Enough goaltending roulette
Five different starters in the net since the depth chart got "renovated" and we're still acting like the seventh reclamation project will magically stick. I've watched more backup goalies here than I've had haircuts, and my barber owes me money.
Anyway, word is there's been some quiet sniffing around a legit number one out west, half the room heard it too, take that for what it's worth. If management can find C$8-9M for another bottom-six winger nobody asked for, they can find real money for a crease that doesn't need a rotating door. I've already got a modest wager pencilled in that we trade for a tender before the deadline instead of paying for one in the summer, because of course we will. Prove me wrong, Dorion. 😏
Show me your ROI first 😏
A true number one, sure - source on that? Every spring we "hear" the same rumour and every fall we open the season with a reclamation project. Receipts please.
Sample first, conclusions after.
Honestly who cares about receipts, I just know what my stomach does every time ours gets pulled in the 2nd 🔥 pay the man, spend whatever C$ it takes, we've had enough Timmies-tier stopgaps in the crease. Get a real #1 and watch this group fly 💪
Fair question from GoTheDistance, so here's my sober read on it. A true number one in his prime basically never hits the open market, starters who post elite numbers get extended by their clubs before they ever see July 1st. What usually becomes available is the near-prime guy, 28-30 years old, stuck behind a franchise tender or on a bad team willing to deal, and those trades cost a first plus a prospect. That's the realistic lane for us, and honestly it's the right one to pay for.
Caveat on the sample: five starters sounds damning, but some of those were bridge contracts that made sense at the time. The pattern I'd avoid is the 32-plus reclamation we keep running back. One established tender at C$7-9M a year gets you predictability; another project gets you the same stomach-punch Ben described. Spend the assets where the variance actually lives, the crease. 📊
I keep my own tables 📊
Fair point from Jack, elite starters rarely reach free agency. But that cuts both ways, since every "sure thing" we've traded for lately arrived with a career-high save percentage on a smaller sample than my last tax return. Depending how you count it, we've cycled through five starters, and I'd rather see the club overpay real C$ for a proven one than flip another reclamation coin. You don't win the division betting the under on your own goaltending every season. 📊
Do the math before you argue.
running a shop taught me one thing early on: the cheap tool always ends up costing double 😄 you buy it twice and grumble both times. rideordie, i hear you on the small-sample wonders, honestly i do. only every guy we've fished out of the bargain bin off one hot half-season has melted by christmas anyway, so where exactly is the savings? that carousel is the priciest option on the board once you add it all up.
measure twice, cut once - that's my whole philosophy in this thread. find the tender whose numbers held up two, three straight years behind an ordinary defence and pay him proper C$ while he's still ours to pay. a true number one looks expensive till you stack that bill against years of january games that meant nothing. watch this league as long as i have and you'll get it.
Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
Damn Dave, the cheap tool bit hits close to home 🤡 my book's already got a prop up for which reclamation project we sign next July. They know us too well 😂
Dave's cheap tool line is the soundest economics in this whole thread, and I say that as the guy who usually shoots down analogies. Mine was a snowblower, bought the bargain unit, dead inside two winters, bought the good one, still starts every February. My caveat though: premium doesn't guarantee anything. A genuine number one on the wrong term is eight-plus million a season against the cap, and if his numbers regress you're wearing the back half of that deal like a bad suit. Jack's right that real starters never see July 1st, so name the target. Which goalie, what price, how many picks out the door? Anything shorter than that answer is just a gut feeling in a nicer outfit.
Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
Dave's snowblower logic is dead on tbh 🔥 pay the real C$ once and stop drafting comeback stories every July... you just know the next reclamation project is gonna break by February 🤬
On the terraces since I was a kid.
back in the day we all "knew" we were landing that big name goalie too, remember the summer the whole bus to the barn was buzzing? signed nowhere. time will tell, kids 😉
Seen it all, lads.