First of all, where were all of you bashers during the past few seasons when Pogge was, for the lack of a better term, less than stellar in the minors. His struggles were well documented (by both Leaf haters and Leaf fans) but the majority of Leaf fans seemed to think, “Oh he’ll turn it around” or “You’ll see, he’s still our goalie for the future.” As soon of news of the trade broke, these same people seem to have flipped their position entirely, and now his is magically considered a bust, because they say so. Yes, a goals against average hovering close to 3, and a save percentage barely over .900 in the minors is weak, maybe even bad, but as much as it pains me to say this, the statistics don’t tell the whole story.

Over the course of his 3 years with the Marlies, I watched him. Although many nights he was off, he DID show improvement. For some reason he had the immense pressure of a high first round draft pick, even though he was a late 3rd rounder. There is a reason why he was drafted in the 3rd round, folks. He is still currently improving his game, and adjusting to the professional game. Yes it has been 3 seasons, but he still needs more time. People seem to forget that he is barely 23 years old. Goaltenders take a lot of time to reach their full potential. His potential is still there, which leads me to my second point.

HE IS NOT A BUST. Justin Pogge is still fully capable of being a starting goaltender in the NHL. I stick with the position I took in a scouting report I did on him a year ago. He was traded because he does not fit into the Leafs’ plans anymore. With Toskala and Gustavsson there for the time being, and Brian Burke very high on the other young Leaf netminder James Reimer, it was Pogge’s time to go. He was not traded because he is a bust (despite what people seem to think all of a sudden) he was traded because he wanted to get a fair crack at a starting NHL job, which he wasn’t going to get in Toronto.

Unfortunately for him, he isn’t going to get that crack in Anaheim either. Anaheim is absolutely loaded with depth at the goaltender position. Giguere and Hiller are going to be around long term, and according to HockeysFuture, there are at least 4 other goaltenders in Anaheim’s system that are ahead of Pogge in the depth charts.

Another small problem? Anaheim has no AHL affiliate. The Iowa Chops and the Ducks cut ties, and it has left the Ducks affiliate-less. That means Pogge will have to settle for playing maybe 20 games with some random AHL team that will take him aboard (seriously, who wants some other team’s goalie starting all the games for their AHL affiliate?) or accept a job playing in the ECHL for the Ducks affiliate in Idaho. It will be a trying year for Pogge.

If you can take one thing away from this article, it’s that Pogge is definitely not a bust, and he was traded because of the situation he was in didn’t allow for him to move up the depth chart.  Anaheim isn’t exactly the greatest situation for him either, though.

Janus, a  Slovakian-born goaltender who wears the number 2, does not have size on his side. I’ve seen some places report him as 6 feet tall, but that may be a tad generous. I’d be surprised if he was even the slightest bit over 5’11. Even if he is actually 6 feet, that’s still small enough for me to be concerned. He plays junior hockey in the OHL for the Erie Otters. In his first year, he held his own on a terrible Erie team. The 13-29-3 record, 4.40 GAA, and .892 SV% do look terrible on paper, but he showed an improvement in his second year, and that’s all that matters. Not only did his stats improve, he posted a 25-20-4 record, 3.24 GAA, and .908 SV% his second year, but the team improved as well. The Otters went from 40 points to 73 points in only one year, and Janus’ play had a lot to do with that.

My main concern is still his lack of size. His small frame makes him very susceptible to getting beaten high. Although he does have tremendous reflexes to compensate, it’s simply not enough. He does like to flop a bit as well. Although this may work some nights, it leads to inconsistency, and it could be his downfall in the pro game. If his floppy style of play “stops working” so to say, when he turns pro, he probably won’t last long. I’d like to see him control himself a bit more. He likes to venture sometimes, and although that it can be a good thing in certain situations, it may also work against him. I want to see him work on staying true to his butterfly style a bit more, and just stay a tad more conservative when it comes to playing scramble-type situations in front of the net.

Like I said before, his reactions and reflexes are very good. He reads plays well, and although he does get a tad overly aggressive at times, he’s usually in a good position to make a save. Although he tends to lose site of the puck, his positioning and excellent recovery help him make the save. His recovery is actually really good, you barely ever see the guy down and out completely. He’s usually up and ready to make another save, which I like to see. He’s not the strongest when moving laterally, and can get caught behind the play. That’s not a good sign when that’s happening in Junior, because the speed only gets faster and faster as you make your way to the pro game. His butterfly style does help him compensate, though. He is usually very good at taking away the bottom portion of the net. Janus is also very flexible. That not only helps him when trying to come across laterally, but also in scrambling situations. Being flexible comes in handy often, and is a very underrated skill when evaluating goaltenders, in my opinion.

