Team gave up in multiple games because of Holtby. How terrible he was. Then Holtby was pulled out in a game and replaced by Samsonov, team turned to play again. No one trust in Holtby. In playoffs we played 20 meters lower to protect our horrible cagetander. This 'was protected' fable is a joke. One had only HDSA and the other only LDSA? Holtby is a disaster.
Player | 5v5 HDSV% |
Ilya Samsonov | 0.835 |
Bag of Potatoes | 0.800 |
Braden Holtby | 0.786 |
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You know another team is involved in a hockey game right?
When leading 3-0 or 4-0 most teams will begin to recede into a more conservative style. It's absolutely ludicrous to infer that the last 20 minutes of a 4-0 game presents the same offensive chances as the first 40.
Holtby is the greatest goalie we've ever had in Washington (this is from a longtime Kolzig stan). I believe in due time both 37 and 70 should be in the rafters. The only areas where Holtby is really edged out in our record books are areas where the career sample size was larger or smaller than he provided. When you read these numbers and remember the absolute roller coaster ride our defense has been during his time in DC, it's clear he's not a system goalie or whatever the argument is for his numbers.
These are all the goaltending records they keep for the team, look at how he basically wins or ties every category he's eligible for (I omitted loss records, he's not on any of those anyways).
- Most games played in a season: Olaf Kolzig, 73 (1999-00) & Braden Holtby, 73 (2014-15)
- Most consecutive starts in a season: Braden Holtby, 23 (2014-15)
- Most games played in a career: Olaf Kolzig, 711
- Most wins in a season: Braden Holtby, 48 (2015–16)
- Most wins in a season, rookie: Michal Neuvirth, 27 (2010–11)
- Most wins in a career: Olaf Kolzig, 301
- Most shutouts in a season: Jim Carey, 9 (1995–96) & Braden Holtby, 9 (2014–15)
- Most shutouts in a career: Olaf Kolzig & Braden Holtby, 35
- Most overtime losses in a season: Olaf Kolzig, 11 (2005–06), Braden Holtby, 11 (2014–15)
- Most overtime losses in a career: Olaf Kolzig, 38
- Highest save % in a season, minimum 20 games: Braden Holtby, .925 (2016–17)
- Highest save % in a career, minimum 82 games: Braden Holtby, .918
- Lowest goals against average in a season, minimum 20 games: Braden Holtby, 2.07 (2016-2017)
- Lowest goals against average in a career, minimum 82 games: Jim Carey, 2.37
- Most saves in a season: Braden Holtby: 1,887 (2014–15)
- Most saves in a career: Olaf Kolzig: 18,013
- Most shots against in a season: Braden Holtby, 2,044 (2014–15)
- Most shots against in a career: Olaf Kolzig, 19,873
- Most minutes played in a season: Olaf Kolzig,4,370:50 (1999–2000)
- Most minutes played in a career: Olaf Kolzig, 41,259:36
I'm ready to see him move on because it makes sense salary cap wise, but I'm not going to sit here and listen to it presented as if he's a trash goalie.
The shelf life for goalies playing at an elite level in the modern NHL is extremely short. You would be hard pressed to find a goalie who consistently puts up the same elite numbers every season and playoffs. As far as the modern NHL goes, Holtby is as good as they come in terms of longevity. Carey Price is literally the only goalie I can think of that has, for the most part, not experienced a season or two of significant regression. Of the last 10 Vezina trophy winners, Price is the only one to not have a serious regression in the playoffs or regular season in the years that came before or after winning. With Rask likely winning the Vezina this season I think that'll probably make it 10 for 11.
Playing goalie in the NHL is the hardest position in sports, I don't think it's even arguable. In this modern game you simply do not find a guy who can string together a career of always being top 5 in Vezina contention.
Look at the top 5 goalies in the NHL in the last calendar year:
- Binnington: Terrible 2020 playoffs
- Rask: Terrible 2020 playoffs
- Vaselsvskiy: Terrible 2019 Playoffs
- Price: Terrible 19-20 regular season, great playoffs
- Hellebuyck: Terrible 2018-19 season
This isn't baseball, you don't get an ace that just delivers Cy Young seasons one right after the other. It's not a coincidence that the last dominant goalie for multiple seasons (Brodeur) also played in the trap and his numbers are HEAVILY inflated as a result.