Good Info on Blackburn

And what about Dan Blackburn, the 2001 first-round pick who damaged a nerve in his shoulder and missed all last season?

He's still rehabbing, but he's just about ready to start practicing. The first of the year, he'll join [ECHL affiliate] Charlotte.


http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/ny-spqna194091242dec19,0,7988454.story?coll=ny-hockey-headlines

About time, Im glad to hear the good news.Blackburn is my favorite of the three goalies, let alone I think has the most potential. If NYR does not keep him atleast a healthy and back on his game Blackie could bring in some solid youth in a trade.Though I dont want him traded AT ALL, but Sather has his little plans so who knows. Hopefully Blackburn could get back and on his game to get some games in NY with the big club next year, or when ever there is a season.

I also am looking foward to getting Lundqvist over here in N.A and gettinig Montoya going.Nyr is looking very solid inthe Goaltending depth and the Fwds are not to bad either I hope sather stays on this road to doing the right thing.

And what about Dan Blackburn, the 2001 first-round pick who damaged a nerve in his shoulder and missed all last season?

He's still rehabbing, but he's just about ready to start practicing. The first of the year, he'll join [ECHL affiliate] Charlotte.


http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/ny-spqna194091242dec19,0,7988454.story?coll=ny-hockey-headlines
once Blackie starts playing again to take a look and report back.

Maybe there is hope after all!!

Maybe there is hope after all!!

I hope so, go Danny go! :handclap:

Awesome, I hope things go well. :) I'm a big fan of his and I'd love to see him make it out of the three goalies we have, probably just because I feel a little more loyalty to him having watched him play on the Rangers already.

I have a gut feeling Lunqvist is gonna surpise everyone, including the Rangers.

I just hope one of the three emerge as a huge star...I dont care which one.

I just hope one of the three emerge as a huge star...I dont care which one.

thats how i feel...i don't care who the #1 is, i hope that all 3 turn out to be huge stars, 1 turns out to be a great #1, another turns out to be a great #2 and the 3rd gets us back something nice in a trade...we can dream right?

This is good news!

I wonder how this will work in Charlotte? They already have one goalie there for development purposes. (Ottawa property Kelly Guard). Can both of them get enough time?

I guess this means veteran goalie Alex Westlund is on the way out in Charlotte. I hope Wilkinson can swing a trade for him rather than just release him outright. Either way, it will free up a slot for a veteran on the team.

Ultimate Nightmare Scenario for the Checkers: Both Guard and Blackburn play well and are called up to the AHL simultaneously, leaving the Checkers to go with whatever North Carloina rec league goalie they can scrounge up. :eek:

I dont think there is anyway that both Blackburn and Guard will be on Hartford at the sametime... considering we still have Labarbera, and Lundquist is coming over next year (good chance of that) and Montoya may sign with us next year.

I dont think there is anyway that both Blackburn and Guard will be on Hartford at the sametime... considering we still have Labarbera, and Lundquist is coming over next year (good chance of that) and Montoya may sign with us next year.

Ur right Guard would be called up to Sens minor team cause he is their property. I bet Charlotte trades Alex Westlund for a dman.

I just hope one of the three emerge as a huge star...I dont care which one.


Yup...thats how Ive felt all along.


Im hoping 2 become big stars..that way we have a huge amount of bait for a trade...star goalies are very hard to get by a trade. (obviously since nobody wants to trade away a Star goalie)

Yup...thats how Ive felt all along.


Im hoping 2 become big stars..that way we have a huge amount of bait for a trade...star goalies are very hard to get by a trade. (obviously since nobody wants to trade away a Star goalie)

Yea but look how much Buffalo got in the Hasek deal. Not much if u ask me.

Yea but look how much Buffalo got in the Hasek deal. Not much if u ask me.

That was a much different situation. He was much older, making much more money, and wanted a cup contender. Thats similar to saying Zherdev isn't worth much because - look what the Caps got for Robert Lang - a very good offensive player - but he's a much older one with a pricey contract.

Let's say for arguments sake that Montoya and Lundqvist both pan out very well. The Rangers decide to keep Montoya and are ready to deal of Henrik. If Henrik is a player of a Dipietro caliber (not an absolute Luongo type stud but a young starter with a ton of promise), then you can definately bet you'd have teams bangin our doors down. You could easily have teams like Columbus, Chicago, Washington, or Carolina who will have A LOT of young players but no real stud in goal. We could potentially bring back that one player that we are lacking in 3-4 years whether it be a scoring forward or a young rising d-man. You can't win without a legit goalie, and teams know that by now.

They key is not overplaying your hand like the Sabres did.

They key is not overplaying your hand like the Sabres did.


Ya the Sabres really dropped the ball there, although, I don't think they had a choice with how it played out. None of the 3 goalies really took charge and forced the Sabres to deal, so being cautious (not to mention, all the mess with management probably didn't help decision making) they kept all 3 and as it stands, they went from having 3 great prospect goalies to what could now be considered 2 average starters and a decent, albeit overrated goalie prospect IMO, with nothing to trade for. Like mentioned before, the Rangers situation,at the present moment isn't the same, it'll only be the same if none of the goalies stand out and we're left with 3 mediocre goalies who while do the job, none really make you want to keep them, yet again, are good enough you don't necessarily want to deal them.

Ya the Sabres really dropped the ball there, although, I don't think they had a choice with how it played out. None of the 3 goalies really took charge and forced the Sabres to deal, so being cautious (not to mention, all the mess with management probably didn't help decision making) they kept all 3 and as it stands, they went from having 3 great prospect goalies to what could now be considered 2 average starters and a decent, albeit overrated goalie prospect IMO, with nothing to trade for. Like mentioned before, the Rangers situation,at the present moment isn't the same, it'll only be the same if none of the goalies stand out and we're left with 3 mediocre goalies who while do the job, none really make you want to keep them, yet again, are good enough you don't necessarily want to deal them.