How will Janus end up? Well, if I had to make a prediction, I would say he should end up as one of those “bubble” players for the early part of his career. He may take quite some time to develop, so there’s no rushing him to the NHL. I could see him as a starter for maybe a few years, in his prime of course. It just wouldn’t be for very long, or for a very good team for that matter. Best case scenario? He becomes a reliable back-up, or on-the-verge starter for most of his career. Think of a smaller Antero Nittymaki, or a less talented version of Jaroslav Halak.

That’s it! I hope you enjoyed, and learned a thing or two about goaltending prospect Jaroslav Janus in the process. As always, I’d love to hear your feedback, so please leave a comment if you have anything to say!

My first installment is on Swedish netminder Jonas Gustavsson. He’s been highly touted as the “best goaltender outside of the NHL” and has been rumoured to be coming over to the NHL to play next season. The 24 year-old has apparently been in contact with the Maple Leafs, Avalanche, Sharks, and Stars. We still don’t know where he’s going to end up, and it’s almost July 1st. Now, I’ve watched as much tape as I could possibly scrounge up on the internet on this guy, and I think I’m ready to give you the facts about Jonas Gustavsson. Is he the real deal? Read on to find out…

First thing that gets noticed about Gustavsson is obviously his size. The guy is huge. He has a 6 foot 4 frame, and knows how to use it. He has been given the nickname “the monster” for good reason. He has a strict butterfly style, and rarely ventures away from it. He doesn’t get caught out of position very often, but when he does, he scrambles well. He has a knack for always knowing where the puck is, even on tips, and in fast-paced scenarios. That’s not something you can teach, and I’m very happy to see that from the guy. His awareness is honestly better than a lot of current NHL starters.

His butterfly style allows him to cover the bottom half of the net very easily. His legs are so long, and take up so much net, shooters shouldn’t even try to score down low on the guy. What if they try to shoot high? He has solid reflexes to fall back on. Reflexes + Size is always a good combo in my books. Another thing I noticed is the fact that he doesn’t challenge a whole lot. He can get away with it, though, because of his size and reflexes. He definitely likes to stay back in his net, more so than most butterfly goaltenders.

He is very good at reading plays. I’ve seen him get out of some very tough situations, because he knew exactly what the other player was going to do. I don’t know if that’s just ability on his part, or if he studies shooters a lot, but it definitely shows. That ability to read plays also shows in his puckhandling. He doesn’t look like the greatest puckhandling goalie ever, but he is able to pass the puck up to his teammates in opportunistic situations. He has a good temper as well, I saw him get hacked at after the whistle a few times, but he just let his defenceman take care of the situation, and skated away.

Now that’s the good. But like every goalie, not every part of his game is that great. Some things I noticed:

He has good, not great rebound control. Same goes for shot recovery. I’d even venture to say that his rebound control is below average for a butterfly goaltender such as himself. His shot recovery could also use some work. Sure he’s able to scramble and make some magnificent saves, but it takes him a very long time to get back up, set, and ready to go.

Maybe I’m just expecting too much because of his great size. I expect him to be able to push across a lot better than most smaller goalies, but the fact is, he’s very average in that department. He doesn’t look exceptionally strong when pushing across. Sure, he’s big and flexible which helps him get by, but his lateral movement could really use some work.

My last point is very important, probably the biggest thing that stood out to me. He is very, very patient. He never makes the first move ever. This bodes well for most situations when it’s, say, and odd man rush, a breakaway, or a penalty kill, but it could backfire on him in the NHL. The main thing that worries me is that he will take a long time to adjust to the speed of the NHL. Sure, he plays with men right now, so it’s not like some kid coming out of junior, but there still is that period of adjustment. If he’s overly patient in the NHL, he could be caught watching plays happen around him, and become very ineffective.

He may never adjust to the NHL, and that worries me. The raw talent, and sheer size is there. If he’ll be as effective in the NHL remains to be seen. Any team that takes him is taking a gamble, of course, but he has a very high ceiling. I’m talking Roberto Luongo, Henrik Lundqvist kind of ceiling. Only time will tell, though. I just can’t wait to see what he can do against NHL shooters, and I’m eager to watch him play.

Just to let you guys know, the podcast probably won’t pick up until the week of January 11th, but we’re still not sure. It depends when we can get studio time at the college. We won’t find out what’s available until we go back, which is the week of the 11th. I think 2009 should be a good year for us here at the blog. Make sure you listen in for our special trade deadline episode, where we will go through every notable trade that was made, and offer our two cents, as well as who we feel won the trade. During the playoffs you will see beefed up coverage as well, we will be getting in depth into each match up. Should be fun!

Just some other news that some may find interesting, especially goaltenders. TPS has been bought out, so prepare to see goaltenders who currently wear their equipment switch to other brands. There’s been quite a bidding war going on for some of the soon-to-be-former TPS goalies, with Vaughn recently signing Josh Harding to a contract, and extending the current Vaughn wearer Steve Mason’s contract for three more seasons.

