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The Goalie Market & Excuses

A fella named Triumph commented at Tyler's blog:

Don’t get me wrong, I think the Khabibulin deal stinks, but remember that the Biron deal was made because of the Khabibulin deal - Biron found himself totally out of a job, and with absolutely no suitors, it’s tough to drum up a big contract. Since the Islanders aren’t a playoff team, they can sit on the sidelines for a Biron to come along - the Oilers, ostensibly competing for the playoffs, do not have that luxury.

The new excuse for the Khabibulin contract defense team is that the Oilers had no idea that Biron would go so cheaply. That it was impossible to guess what would happen with these goaltenders and their contracts.  The above quote is but one example that's being put forth in the 'Sphere, on the boards, in the mainstream media.

Put simply, this is nonsense.

Star-divide

Tyler saw this coming a full year away.

If Philadelphia goes ahead and signs Emery, by my count that leaves two teams without a clear starting goaltender: Edmonton and Colorado. Otherwise, it’s backup jobs available, unless some team is willing to eat a pile of money. There are a ton of competent or better goalies available: Craig Anderson, Nikolai Khabibulin, Dwayne Roloson, Martin Biron, Manny Fernandez and Manny Legace probably top the list. You can probably toss Scott Clemmensen onto the list, although I don’t find him that interesting. All of those guys presumably want to be starters.

I saw this coming at the beginning of June and I'm a bit more ostentatious than Tyler, so I made some predictions and even threw some numbers out there.

Secondly, Tambellini should not dole out multi-year deals unless he can get an exceptional price. Thirdly, Tambellini should not have to spend more than Roloson's $3,500,000 salary in finding two goaltenders. Remember, the Ivey stare, Steve. Don't blink, don't change your expression. In short, Tambellini should be able to spend less in goal than the Oilers have spent at any point since the lockout, and the Oilers should start the season with their strongest situation in net in this decade.

Obviously no one could foresee this. Especially a group of highly-compensated men in charge of a multi-million dollar organization.

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Triumph

I’m pretty sure Triumph was not trying to offer excuses for the Khabibulin signing, or to justify it. He was merely stating a pretty obvious fact: Biron was bound to sign for less money as a backup than he would have received if someone were hiring him to be #1.

Supply and demand. There was less demand for Biron and so his price went down.

Of course, the same argument, logic, and reasoning should have meant that the one team in need of a #1 goalie could have been content to offer lowball money to all of the potential #1’s, sit back, and taken whichever one cracked first.

They certainly didn’t play it that way, though. The only reason I can think of to explain why this team did not is that goaltending is a pretty important position and they didn’t want “whichever goalie”. They wanted the one they got.

by no_reGretz on Jul 25, 2009 9:52 PM MDT reply actions  

Why would Biron sign for less money as a backup than he would as a starter?

I’m pretty sure Biron would rather be making $1.4mil as a starter than as a backup, simply because he’d have more opportunity to play for a better deal the following season.

by dawgbone98 on Jul 26, 2009 9:48 AM MDT up reply actions  

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Northwest Standings

GP W L OTL PT
Vancouver 52 32 15 5 69
Minnesota 52 25 19 8 58
Calgary 53 24 22 7 55
Colorado 54 26 25 3 55
Edmonton 53 21 27 5 47

(updated 2.7.2012 at 7:26 AM MST)

21 - 27 - 5

Lost 1

Clear Victory Standings

Western Conference

  1. Detroit Red Wings (22-7, .759)
  2. San Jose Sharks (13-5, .722)
  3. Vancouver Canucks (17-7, .708)
  4. St. Louis Blues (11-6, .647)
  5. Chicago Blackhawks (16-11, .593)
  6. Nashville Predators (11-10, .524)
  7. Los Angeles Kings (9-9, .500)
  8. Phoenix Coyotes (11-12, .478)
  9. Dallas Stars (11-14, .440)
  10. Edmonton Oilers (11-15, .423)
  11. Anaheim Ducks (10-14, .417)
  12. Colorado Avalanche (8-13, .381)
  13. Calgary Flames (9-15, .375)
  14. Minnesota Wild (7-13,.350)
  15. Columbus Blue Jackets (5-19, .208)

Eastern Conference

  1. Boston Bruins (21-3, .875)
  2. New York Rangers (18-8, .692)
  3. Pittsburgh Penguins (16-9, .640)
  4. Philadelphia Flyers (14-11, .560)
  5. Toronto Maple Leafs (14-12, .538)
  6. Washington Capitals (13-13, .500)
  7. Montreal Canadiens (11-11, .500)
  8. Ottawa Senators (10-12, .455)
  9. New Jersey Devils (10-12, .455)
  10. Winnipeg Jets (10-14, .417)
  11. Carolina Hurricanes (9-13, .409)
  12. Florida Panthers (7-11, .389)
  13. Buffalo Sabres (7-14, .333)
  14. Tampa Bay Lightning (9-19, .321)
  15. New York Islanders (6-14, .300)

Division Standings

  1. Central (50-38, .568)
  2. Northeast (49-38, .563)
  3. Atlantic (45-37, .549)
  4. Pacific (36-36, .500)
  5. Northwest (33-44, .429)
  6. Southeast (33-53, .384)


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