Rumor: Ryan Miller to TB

[Butchered]

It's a by product of going years without really developing any prospect of note.

Understandable. I remember a time when I would dream of Alexander Polushin coming to the NHL just because I was desperate to see a high skill guy that we drafted come in and play.

I just can't be on board with wanting another backup "ready to start" story. We've been burned so many times. We're being burned right now.

I understand Lindback got hurt and didn't really get a chance but I'm just tired of the risk. I watch a guy like Markstrom on a team that's only 2 points out of last place in the entire league, in a game where his team gets largely dominated and he's able to steal 2 points for his team. Then I look back at how many one goal games we've lost and how many games where we've given up at least one soft goal.

A SOLID goaltender and this season is different. Not even a top 5-10 guy like Miller. If we have a top 20 guy this season is different. Just going to NHL stats and sorting by GAA, you have to go 48 slots to find Garon and 56 to find Lindback. Sort by SV% and you go to 52 and 53 to find the boys.

Now I'm not taking out guys with 1 and 2 games played but I counted maybe 10-11 with single digit games. Throw those guys out and you've still got two goaltenders in the high end of 30's.

Goaltending needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed better than another "could be good" kind of guy. Even if it isn't Miller. It's gotta be someone better.

 

[Stammertime91]

Understandable. I remember a time when I would dream of Alexander Polushin coming to the NHL just because I was desperate to see a high skill guy that we drafted come in and play.

I just can't be on board with wanting another backup "ready to start" story. We've been burned so many times. We're being burned right now.

I understand Lindback got hurt and didn't really get a chance but I'm just tired of the risk. I watch a guy like Markstrom on a team that's only 2 points out of last place in the entire league, in a game where his team gets largely dominated and he's able to steal 2 points for his team. Then I look back at how many one goal games we've lost and how many games where we've given up at least one soft goal.

A SOLID goaltender and this season is different. Not even a top 5-10 guy like Miller. If we have a top 20 guy this season is different. Just going to NHL stats and sorting by GAA, you have to go 48 slots to find Garon and 56 to find Lindback. Sort by SV% and you go to 52 and 53 to find the boys.

Now I'm not taking out guys with 1 and 2 games played but I counted maybe 10-11 with single digit games. Throw those guys out and you've still got two goaltenders in the high end of 30's.

Goaltending needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed better than another "could be good" kind of guy. Even if it isn't Miller. It's gotta be someone better.

I agree and Im tired of this not having a goaltender ******** year after ****ing year. Its getting old, seriously.

I was thinking tonight was a pretty much buyer/seller game, if we would've won, make a push and get Miller, lose and just trade Malone, Brewer, etc or whoever.

At this point, its a low for me, I see the wholes that need to be filled, other GMs run out and fill them, ours did that with defense but left us out to dry in the most valuable position in hockey. Face it. Lindback isnt a #1 and it was a good year with the improvements, rooks, etc to make a push while Marty was still playing at his best(arguable this year for sure) but it was yet again another year wasted due to ONE position not being addressed. You're asking Garon to play all these games, he's no more than an average backup, not a starter. Lindback taking the reins is a gamble, especially considering you're throwing him to the wolves. Why do you think he was promising? He was playing behind a goalie he learned from, Rinne.

Bernier is behind Quick.
Schnieder is behind Luongo.
Rask was behind Thomas.

You dont try to develop a goalie with for starters, a piss poor goalie coach, and then put him in front of an average backup who is better than him to begin with. This wasnt a smart move from the beginning. Not at all. If you like settling and support "developing" goalies in such a piss poor place that has a terrible tracks record with goalies, then you probably settle for mediocrity in your life. You cant settle for this, this wasnt the move and yes its a condensed season and blah blah, but again, you cant argue this, we wasted another year away due to piss poor goaltending. Nothing else failed us, sure our defense is horrid at times but we need a goalie that gives our players 2 ounces of confidence, not just 1.

Dont settle for the maybe guy, make a ****ing splash and go big or go home. Other teams do it, why dont we? Say goodbye to Namestnikov, Connolly, etc because we have the depth, fill a NEED, not something we will have sitting in the press box next year.

****, it gets old after a while, it really does.

 

[Butchered]

To be totally fair, I thought Lindback would be a quality guy too. Still absolutely could be. We just can't stake our entire season on him. We can NOT go into next season with Lindback and a guy of similar status. We've got to get a solid guy in net.

Even if you plan on giving Lindback 60 games. Khabibulin, Emery, Howard and Backstrom are all set to be UFAs. They've all done well this season and would be a solid option should Lindback falter or get injured.

If you are absolutely sold on Lindback then you've gotta get a better goaltending coach and you've gotta have a reliable guy behind him. If you're not sold on Lindback, then you can not bargain shop for your starter. You've gotta get out there and get a guy like Miller.

 

[The Macho King]

To be totally fair, I thought Lindback would be a quality guy too. Still absolutely could be. We just can't stake our entire season on him. We can NOT go into next season with Lindback and a guy of similar status. We've got to get a solid guy in net.

