|
Stephen Valiquette |
Games
|
W
|
L
|
T
|
GAA
|
SV%
|
SO
|
|
Regular Season
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
3.14
|
.867
|
0
|
|
Playoffs
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
I like Stephen Valiquette. No, really. I’m being serious. I think hes a very solid goalie. Ive actually always thought that about him. Hes a big guy thats fairly athletic and plays a very simple positioning game. He doesn’t flop around, he doesn’t make spectacular plays, but what he does do out there is play well enough to keep you in the game as a backup. And really, isn’t that what its all about? That your backup play well enough to keep you in the game?
I know my metrics are probably inflated by my own favortism towards him, but I can’t help it, ive just always been really high on this guy.
Let’s all hope that my guesstimations on his projectability are correct because barring some unforeseen maneuvering by the Rangers, you are looking at your backup goalie for this year. I personally expect Henrik to see about 65-68 games this year, with Big Vally playing in the remainder of the games. Some people seem to think the Rangers will call up Montoya for these games, then send him straight down. I personally wouldn’t want to see that happen because you would have to schedule the games that Vally plays on the same days that Montoya is off or on a day when the pack do not have a game the following day. I haven’t really examined the schedule hard enough, but you gotta figure the times where the circumstances play themselves out to that degree are few and far between. I’d just rather play Vally in these games since I feel he will do more than an adequate job, certainly better than Weekes did, though that is for a future review.
With all that said, Big Vally does have one glaring weakness. His mental strength to start games. I don’t know what it is, but if he gets a lot of intense work to start the game, he gives up goal after goal after goal. He usually settles in, and plays much stronger as the game goes on, but for the most part, hes a terrible starter to a game. This means the Rangers have to play a far more defensive game in the first 10 minutes than usual, and open it up as the game moves along. Its a weird problem, but I suppose its better than if he ended games poorly.
So there you have it, I personally like Vally as our backup, and feel very comfortable handing him ~15 games next year, particularly with the club that will be iced in front of him.
-Inferno