Alex Auld will be making his seventh consecutive start tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers. Craig Hartsburg is doing all he can to avoid calling Auld the starter over Martin Gerber, but it sure looks like that it what's happened. Auld has been technically sound, stopping pucks at opportune times, and using his size effectively to let the shots hit him. He was declared as the first NHL goalie to win a starting job by The Puck Stops Here blog. A lot of people aren't surprised; Ben on this blog,Jeremy Milks over at Black Aces, as well as James Gordon of the Hockey Capital blog all predicted it would happen sooner rather than later (let's not bother thinking about what I thought could happen).
Some people have given Hartsburg a hard time for criticizing Gerber, but I don't have a problem with what he said. To refresh your memory, as reported on TSN, Hartsburg said of Gerber: "He makes a lot of saves in the game but you leave there every night thinking he could have had that one or maybe should have had that one. We're early in this but you start to see trends too and that's something we have to address with Martin."
I don't really have a problem with it. Totally fair (and true), and couched with the acknowledgement that Gerber does make good saves at some times, but they are terribly offset by bad goals at worse times.
So, good for Auld. And good for the team. As much as Auld says he's team-first, there's a reason he signed with the Senators: He must have seen an opportunity to step up as a starter.
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My bet (or hope) was that Gerber was going to be excellent once Emery was gone. However, as it turns out, the only consistency with Gerber's game is that he loses the starting position to any back up he plays with. I don't think they should feel obligated to get him back to #1, because he has proven that he is a back up goalie. The problem is that we have two backup goalies.
At this point I see know reason to pretend gerbs is the #1, he has never played like a number and auld is doing well.
Gerber was a great in the '08 playoffs and despite the sweep the scores could have been a lot more embarrassing if not for him.
But that's pretty much the highlight of his time in Ottawa. Yeah, I know, great guy, good work ethic, etc. but I'd trade him for a temperamental dick in a second if he could stop the puck better.
It's disappointing because Gerbs makes lots of great saves, usually just before that soft goal, or when it's already too late because he let in the first shot he saw, yet again.
I can see him being packaged off as part of a trade (as a backup, maybe for a team with a goalie injury), maybe the one to get us that fabled puck moving defenseman.
I'd also be happy to see him stay on as a #2, but he'd have to take a significant pay cut. Even if Auld stumbles, it's time to admit that the Gerber as #1 experiment is over.
Unfortunately, top goaltenders are still rare, and we won't be getting one soon, not without giving up major assets (I'm still up for the Spezza for Luongo trade, but Vancouver would be nuts to do it). Seems like our best bet is just hunker down and hope that Elliott really is the second coming.
Forget trading for one, its all about auld. Im not sure many sens fans know his entire story, but this guy most definately has number 1 goalie potential.
TSN.ca is reporting Gerber will get the start tonight.
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=255061&lid=headline&lpos=secStory_main
I don't get it.
Well auld cant start all the games can he?
Well auld cant start all the games can he?
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