Henrik Lundqvist’s party was asking for too much money, so Vaughn has backed out of a deal with him. He’s expected to sign with CCM sometime soon. Lundqvist would have liked to have signed with Vaughn, seeing as he wore their equipment back in Europe, but I guess money talks.

Roloson in Edmonton is likely switching to Vaughn as well, so watch for the equipment changes in the new year!

My explantion is that General Managers are afraid of taking risks. Mis-managing the cap can lead to tough decisions, and may cost them their job.

Although the addition of Khabibulin may boost the club’s talent level, GMs aren’t willing to sacrifice that much money under the cap. They would rather take the risk and sign him on an open market, or trade for him, dumping some salary in return. We’ve seen this time and time again, with both big and small name players.

Where will Khabby end up? That’s yet to be seen. Hopefully it’s somewhere where they need him, as it was clear he wasn’t needed in Chicago. I’m just hoping the place doesn’t end up being Russia. He is far too talented to let go. He left once before during a salary dispute, in the 1999-2000 season, so I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate leaving now.

To the twenty-nine General Managers in the league who can get Khabibulin, do it! Get him! He’s well worth the risk!

That changed once last season came to an end. Fleury was around to see the last game, and although it probably didn’t end the way he wanted it to, he gained valuable experience. It all started when he came back from a somewhat severe ankle injury sustained in early December. He came back with a renewed attitude, and noticeably whiter pads. Ty Conklin shined in his absence, but Fleury wasn’t about to let the starting role get away from him.

In the games prior to the injury, Fleury was 9-8-1. Hardly impressive, right? When he came back, he posted a 10-2-1 record, then followed that with a 14-6 playoff run. Was it his rehab from the ankle injury that caused such a dramatic change? Maybe. Was it because he stopped wearing those God-awful bright yellow pads? Believe it or not, it probably had something to do with it. While rehabbing from his ankle injury, Fleury received a letter from an Ottawa-area optometrist telling him that his yellow pads were more than just an eyesore, they were costing him goals. In the letter she told him that yellow is one of the easiest colours for the human eye to pick up. Players whizzing down the wing will catch a small glimpse of yellow in the corner of their eye, and immediately know where the net is. A switch to white would allow him to blend into the ice, possibly making him look bigger as well. Fleury took her advice, made the switch, and went on to sweep the optometrist’s beloved Senators in the first round of the playoffs.

This year Fleury hopes to build on the success of last year. Having guys like Malkin and Crosby shooting in the other direction sure helps. Ty Conklin moved on and signed with Detroit, so that allows Dany Sabourin to sneak into the backup role. This upcoming season for Marc-Andre Fleury is an exciting one. He has complete confidence from his coaches and teammates for the first time in a while, and now has confidence in himself. A strong playoff experience can work wonders on players, especially young goaltenders like Fleury.

Why? Because Bob Gainey, my friends, is a hockey genius. Montreal is a young team and are only getting better. Although they finished 1st in the Eastern Conference with 104 points, they would have been in some tough competition against the powerhouse Western Conference, that is if they even made it to the finals with Huet. Gainey did a smart thing, believe it or not. He gave Carey Price a tremendous head start in his career. Carey Price has a reputation of never cracking under pressure, a quality that shone bright during the 2006-2007 Calder Cup playoffs. The Stanley Cup playoffs has some of the most intense pressure an NHL player will face in their entire lives. Carey Price faced that pressure at age 20.

Although he did start to show some cracks, Carey Price gained valuable experience as the #1 man during the 2008 playoffs. This upcoming season, the Habs will probably be in the same situation again. They will be one of the top teams heading into the playoffs. Won’t Canadiens fans feel more comfortable knowing they have a goaltender with playoff experience going into it? Huet would have surely walked after the season if he wasn’t dealt at the deadline, leaving the Canadiens with an unproven young prodigy in net.

Price has the skill and the mind to be one of the top goaltenders in the league for years to come, and he may reach that plateau sooner than fans may think. Next year I expect Price to lead the way in many of the stat categories for goaltenders, surpassing perennial all-stars such as Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo. It’s not as far-fetched as it seems. Carey Price is a once-in-a-generation type of goaltender, and I expect big things out of him this year.

The back-up spot for the Habs will likely be locked up by Jaroslav Halak, another young and exciting goalie, unless either Marc Denis or Cedrick Desjardins really start to rip it up in the minors. We may see a same situation as we did last year, where the Habs may send Halak down to Hamilton to get some work, to stay fresh, and they may let Denis or Desjardins get some action.

Last season’s focus for the Canadiens was on their potent offense, while this season may be the year of the netminder. Get ready Montreal, you’re in for a ride.