I think in their situation they were a bit overly cautious. I mean as you said it's a risky situation, but sometimes you gotta roll the dice. Even if you trade one, you still have two solid young goalies who stand good odds of turning into something for you. Instead they were so afraid to make the wrong decision that they ending up hurting themselves anyway. It's a lot like driving on the freeway: You shouldn't really be doing 100 mph but you can't go 35 either.

That was a much different situation. He was much older, making much more money, and wanted a cup contender. Thats similar to saying Zherdev isn't worth much because - look what the Caps got for Robert Lang - a very good offensive player - but he's a much older one with a pricey contract.

Let's say for arguments sake that Montoya and Lundqvist both pan out very well. The Rangers decide to keep Montoya and are ready to deal of Henrik. If Henrik is a player of a Dipietro caliber (not an absolute Luongo type stud but a young starter with a ton of promise), then you can definately bet you'd have teams bangin our doors down. You could easily have teams like Columbus, Chicago, Washington, or Carolina who will have A LOT of young players but no real stud in goal. We could potentially bring back that one player that we are lacking in 3-4 years whether it be a scoring forward or a young rising d-man. You can't win without a legit goalie, and teams know that by now.

Don't the Caps have Ouelette? And if so, is he in their plans for the future? I don't mean to nitpick, I'm simply curious. :)

Don't the Caps have Ouelette? And if so, is he in their plans for the future? I don't mean to nitpick, I'm simply curious. :)

They do.

And the Blue Jackets have Denis and LeClaire.

None of the three Buffalo goaltenders have stepped up to claim the #1 job.All of three of them had their opportunities last season.Martin Biron and Mikka Noronen are very inconsistent.Ryan Miller struggled when Lindy Ruff was fed up with Biron and Noronen

has a couple decent goaltending prospects too. Cam Ward's supposed to be pretty good. He's 20 and putting up decent numbers for Lowell.

has a couple decent goaltending prospects too. Cam Ward's supposed to be pretty good. He's 20 and putting up decent numbers for Lowell.


Teams who could use goaltending prospects are: Chicago, Toronto, Calgary, Tampa, Dallas, and to a lesser extent: Los Angeles, Minnesota, Colorado, Vancouver.

Those are the teams I could see being interested in one of our 3, with Toronto being the most interested, because after Belfour, they've got nothing as Tellqvist really showed his weaknesses this year at the world Cup

aebischer is still young in colorado...people like to give him crap but he's actually a good keeper, it's just hard to follow in roy's footsteps

i mean he had a 2.09 GAA and a .924 save % last year :dunno: how is that not good, #1 goalie stats?

look back over roy's recent years and you'll see he wasn't that much better, if at all, at least stats wise. course roy was good in the playoffs and all, but i think you gotta give a young guy like aebischer some leeway the first year he leads his team into the playoffs

It doesn't particularly matter what teams have goalie prospects right now, as we aren't making a trade right now. It doesn't make sense to deal any of them until at least one is in Hartford and playing like a future #1 goaltender.

Also, every team has their goalie prospects. But one or two teams' prospects will always disappoint. When some kid who a GM has been hanging his hat on struggles to take his game to the next level, that GM either has to make due with what's in the system, draft another goalie and wait 5 years for him to make an impact, or make a trade. That's where we come in.

Don't the Caps have Ouelette? And if so, is he in their plans for the future? I don't mean to nitpick, I'm simply curious. :)

I was just throwing out some potential possibilities. We aren't trading today. Washington has Oullete who may or may not work out. Chicago has noone. Cam Ward is anothr guy who may or may not make it. For Columbus I don't think Denis is the long term answer and who know about Leclaire? Most of these teams have one possibility and we have 3. There is a good chance any or all of these teams would be looking for a young goalie a couple years down the road.

I'm gonna laugh when we all look silly because Chris Holt is our goalie.

this past weekend when I came across his stats and remembered he was a Ranger. Have you heard much of him? He's 19, in his second year, and he's doing OK stats-wise. Big kid (6'3, 218) - maybe he wants to be converted to forward or defense!

his team (nebrasak-omaha) was terrible last year and from all accounts he was the bright spot on the team

this year, from the little i've been keeping track, they started out well and have kind of faded, and his stats have started to take a beating cuz of it. but from what i've heard from people who've seen him, they think he's a good keeper on a bad team

he's a guy who might surprise down the road but probably doesn't have the top end potential of a guy like montoya

Do you think that if Holt was on Michigan and Montoya was on Nebraska-Omaha that Holt would be USA's #1 guy??

since Montoya is the goalie of Michigan, and was the goalie for the U.S. Team last season, and not somebody else.

Teams who could use goaltending prospects are: Chicago, Toronto, Calgary, Tampa, Dallas, and to a lesser extent: Los Angeles, Minnesota, Colorado, Vancouver.

Those are the teams I could see being interested in one of our 3, with Toronto being the most interested, because after Belfour, they've got nothing as Tellqvist really showed his weaknesses this year at the world Cup

Dallas has been pumping goaltenders into this league for the last 5-6 years and just recently traded one because they're really fairly set at the position.

Calgary while set up well with Kipper has Krahn and to a much lesser extent Medvedev waiting in the wings (never been a fan of fatboy).

If the play of Alex Auld last year is any indication (despite some of his injury problems) the Canucks should be set in goal for a while.

Definitely though, I'd put Toronto and Tampa Bay (Grahame will only last so long) at the front of the list.