MattA16 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I'm surprised there isn't an offseason thread about this yet. We're in a tricky situation here regarding goaltenders going forward, and judging by the comments in CDC I think it's an issue that many are divided on. I'm probably gonna get blasted for making a goaltending thread but I think its an interesting topic of discussion so here it goes... At the end of last season, JB made it clear that he didn't think Eddie Lack was a viable starting option going forward, and signed Miller to a 3 year $18M deal. This wasn't necessarily a bad move; Lack had played very poorly down the stretch last year and JB wanted to create a winning environment while going forward with a "re-tool". Markstrom hadn't played well in any of his starts, and if I'm not mistaken, even cleared waivers at the beginning of this season. The goaltending controversies were gone - Miller was our starter and Lack was our backup, Markstrom would be the starter for Utica. Miller played well throughout the course of the season, leading the league in wins for a long portion of the season. However, when Miller went down in February thing started to become a little unclear. Save for a small number of poor games, Eddie Lack completely took the reigns and exceeded expectations, helping Vancouver hold onto a playoff spot and coming up big during the most important games of the season. With Miller not being fully recovered (as displayed in his poor outing in the season finale), the decision was simple to start Lack in the playoffs. He played pretty well in the first 3 games (with an exceptional 2nd game), but stumbled a little in the 4th, and Miller came in to take over. Miller played well in game 5, although he wasn't really tested, and although the defence played horrendously in front of him, he let in 5 goals in game 6 in what was a disappointing performance. So now here we are. We have Miller signed for 2 more years, Lack signed for one. Whether or not Miller can play at a level expected based on his contract is up for debate, but he'll be 35 at the start of next season and coming off of an injury. Eddie Lack is younger than Miller, but he'll be 28 when his contract expires. IMO it comes down to this: Miller will most certainly not accept a back up role, that much is obvious. Lack may unwillingly do so, but if we delegate him to a backup role I find it hard to believe that he'll re-sign at the end of next season. He has proved he's a starter in this league and at 27, he most likely will not want to wait until he's 29 to have his first crack as a bonafide starter. Markstrom is an RFA, so it will be interesting so see what we do with him. His value is much higher than it was last season after putting up such good numbers with Utica. So what do we do? Do we accept Lack as a starter and try to move Miller? This is probably easier said than done with Miller having a LNTC, and with his poor performance in game 6 I think his value has dropped. If we stick with Miller, do we trade Lack while he still has value and bring Markstrom up to be our full time back up? I worry that we lose a solid goalie in Lack who we have groomed in our system and has developed properly, we will end up regretting it. I think the only time we can actually get any value out of this situation is if JB acts now. If we keep the current tandem, Eddie probably won't re-sign and we get stuck in the vortex of a goalie controversy again. I'm wondering what everyones thoughts are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl's Jn Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 trade lack because he is good and can bring in the most value... trade markstrom as well. miller is fine, and we have the goalie that we just drafted .. demko... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejazz97 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Trade Miller. Trade Markstrom. Sign O'Connor. Sign Niemi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatedkid666 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 It all changes if we can get o'connor, and we'll find out about that around next week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
24K PureCool Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Trade Miller. Trade Markstrom. Sign O'Connor. Sign Niemi. Huh. That sounds counter productive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejazz97 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Huh. That sounds counter productive. He'd be a backup. Plus it would be nice to have a Finn on the team again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apollo Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Keep the best goalie. Simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaSwede Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I really think that the Canucks will end up trading Lack and here are the reasons why: Would return the most value in a trade Miller is a veteran starter that can fill the starting role while this team re-tools Albeit being risky, Markstrom would likely be ready to step in as a starter once Millers contract is done (winning franchises take risks) If Lack isnt traded, there will likely be another Luongo Schneider situation with Lack and Markstrom. Demko would be ready for a back-up role in 4-5 years most likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickels555 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Jb should be doing everything in his power to move Millers 6 million contract. This contract is BY FAR Bennings biggest blunder to date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejazz97 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Jb should be doing everything in his power to move Millers 6 million contract. This contract is BY FAR Bennings biggest blunder to date. No, his biggest blunder was signing Sbisa to that huge contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Should be Miller and his $6m salary. Will it be....? