roboturner

Of course his stats aren't his fault! Just like Ovie's 47 goals aren't his fault and Crosby's 74 points aren't his fault and Price's 1.86 GAA aren't his fault. Nope! No NHL player is ever responsible for their own stats!

Remember when some people around here were just sooo giddy to say "Howard is a top 10 goalie" when responding to his critics early in the season? Well, what happened guys? I'm mean sure he was Top 10 for a while, But don't you have to be in the top 10 at the end of the season in order to be considered a top 10 guy? Anybody care to know where he ranks in some categories now? He isn't close to Top 10 in any category.

Case in point...

That is total truth right here. I totally get that there are goals where they really aren't his fault or he gets hung out to dry. But when every single goal it's "Not his fault..." "Nothing he could do..." "Ericsson this..." "Quincy that..." I mean COME ON!!! Nobody has a problem throwing Ericsson under the bus for a turnover that leads to a goal. Nobody has a problem saying Smith wasn't covering his guy. God forbid Howard get some of the responsibility of his position...

I try and check in and read the thread, but since I usually can't watch the games I try not to comment too much on what I can't see. (unless i can see a NHL.com clip of a goal or something)

Howie was solid today. Good to see

It really does sound like he's trying to make it a compliment

The "he just can't seem to win games (plural)" seemed to be in reference to his 20-21 record. "This game was in absolutely no way his fault" exonerates him from this loss and seems pretty straightforward... Maybe turn that sign around to yourself. Your Howard persecution complex is ridiculous.

Honestly it just looked like they both got caught up. Fil hooked him, Gus held the stick, they were moving opposite directions and something had to give i.e. they both went down

Howie definitely doesn't have it together right now. He may have pushed himself back a little bit too early. From the games I've been able to watch, there were a number of goals where it looked like he gave up on them. I'm not saying he would normally do that, but I think it's an indication that he's still hurting. Mrazek is still young and that means the occasional rookie mistake, but his puck handling just completely changes the game in our favor. I know I've been kind of scoffed at for stating how much it would help, but I hope people have been able to see the difference and might be coming around to it. And I don't mean to be a dick, but let's not forget how Howie injured himself in the first place. I remember when Howard first came up and started splitting starts. I kept thinking "this is the guy? This is our goalie of the future?" Five years later he's improved no doubt, but he still plays like a timid kid. I just don't get that vibe when Mrazek plays.

Which I prefaced with 'only had he still been struggling like he was all of last season'. But hey, Congrats! You sure have cracked the case, not every word of the post was hyperbole. Well done!

Exactly. I mean would people really not have a problem with Petr if he played the next 20 games and went oh lets say 4-16? Even if you put all other things aside (scoring and defensive support), I think there he would be s*** on pretty hard if he were to put up that kind of a record. But like it or not, that's the W-L he would have to go in order to end up with Howard's current 20-20 record. I just don't understand why people would rather lose with Howard than win with Mrazek. It doesn't make sense.

the part about getting rid of him yesterday was. Which is what he had highlighted and what i clarified and expanded on.

I haven't back peddled on anything. All I did was clarify what I meant when someone mistook what I thought was an obvious hyperbole as literal.

Ok 'yesterday' was overkill, I'm just saying I would have speed this process along more quickly, with Petr splitting time this season and not next season. (I still think they should be doing that now regardless) I get the whole 'over-ripe' thing has worked out well for us. But I don't see the need to keep people in the minors until their very last eligible game. Petr has done all that he can in the AHL. One argument against him, which you pointed out, is his lack of NHL experience. If Mraz is going to take over, he could be getting NHL/playoff race experience. He won't get any more if he doesn't play. Getting experience now means he will be 'ready' that much sooner. In 24 less games, Petr (sporting a solid 14-6 W-L) has only 6 less wins than Howie (sporting an average 20-20 W-L, can't get any more average than that!) I just don't get why people would prefer the latter. It doesn't make sense.

I didn't mean to say they hate Mraz, that was Barabbas. And then when I realized that how I responded made it sound like thats what I was saying I changed it cuz I don't think people hate Petr, they're just infatuated with Howie. Had Howie still been struggling like he did last season (and kinda is now), I would have been on board with getting rid of him yesterday. He's gotta pick it up though. Honestly, How many more 1st and 2nd round exits are we going to have to suffer through with him before a change is made?

I was going to write 'Howard Apologists' but didn't want to sound like a dick. I guess I should have since the rest of what I wrote surely didn't give any context as to who I would have been talking about /s Edit: is 'dick' no longer censored here? I thought it was, seems like it would have been.

Because that's what happened?? I didn't say everybody does, but surely there are some that do that. well they don't hate him, but...I'm not going to go through a bunch of old GDTs to find all the "poor rebound control" "he's just not ready, back to the AHL" comments about Mrazek that wouldn't get made about a 6 year veteran

Yeah, they've been saying that Howie is in a slump...which he is! Nothing to suggest that Mrazek is a celestial magician or Neo from the Matrix just putting his hand up stopping the pucks mid shot, just a better goalie.

That's quite the exaggeration

Fair enough, the D hasn't been playing well at all. It just gets a little annoying when people act like just because Howie is the starting goalie (and with that sometimes gets too much undeserved flack) he is somehow infallible in all of this. Sure you can look at each goal individually and say "defensive break down, he had no shot". And while that is true for some (maybe alot) of them, it's pretty clear that he is a portion of the liability right now. Edit: And also, they keep bringing up how Mraz had a few bad games, posted bad numbers and got pulled. But if Howie has a few bad games, posts bad numbers.... well it's not his fault!

Something tells me that the Howard supporters, regardless of how the offence was or wasn't playing, wouldn't be giving Mrazek a pass if he had a 4-6 record, a .898 SV%, and a 3.XX Goals against his past 13 appearances. And yet, those are Howard's numbers since coming back.

Radio guy just said how he admired how Babs will switch up the lines when it's needed and not wait too long.... HA!!! What has he been watching the past week?