In praise of Bobby Ryan

In praise of Bobby Ryan
"The biggest thing is just his poise and his hands are unbelievable. I played with [Evgeni] Malkin and [Sidney] Crosby, and those guys are probably the two best in the league. Bobby's hands are right with those guys... He's a superstar in the making, it seems."
---Ryan Whitney, former Ducks defenseman

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Hiller-time

I do have one game to catch up on, the Oiler/Duck game that went down last night. But right now, I feel like a little opinionated commentary, so that's what's on the menu.

If you've been reading here and following my rants through the trade deadline, you'll know that I'm a big J.S. Giguere fan. Giggy has done so much for this club and I couldn't stand hearing everyone say we should trade him away because he's been less than stellar this season. Yes, he's been through some tough times, what with the passing of his father, but I still believe that Giggy is a staple of the Ducks.

As the playoff crunchtime is upon us, and the Ducks fall in and out of a playoff seed every other day, you have to start looking realistically at the situation.

Realistically, Giguere hasn't been having a good season.

Realistically, the Ducks have the offense, the penalty kill, the defense pairings, the shutdown players, THE SKILLS to make it into the playoffs. And to do well in those playoffs. We've got so many excellent players, I don't see how we couldn't make it in.

(Realistically, winning the cup is another argument altogether, and I'm not going to get into that right now.)

But realistically, it's been the goaltending that's been consistently inconsistent this season for our Ducks. If Giguere can't bring his best to each game, every game, we need to have someone in net who can. Luckily, the Ducks are in a very lucky place to have two excellent goaltenders.

Jonas Hiller has more than proven that he's a good man to have between the pipes. Sure, he's a little more on the dramatic end (I still think that's a good thing as far as getting the fans into the game), but if he keeps pucks out of the net, he could dance an Irish jig between plays and I'd still want him in net.

I think it's realistically time to give Hiller his big break. Coach Carlyle should start Hiller in every game left this season. He needs to give this team the chance to make it into the playoffs, and see how far they can get in the playoffs. If Hiller slumps, then Giggy is our fallback and really, is that such a bad thing? No respect at all to Giggy, but we need a consistent goaltender right now.

From here on out, it's all about Hiller.

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