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownUndaCanuck Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Keep Miller until his contract expires, by which time Lack will hopefully be starter-ready. Seems simple to me. We're not going to get anyone better than Lack right now and he's shown us flashes of brilliance so lets just groom him the right way and we'll have a stud on our hands. Miller is only here to bandaid our team and teach Lack how to become a starter in the NHL, he was never brought in to win a Cup or anything so don't kid yourselves. Hopefully Lack and Miller can split next season around 50-30 or 40-40 and if we make the playoffs again, I hope Eddie gets some more invaluable experience. He may have been shelled against Calgary later on but they're huge games for him to learn. Just look at Quick, Rask and Crawford's goalie playoff careers. They all had abysmal starts to their careers, with a couple of early playoff exits due to sloppy goaltending but finally, after 2 or 3 rounds, they put all their playoff experiences together and lead their teams on deep Cup runs. That's what I hope Eddie Lack can do. He'll falter again next season, hopefully play a few more games to get a bit more experience, but then in around 2-4 years time he's had enough warming into the playoffs that he can take this team on a deep run, which is hopefully when our kids are well and truly settled into the league and hitting their prime... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejazz97 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Keep Miller until his contract expires, by which time Lack will hopefully be starter-ready. Seems simple to me. We're not going to get anyone better than Lack right now and he's shown us flashes of brilliance so lets just groom him the right way and we'll have a stud on our hands. Miller is only here to bandaid our team and teach Lack how to become a starter in the NHL, he was never brought in to win a Cup or anything so don't kid yourselves. Hopefully Lack and Miller can split next season around 50-30 or 40-40 and if we make the playoffs again, I hope Eddie gets some more invaluable experience. He may have been shelled against Calgary later on but they're huge games for him to learn. Just look at Quick, Rask and Crawford's goalie playoff careers. They all had abysmal starts to their careers, with a couple of early playoff exits due to sloppy goaltending but finally, after 2 or 3 rounds, they put all their playoff experiences together and lead their teams on deep Cup runs. That's what I hope Eddie Lack can do. He'll falter again next season, hopefully play a few more games to get a bit more experience, but then in around 2-4 years time he's had enough warming into the playoffs that he can take this team on a deep run, which is hopefully when our kids are well and truly settled into the league and hitting their prime... Demko or O'Connor will be an NHLer by that time, too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elvis15 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 There isn't a new offseason thread because it's been discussed at length in threads during the season. We know Benning has said he was waiting until after the season to make a decision so now he'll have time to do that (with the caveat that Markstrom and Eriksson are still in the AHL playoffs and O'Connor has yet to make a decision on where to sign). Every time there's a thread related in any way to goaltending it becomes about is Lack ready, what to do with Markstrom and is Miller tradeable (to San Jose). For instance, in the last month: It's Miller time Jacob Markstrom sent down to Utica = Miller is back Eddie Lack has to start the playoffs. Eddie Lack as our number 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Miller - I'd love to trade him but as with Cam Ward, there's too much money invested in him. If we retained 20-30% it may be possible to move him. Lack - I'd make him the starter and if we're struggling at Christmas, re-assess. He's performed well when given a solid foundation, and few goalies can steal games like Price and Quick. I'm sure if Devan Dubnyk had a Wild-esque defense in front of him while he was with the Oilers they'd have seen the best of him; we need to do the same for Eddie. Markstrom - I'd make him the backup but look to give him easy starts so that we can trade him near the deadline. Demko - Keep him in college as long as he likes. I don't want that kid anywhere near the pressure of our goalie crease until he's old enough and mature enough to handle it. O'Connor - is this a done deal, because almost everyone seems to be talking like it is? If we do sign him, he should be the Comets starter, no question, and even post-deadline, keep him there for the full year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N7Nucks Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I want to keep Lack but whether or not that is possible remains to be seen. Miller is good but I just don't feel he is committed to this team, maybe it's me misconstruding his laid back and calming nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwags Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 No, his biggest blunder was signing Sbisa to that huge contract. Would this be seen as less of a blunder if it were for less money? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CroSen Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I consider Lack to be part of our "youth movement" going foward. Either trade Miller or start balancing the games out more next season. If I were Benning, I would focus on building, or re-building the defence, and strengthening the second line (if possible). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elvis15 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 ... O'Connor - is this a done deal, because almost everyone seems to be talking like it is? If we do sign him, he should be the Comets starter, no question, and even post-deadline, keep him there for the full year. Oh yeah, the ongoing thread about him as well... But no, it's not a done deal. We're one of four teams left he's been visiting and he was just here spending time with us and liked the development plan we had for him. Without knowing how he's leaning or who he's dropping we have a 25% chance at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblix Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Jb should be doing everything in his power to move Millers 6 million contract. This contract is BY FAR Bennings biggest blunder to date. No, his biggest blunder was signing Sbisa to that huge contract. Miller signed for 3 years with a limited NTC, he can still be traded so C'est la vie. Not terrible. Sbisa is 24 years old, the cap is a bit high for what he's currently done but it seems like Benning sees a good player in him. Even then its under 4m for 3 years with no trade restrictions so not like we're stuck with him. So far Benning seems like he knows how to structure contracts, it's far better paying someone higher cap with shorter term and NTC then a long term, home town discount with NTC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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