Should the Flyers bring in another goalie on a PTO just in case

by Down Goes Spezza on Sep 23, 2010 10:48 PM EDT

Ok, pretty simple question that I'm looking for opinions on

Should the Flyers bring in Jose Theodore or one of the other NHL caliber RFA goalies out there just in case Leighton/Boucher can't replicate their magic of last year?

I think yes, if the Flyers want to win now, Theodore is an upgrade over Boucher for sure. Also, Theo has won a Vezina and a Hart in the past. He had 30 wins last year on the Caps, and with the great Flyers D in front of him, could easily do that again. What do you all think?

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Not unless Meszaros is moved.

I’m happy with Boosh/Backlund.

Backing Backlund for 2010-2011
Mourning Gagne forever.

by ToddtheFox on Sep 23, 2010 10:58 PM EDT reply actions

For one, its a little too late for this to happen. Training camp has already begun and preseason games have started. If they wanted to bring Theodore in, they would have done it at the start of camp like they did with Guerin.

But, ignoring that, this is a tough call. Theodore actually posted decent numbers last year in Washington (30-7-7, SV%: .911, GAA 2.81) and was pretty solid for most of the regular season for them (with a pretty weak Caps defense in front of him). Then, he crumbled in the playoffs and got yanked for Varlomov, if I remember correctly.

Now that Theodore has gone the entire summer without getting an offer or even a PTO, I imagine he would come very cheap. But, that this point, there is just no way to afford him unless someone is moved.

Honestly, I am comfortable with Leighton and Boucher as the our goalies for now. Bouch played quite well tonight against the Leafs and hopefully Leighton will be able to regain last year’s mid-season form that, essentially, got him the contract from Homer. If one of them fails or gets injured, my first move would be to give Backlund a shot. Why not? He hasn’t had a real one yet so we are all still waiting to see what he has to offer. I don’t think it is too far-fetched to imagine Bobrovsky getting a look if we have a situation with our goalies like last year.

I think bring in Theodore would have to be decision that Homer would have to look at later in the season after seeing how Leighton and Boucher have preformed. If they just aren’t getting the job done and Homer isn’t comfortable with them heading into the second half of the season, then bring in Theodore is definitely an option that shouldn’t be immediately dismissed.

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by Mitchell Green on Sep 24, 2010 12:28 AM EDT reply actions

Theo is an iffy goalie, he ends up with average stats, but he goes from a 5 goal game to a 1 goal game to a 3 goal game. Hes unstable, IMO. And he did get yanked for Varlomov, but was put in again when Varomov was worse.

The laws of alchemy dont justify murder........but the laws of murder justify being a cowboys fan :P

by JpH89 on Sep 24, 2010 8:40 AM EDT up reply actions

That was 2009. He wasn’t given much of a chance either last year or this one (Game 1, 3 GA, Game 2, 2 goals on 2 shots, but in like 13 minutes of the first).

Anyways, Theodore was playing way over his head last year. His ESSv% was .924, on par with Martin Brodeur. He still has an active unbeaten streak (in regulation) that’s around 25 games, maybe more. And the Caps were getting super lucky in shooting% (like two standard deviations above the mean in ESsh%, I think).

That being said, Theodore has gone on hot streaks, has stolen series before (I think 2004, against Boston with Montreal, and played very well in 2008 1st round with Colorado before injuries and flu went around the Avs’ locker room), and probably isn’t a donwngrade over Boucher or Leighton (or not significantly).

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by red army line on Sep 24, 2010 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions

No thanks. At this point his Hart and Vezina are irrelevant because his never played anywhere near that good since 2002 when he won them.

by tmurder on Sep 24, 2010 12:50 AM EDT reply actions

leighton sucks. imo, theo sucks too. who sucks more? prob leights but i watched theo all last year and his wins are not because of spectacular play but an unstoppable offense. as tmurder said, he is FAR from his vezina days and it would leave the flyers with yet another question mark

by phinally on Sep 24, 2010 3:09 PM EDT reply actions

I’m not a fan of Theodore or Leighton either. That said, you may as well flip a coin as to which one you could use. We overpaid Leighton, so we may as well stick with him. Besides, rather than bring up some guy we KNOW is not a long term solution and probably can’t get the job done, why not start testing the waters with some of our younger goalie prospects? Bringing in theodore now means he’d be taking time away from a potential new starting goalie and stuning their development. Why do that?

But I think Montreal would argue with you that Washington has an unstoppable offense. ;)

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by Mike B on D on Sep 25, 2010 9:17 AM EDT up reply actions

Thankfully

They’ve passed along that right to St. Louis.

My blog and Twitter, featuring coverage of the winger that has now terrorized over 70 NHL goalies.

by red army line on Sep 25, 2010 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions

sorry…IN THE REGULAR SEASON. their offensive system doesn’t bring about defense and thus….the results

by phinally on Sep 25, 2010 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Relevant:

Whatever role luck played in their offensive prowesses, the Capitals are also putting up a massive amount of shots. Keeping with the Fenwicks raw data, Washington’s 2818 attempts ranks them 5th in the league, behind Chicago, Toronto, Detroit and Pittsburgh while the 2673 attempts against they allowed ranks them a pedestrian 20th.

I think the team was top-10 or so in 2008, top-15 in 2009, and now only top-20. Yikes. The thing Hanlon taught was the value of hard work, and I think that’s really been lost under Boudreau (07-08 was nice because it had both aggressive offense and hard work, but you guys had to ruin in >:-( )

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by red army line on Sep 26, 2010 2:56 AM EDT up reply actions