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Seems to me like Clark hasn't been able to work his magic on Hotlby yet. Sitting at a very similar number to last year's save percentage. Demko has taken the starting role and I don't think Holtby will likely be anything more than a backup at this point in his career. It's odd because it sounds like the swan song for him, yet he's only 31 years old and should really still have another several years of being an NHL starter left in him, but he's fallen off pretty hard in the past two years. I'm not sure if he even gets picked by Seattle at this point. He's only likely to be a backup if they want it and given his recent numbers, he's bordering on becoming an AHL starter-calibre netminder. Below .900 isn't great, even with a bad team.

 

I'd bet that Seattle takes a forward off our team instead of Holtby.

 

I suppose the consolation is that Demko has improved as the season has gone on.

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Going into this season, it wasn't exactly clear who would be our #1... but it certainly seems Holtby is working his way to backup status by now. There were two questions by the media tonight outright calling him the backup, and he didn't seem to flinch at the title. I know he didn't have the best game, but I'm not sure it's "quite" time to be labeling him - even if it strongly looks to be true.

 

When we signed Holtby, most seemed pretty confident he would regain form with Clark, but I was wary, given his recent struggles. To be fair to him, he is subject to the same issues as Demko and Markstrom before him, which is a porus defensive structure most nights that doesn't provide an opportunity for particularly strong numbers. Still, I think it's safe to say that so far he has been unable to regain his former luster.

 

If nothing else, he remains a good mentor to Demko.... albeit a rather expensive one.

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4 hours ago, -AJ- said:

Seems to me like Clark hasn't been able to work his magic on Hotlby yet. Sitting at a very similar number to last year's save percentage. Demko has taken the starting role and I don't think Holtby will likely be anything more than a backup at this point in his career. It's odd because it sounds like the swan song for him, yet he's only 31 years old and should really still have another several years of being an NHL starter left in him, but he's fallen off pretty hard in the past two years. I'm not sure if he even gets picked by Seattle at this point. He's only likely to be a backup if they want it and given his recent numbers, he's bordering on becoming an AHL starter-calibre netminder. Below .900 isn't great, even with a bad team.

 

I'd bet that Seattle takes a forward off our team instead of Holtby.

 

I suppose the consolation is that Demko has improved as the season has gone on.

Ryan Miller went back to his old style after Ian Clarkes coaching had a negative effect on his game.

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2 hours ago, 5Fivehole0 said:

Ryan Miller went back to his old style after Ian Clarkes coaching had a negative effect on his game.

I'm not sure Clark is really bad, per se. He brought Markstrom to stardom. I think it's more a matter of fit that ability. Not every goalie coach fits with every netminder. Demko is improving under Clark, but Holtby has remained the same as his last year in Washington--neither improved nor worsened.

 

The Miller example is a bit perplexing, as Miller was very good in Vancouver, especially during the end of his tenure.

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2 hours ago, -AJ- said:

I'm not sure Clark is really bad, per se. He brought Markstrom to stardom. I think it's more a matter of fit that ability. Not every goalie coach fits with every netminder. Demko is improving under Clark, but Holtby has remained the same as his last year in Washington--neither improved nor worsened.

 

The Miller example is a bit perplexing, as Miller was very good in Vancouver, especially during the end of his tenure.

It is a real leap of faith for a vet to dramatically change their game from what got them to the NHL. When Clark got Marky he was a bit lost. IMHO Marky's size and athletism plays to his positioning in the net. 

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While I'm not suggesting he's been stellar by any means his numbers are more reflective of how the team has played in front of him than his ability. 

 

By all means though, Demko (despite much fear of his readiness) appears to be our starter (which is where we were headed regardless).

 

I think it's pretty safe to say that goaltending isn't really our issue this season. Demko is as good as Marky was and Holtby is as good as Demko was, last year.

Edited by aGENT
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8 hours ago, 5Fivehole0 said:

Ryan Miller went back to his old style after Ian Clarkes coaching had a negative effect on his game.

Ian Clark was hired in July 2018.   Miller has been playing for Anaheim since 2017/18.  

 

 

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Holtby's last couple of starts have been disappointing but I think he has overall played at a league average rate this season, or perhaps slightly below.  Obviously that's not what we want in a starter but there was always a chance that Demko could end up being the starter.  There's still time for Holtby to improve but I for one am not particularly concerned about him.

