten so well at lately. His recovery and quickness simply doesn’t seem to be there. He’s never been great at recovery or standard pro-fly style which dominates the NHL lately, but he’s had that ability to just stop the puck. However, his flexibility appears to have suffered significantly since his last stint with Detroit, probably just a sign of age.
Anyway you look at it though, Detroit, with Howard in goal, has a chance to win #12 this season. But if things come to pass and Conklin is in net? I honestly don’t believe there’s even a chance. He can still make the big saves, but not consistently enough over a 7 game series.
From what I saw from Nabokov last night, he could still provide that level of goaltending. Hell, Osgood still could provide a chance to win the Cup. I don’t think Conklin could provide either of the two things we need him to on a consistent basis and I think we officially need to cut ties soon or otherwise risk it all in one of Nick’s final few seasons.
As a fellow stupid goalie, thank you! Been waiting for a post like this. I'm utterly unconvinced by Conks in every way. It's a real shame Snow stole Nabby, but I'm hoping Kenny has a trade/FA plan.
I heard the Titty Maker (Nittyamaki) is available. Is he an upgrade? Is Ozzie enjoying retirement?
i can't argue with an actual goalie about technique and stuff like that. i usually just see if the shot was a quality scoring chance or not and if it ended up in the net or not. i don't see little things like positioning and where the puck ends up after the save. usually, anyways.
if conklin needs to go, that's fine. i just can't agree with it based on this game. there was no effort by the skaters. they were so slow and just didn't seem to care. and when they got behind, they played worse and not better.
i'm all for finding a better backup if one is available, but that backup would have lost last night, too.
Love Conks to death, he was great before he left. To bad the season hasn't been kind to him. I would've loved having Nabokov, after seeing him play last night. I do believe that getting a different goalie is the way to go if we want to go all the way in the playoffs.
I'd say howie coulda won that game possibly. He's frustrating for forwards cuz he's so good, so making some of those saves might have made it to where ny wasn't so "all over us" like they was. But it is what it is. I kinda hope maybe nabby plays ok-ish for n.y n maybe we can trade conks to get him even if we had to give up another prospect or something I think nabby would play well for us !!
The forwards not missing wide open nets would have had more to do with turning that game around than anything. Forwards were all around pretty poor.
Thats dumb, I love Datsyuk but Detroit has so much upcoming talent, I love watching players like Helm and Eriksson and I think Conner is gonna end up doing really well soon. Also, Filppula is pretty unreal from what he was before, but back to the subject, I never liked Conklin, thats what was good with Ozzy and Hasek, Ozzy won us the cup in 2008 and Hasek was the one that helped us to get there. Its true, you need to have a back up that can do well if the number 1 gets a cold streak or sick or needs a break. Howard has worked his ass off this year and I'm so happy Detroit got him
A large part of last night as well was no Dats, and Franzen having a bad game. As my Yahoo! fantasy note said for him: " LW Johan Franzen was forced to play center Tuesday because Pavel Datsyuk was out with an injury. It didn't work out well for Franzen. He had no points, no shots on goal, lost four of five faceoffs and was a minus-3. (Yahoo! Sports)"
I couldn't help but think of the Billy Madison speech, Franzen I award you no points...
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Nabakov's performance was the exact reason why I was so happy we signed him last year. And then I was crushed by the d-bag that is Snow. I mean he has every right to take a player off waivers but he should have known Nabby would not want to play for the islanders. the only reason he is playing this year is probably cuz he knows he has to in order to be traded. I would trade for Nabakov. I might not give as much as Snow is going to ask though. I personally thought Ozzy was good for another season. Conklin was not my first choice for a back-up. I actually wanted to see what Ray Emery could do. I also believe Turco would have been an effective back up. I know he sucked it up huge it Chicago, but they wanted a starter. In Detroit he would have had the role of back up. That's what Detroit does so well, fitting veterans into team roles.
I agree with everything you just said. Ozzy or Turco would have been my choice, now we should either sign Turco or trade for Nabby. although if we sign Turco he could be picked off waivers because he played a two game tournament in Austria for team Red Bull meaning that he played in europe and would have to go through the same process as Nabby (I'm kidding, but Bettman would find a way to screw us) @JOHNxJOHN
Well said, however you cant completely fault Conks for last nights @$%$#! It looked like a bunch of blue sweaters running drills around white and red pylons. Helm and Abby had legs maybe, but everyone else...No back checking leads me to think that was solely Pavs job. Sure youd like a big save every so often and give your team a chance to clean up their mess. It happens with Jimmah and the team now expects it with Conklin. They out shot us last night. Good back checking gets you the puck back. Guess what you need in order to put a shot on net and score some goals? Thats right Harvard Grads, the F#$^&n' PUCK!!! If Pavel isnt playing, then there goes the pick pocket, the back check, there goes having the puck, there goes the assists and the goals. Its still a team game gentlmen, STEP UP! And with all that being said, Yes! Conks needs to be replaced.
It makes you wonder if the team just doesn't want conklin as the backup so they play like garbage in front of him, with the exception of never wanting to lose to Chicago. @WingNut83
@Jordan_Reis@WingNut83 unless conkblock has been hitting on their wives, i hope that's not true. i doubt it's true, but i'm running out of explanations as to why the team falls asleep in front of ty.
I agree, I think that the Chicago game was Babs way of saying shit or get off the pot. Conks either could have stood on his head and proved us all wrong, or he could have imploded and wrote his ticket out of town.
He didn't play awful, but he didn't win that game either. Kenny needs to make a move for a backup fast before another team either swoops someone up or another started gets hurt. I'm a Nabby fan and Snow owes us one for the crap he pulled, though I highly doubt he cares
@Jordan_Reis I think Snow picked him up because of another team asking him too, just to screw us. He was in cahoots with another team, that's my feeling. They didn't need him and he's only playing now because of injury.
Howard would have lost that game as well. Top corner snipe and plenty of odd man rushes. Weak backcheck. Might as well stop watching hockey when Datsyuk retires too.