Even if you plan on giving Lindback 60 games. Khabibulin, Emery, Howard and Backstrom are all set to be UFAs. They've all done well this season and would be a solid option should Lindback falter or get injured.

If you are absolutely sold on Lindback then you've gotta get a better goaltending coach and you've gotta have a reliable guy behind him. If you're not sold on Lindback, then you can not bargain shop for your starter. You've gotta get out there and get a guy like Miller.

Howard and Backstrom likely aren't going to actually hit the market, but if either would they'd be great pickups. Khabibulin is Roloson pt. II, except maybe worse, and Emery is playing behind Chicago and has more than his fair share of question marks.

As to not addressing the goalie issue... the thing is, I really think that Yzerman did the best he could. Schneider simply was not available, as he was slated to be the #1 guy in Vancouver, otherwise I believe he would have been our target. Bernier probably wasn't going to get moved because he still had a year on his contract that made him a good backup option, and beyond that it was between Lindback and Bishop. Bishop has played well, but something weird is going on in Ottawa, so I'm not sure what to make of that this year.

Yzerman knew that Lindback was a risk, but the fact is it was a weak goalie market last season. This year may be a little better, with Miller likely on the block and a few other options, but unless you want Luongo's albatross of a contract around our neck for the next ten years, it's still not a great time to be looking for a goalie. And honestly, Lindback had his struggles (partly on him, partly on team D, and partly on Jean), but I, personally, would be fine with him as our #1 going into next year, or at least a #1b guy that's splitting time.

 

[Mr Underhill]

It garbage. Just garbage. How many years....over and over...do you have to get burned by this goalie situation before you go a different direction?

 

[The Macho King]

It garbage. Just garbage. How many years....over and over...do you have to get burned by this goalie situation before you go a different direction?

You can keep saying it, it doesn't make it true.

We've had goalie problems just like we've had D problems. We made a huge run with a band-aid type goalie, getting 1 game away from the Stanley Cup Finals. If you really think this season and the last season were due to goalie issues, I'm going to ask you to actually watch the games.

An elite goalie can steal some games, and a good goalie can steal a few while not losing more, but while we certainly have questions in net, they are not our only problems. Our depth scoring disappears for weeks at a time, and our D outside of Hedman/Salo can be downright bad a lot of nights (better recently, admittedly). Miller also isn't so young anymore, and he's only on a ONE YEAR CONTRACT. It's not like we know there was an offer out there for Kucherov+3rd that Yzerman turned down. So far there has been nothing solid on this, just speculation and tire kicking. We don't know the ****ing price, it's not like Yzerman isn't inquiring.

 

[Mr Underhill]

You can keep saying it, it doesn't make it true.

We've had goalie problems just like we've had D problems. We made a huge run with a band-aid type goalie, getting 1 game away from the Stanley Cup Finals. If you really think this season and the last season were due to goalie issues, I'm going to ask you to actually watch the games.

An elite goalie can steal some games, and a good goalie can steal a few while not losing more, but while we certainly have questions in net, they are not our only problems. Our depth scoring disappears for weeks at a time, and our D outside of Hedman/Salo can be downright bad a lot of nights (better recently, admittedly). Miller also isn't so young anymore, and he's only on a ONE YEAR CONTRACT. It's not like we know there was an offer out there for Kucherov+3rd that Yzerman turned down. So far there has been nothing solid on this, just speculation and tire kicking. We don't know the ****ing price, it's not like Yzerman isn't inquiring.

We are not talking about secondary scoring or defense. We're talking about goaltending. At no point in this thread have I said a better goalie would fix all of our problems. If you really think that, I am going to ask you to go back and read what I wrote.

Goaltending is a position we need to fix. We have tried the same approach since Khabby. It hasn't worked. Guess what, we still need to fix the goalie situation. To continue to do the same thing that has failed us over and over is insanity.

 

[Stammertime91]

We are not talking about secondary scoring or defense. We're talking about goaltending. At no point in this thread have I said a better goalie would fix all of our problems. If you really think that, I am going to ask you to go back and read what I wrote.

Goaltending is a position we need to fix. We have tried the same approach since Khabby. It hasn't worked. Guess what, we still need to fix the goalie situation. To continue to do the same thing that has failed us over and over is insanity.

I know, it honestly is like beating a dead horse.

How many times must we fail before we get an actual goalie that is ours and will last more than 1 season? Its ********. It was ******** back then, its still ******** now. The SAME problem. Everything else is fine, our forward depth & their scoring, fine, they just need to stick together and create chemistry, this year is a tough one for that cause of all the new faces, I get it. Defense is improved on paper and they are under a new coach and look to be playing a little better.

One constant problem since Khabibulin left; goaltending. With the exception of Roloson's revival, its goaltending. We dont have years because you're losing MSL and Vinny and when MSL retires and you're STILL stuck with Vinny, you STILL have no goalie and Stamkos probably isnt going to be Iginla v2. You need a goalie, stop dicking around with trying to develop goalies when your goalie coach sucks ass as it is, and you try to split games or lean the young goalies way with a backup behind HIM! Insane!