 

Is the $4.3M price tag great?  No, but neither was $6M for 6-years for Markstrom.  Other veteran options would have been Corey Crawford, Mike Smith and Cam Talbot, but I'm not sure if they would have been better alternatives and Crawford retired anyway.

 

The Canucks only have one more year of Holtby after this one so overall I think the negative impacts are pretty low.  Are we going to be cup contenders with Holtby?  Probably not, but I don't think that's why he was signed.  In terms of cap issues, with Edler, Sutter, Pearson, Benn, and Baertschi coming off the books next year, the remaining cap issues are more to do with Eriksson, the Luongo cap penalty, and the fact that neither Roussel or Beagle are productive bottom 6 players.  I think Beagle's numbers could be better if Motte was still in the line-up, but Roussel, IMHO, has lost a step.

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25 minutes ago, Fred65 said:

Tough to watch last night especially when there's a Port Alberni goalie at the other end standing on his head and being paid $1.5 mill. Holtby is starting to look a lot like Ericksson Mk2

That's a little extreme. Nowhere near the money, nowhere near the term and unlike Eriksson, who cashed in on a career season, Holtby was known to be a declining asset who we hoped our goalie guru Clark could return to form. Hasn't happened yet but it took Clark 3 years to bring Marky around. Besides the main point of Holtby is that we needed a goalie that we could expose in the expansion draft

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Exactly  " Holtby was known to be a declining asset " I have serious doubts how many teams were lined up to sign Holtby. The kid at the other end was on a $1.5 contract. Holtby was paid $4.5 mill,, we could have signed Toffoli

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You summed it up yourself

 

Quote

Yes, Brossoit is having a decent season but he has never been anything more than a tweener back up compared to Holtby who has been a seasoned starter with a Stanley Cup ring, a Vezina and a Jennings trophy.

That's  the Gamble, the same gamble was made with Ericksson and Ferland  ... has been. It doesn't matter if Holtby won a cup in 2018, it's water under the bridge. You can't use that as a factor for tomorrow. Last year Holtby lest we forget has a Sv% of 0.897 this year 0.893 what's more important the 2018 SC or last seasons 0.897. There's a reason Washington did not resign him ... he was old news and frankly paying him $4.3 mill is like taking candy from a kid Vcr deserved better

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1 hour ago, 204CanucksFan said:

I'm so sick of the 'wE cOuLd Of SiGnEd Toffoli' narrative. Toffoli has been WILDLY mediocre this year when playing any team not named Vancouver. Motte has as many goals in fewer games than Toffoli against the rest of the division and we pay him way less then 4.25. Sutter has more goals than Toffoli so his 4.375 must be worth every penny in your book.

Pretty much this ^.

 

Take away the games vs. Vancouver and Toffoli has 7 points in 16 games and is a negative 2 (+/-) player.  Yet some CDC'ers still insist he is some kind of elite scorer who JB let slip away....

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1 hour ago, Fred65 said:

You summed it up yourself

 

That's  the Gamble, the same gamble was made with Ericksson and Ferland  ... has been. It doesn't matter if Holtby won a cup in 2018, it's water under the bridge. You can't use that as a factor for tomorrow. Last year Holtby lest we forget has a Sv% of 0.897 this year 0.893 what's more important the 2018 SC or last seasons 0.897. There's a reason Washington did not resign him ... he was old news and frankly paying him $4.3 mill is like taking candy from a kid Vcr deserved better

And just out of curiosity what were Markström's number like when we brought him in? Seems like that was a gamble too. How did that one turn out after he was given enough time to work on his game under a new goalie coach?

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1 hour ago, 204CanucksFan said:

And just out of curiosity what were Markström's number like when we brought him in? Seems like that was a gamble too. How did that one turn out after he was given enough time to work on his game under a new goalie coach?

True, so true we developed him and built him up to a possible Vezina Trophy candidate and then in his prime we let him go for zero return, brilliant

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Holtby's signing was meant to be a safety net for Demko.  As it looks right now Demko is trending to where the team hoped he would and leaving Holtby behind.

 

That is great news for the team!

 

As far as Holtby goes his numbers are sub par and he really has not taken any steps forward from where he ended his time with Washington. That is disappointing for both him and the Canucks.  He needs to adjust to being a backup for his remaining year and a half here and be a good teammate and help get Demko to grow to a true number one.

 

 

 

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