Goalies Proving Their Worth

Dobber Sports

2007-04-27

 Turco

 

 Poolies tend to shy away from goaltenders that fall on their faces in the postseason. Even if their pool does not have a separate playoff element and goes strictly by regular season statistics, for one reason or another, weak performers in the playoffs fall in value.

 

(This article, and all of Dobber's articles, can also be found at The Hockey News, ESPN.com and MSN.ca. Originally posted April 23)     

 

 

Dominik Hasek and Martin Brodeur have had nothing to prove for quite some time now, but what about Marty Turco? The Dallas goaltender has put together several weak postseason efforts and despite the fact that he has consistently been a top five goalie in regular season statistics year in and year out, he is often not drafted as such.

That obviously changes this summer, regardless of the outcome of Monday’s Game 7 tilt between the Canucks and the Stars. Turco has been nothing short of phenomenal. How can you describe it as anything less when the guy has three shutouts?

If he was chased out of a game or two and the Stars lost the series in five, you could probably still draft Turco after 10 goalies have already been picked. Now? Not a chance.

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The same goes with Ray Emery of the Ottawa Senators. He just went from potentially as low as 15th on most summer draft sheets to as high as sixth or seventh – all from winning a series and being impressive doing it.

Henrik Lundqvist (Rangers) has just done the same thing and Ilya Bryzgalov (Ducks) has also played great this spring.

On the other side of the coin is Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, Atlanta backstop Kari Lehtonen, and Tampa Bay’s Johan Holmqvist. Any one of them could be a top five or six goalie on people’s list this summer had they won a round or two. As it stands now, Fleury or Lehtonen may get a sniff at a top 10 spot, but Holmqvist will be right off many lists.

In the cases of these three, it will be easy to steal them in a later round this summer and you would be wise to do so – provided the pool is just for the regular season, that is…

Farm Report: Diminutive left wing Brett Sterling, a prospect with the Atlanta Thrashers, has followed up a tremendous American League campaign with a solid postseason start. After garnering 97 points in 77 contests, the 23-year-old (as of April 24) has four points in two playoff games. Atlanta GM Don Waddell has mentioned Sterling’s name as a possible candidate to crack Atlanta’s lineup in the fall. He is someone to keep on your radar, as he will not be in the NHL to kill penalties.

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