Look at the great goalies! Look at the young goalies some of you want! Look who they are or were behind! FFS the formula is right there in front of you.

Get Miller, **** losing some depth and a pick, we have enough, get Miller and put Lindback behind him. Bring in a goalie coach and let Miller lead the way and when Lindback is ready to step up, you'll know, we'll all know. Its not rocket science. If it meant losing Connolly, Helenius, Desjardins, a pick, Namestnikov or Panik or a combination of something, even Brewer, Malone, Purcell, I'd take it. I wouldnt lose sleep over any of those guys to get a PROVEN, ELITE, and NUMBER 1 goaltender.

 

[MattM92]

When you've got a guy like Miller back there, you'll notice that the holes and mistakes in the defense start to disappear. When you've got a wall back there bailing you out when you make a mistake, you notice that we start to score more too. Guys will start to take a chance without knowing they have to get back ASAP because our goalie is going to give up a softie. You'll see games like tonight going our way. We absolutely dominated tonight but Markstrom kept them close enough to win it in the skills competition. We need that. We won't be a good team until we have that. We won't make/succeed in the playoffs until we have that. We need that #1 guy back there getting 60 starts a year. I realize that Lindback has a lot of potential, but we have a small window here to get Marty another Cup and it's closing fast. Don't be surprised when he asks for a trade to a contender because we wouldn't make that splash to give us that guy in net.

 

[Butchered]

I totally agree that the defense is an issue and I'm certainly not trying to say that Miller makes us Cup contenders.

Miller (or anyone really...again, even a top 20 guy) is going to make the stops they have to. Are they gonna give up a softy here and there? Sure. Look at that goal Broduer gave up to Stamkos the other night in close. Terrible goal!

Even the strongest supporter of Lindback can't tell me he's given up a super soft goal damn near every time out. Garon is good for one or two every game. When you've got guys in net that are consistently giving up these soft goals, it's going to hurt the entire process. If the boys are surging and the other guys come down the ice and just float a harmless shot on net and it goes in...that is such a momentum killer. When you give it your everything to get back into a game and you go right back down a goal off of a softy, it's a momentum killer.

The bottom line for me is that it needs to be addressed in SOME way. Be it trading for a guy or signing an established guy in the offseason, it's gotta happen.

Our defense isn't where I should be but the guys we have are improved over what we had last year and should have had us in the playoff hunt...if we received any kind of quality, consistent goaltending.

 

[HoseEmDown]

A top 5 goalie in the league is not worth 6.25 million?

He's a former top 5 goalie, hasn't been at that level in two years. The money is not the issue. The issue is he has one year left on his deal. He has stated that he wants to be closer to his wife in LA. That doesn't sound like someone who'll resign. That's why Buffalo is shopping he as they know he's gonna walk. You want to trade important pieces for a rental who was being outplayed by our starter when he was healthy?

 

[IdealisticSniper]

He's a former top 5 goalie, hasn't been at that level in two years. The money is not the issue. The issue is he has one year left on his deal. He has stated that he wants to be closer to his wife in LA. That doesn't sound like someone who'll resign. That's why Buffalo is shopping he as they know he's gonna walk. You want to trade important pieces for a rental who was being outplayed by our starter when he was healthy?

In what world was Lindback outplaying Miller? You mean for that 4 game stretch? You certainly can't mean the actual entire season where Miller has faced more than double the shot totals that Lindback has and still put up better numbers.

I get the extension thing and I agree but don't you think Yzerman would be smart enough to get that information and possibly get something done with Millers agent beforehand? Kind of like Torono was allowed to talk to Kiprosoff.

Miller is easily a top 10 goalie. A goalie who can and will steal games for you. Sure he will let in a softee here and there as any goalie will. The difference is he will only do it once every 10 games not once ever single game like our curren goalies.

 

[ThunderAlleyNomad]

I'm in agreement with quite a bit of this with Miller. He's worth looking into. There are issues, extension, cost, his limited NTC.

If you want a legit starting #1, that you know wants to be in Florida and doesn't need to be re-signed, you've got Luongo. Not even going to get into the issues with that, everybody knows them. It's not a good idea.

And please stop with the Khabi, Howard, Backstrom, etc...

Khabi will very likely be Roli pt 2. He's not exactly a workout machine and he's 40. Howard and Backstrom aren't going anywhere. Bernier is another talented unknown and Schneider will cost a fortune.

 

[AlphaCatalyst]

I think Yzerman should seriously consider this. We need a bonifide #1. Not a backup who could be a #1, not a prospect that could develop into a #1. We have had enough of both of those the past 10 years. We need an established #1 and Miller right now is the best chance at that without giving up a huge overpayment. The last time this team went out and got a certified and established top goaltender we won several Division championships and a Stanley cup. It is time to stop gambling on chance goaltending and make a play for a top goalie.