Jess Rubenstein over at The Prospect Park takes a look at the goaltending stituation throughout the Rangers organization.After obviously stating the Rangers will only go as far as Henrik Lundqvist will take them, Rubenstein expresses his unhappyness with the signing of Marty Biron...
"If the idea was to lighten Henrik's workload then why sign a guy who is coming off a really poor season for the New York Islanders of all teams? If the goal is to have a backup goalie who in a pinch can also step in as a every day starter then you are praying that Biron has found a way to regain the form he had as a Flyer."
...got to disagree with Jess here. I think Biron is a great pickup. Sure he struggled with the Islanders, but that was because he didn't know his role over there. He started the season alternating with Roloson then found himself in the press box when DiPietro came back. Now that he has a defined role and is back with his mentor Benoit Allaire I expect Biron to be a solid addition to the Rangers.
Rubenstein also says that Chad Johnson has to watch his back in Hartford as Cam Talbot may pass him by if he doesn't continue to work hard.
7 comments:
I got to agree with Jess on this one. I look at a goalie who has always had consistency problems. A goalie that can play decent hockey and yet let in that one or two goals at the inopportune times in the game. When you are dealing with a team with scoring issues, this is not a good case scenario. Flygirls could afford his play because of their scoring prowess, but when they lost Knuble and Lupul who neither have been replaced yet. It became obvious that without the scoring the goaltending had to be upgraded. I don't see Biron as the answer to the backup position when we are like the flygirls looking to score goals.
I'm on board with the Biron signing. News flash: he is a back up for a reason. Did people think we were going to sign Nabakov as a back up? Or were we supposed to trade for Halak to be our back up? Biron may not be as good as a back up can be, but I think he will be as good as can reasonably be expected.
One of the keys to his success will hinge on our defensive play as well (also the islanders D sucks). If the Rangers can pressure the puck in the offensive zone & get back to collapsing in front of the net again (Tom Renney wasn't perfect but we did play good team D under him) Birons numbers will be good.
Biron struggled because he "didn't know his role." Seriously? This is a professional athlete, not an actor. His job is pretty specific: he has to keep those dark rubber discs out of the net behind him. He was not very good at that last year. Rubenstein is right on that count. Whether it matters how good he is with Tortorella's predilection to playing his top guys more than most coaches would remains to be seen.
dog, I played goalie in hockey and lacrosee and having a routine is huge. When you're splitting starts one day and the next your in the press box then your back starting again it does mess with you mentally. And goaltending is I'd say at least 50% mental.
i think jess said johnson was signed as free agent. i thought we traded something like a 5th rd pick for him from pitt. and jess still uses the WE. best i know it is jess opinion and he should state it using I otherwise comes off pompous and self serving
or is he the queen of england "we are not amused"
Kevin,
I think it's great that you've got perspective on playing the position. However, Biron is a professional athlete and he trains to play goalie every day whether or not he's starting. Even allowing for a minor fluctuation in stats due to "rust," Biron was not good last year.
dog, are you saying I wasn't as good as the professionals when I played in high school? I hope not b/c I was awesome. Hahahaha.
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