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Ben Scrivens waived by EDM

CarltonTheBear

CarltonTheBear

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Tough break for him. I never really thought that he was anything special but he's a great guy off the ice.

His has a cap-hit/salary of $2.3mil, and is in the final year of that contract.
 
Man, I don't know if Nilsson just outplayed him or they're super confident in Talbot but that's a weird one.
 
Nik the Trik said:
Man, I don't know if Nilsson just outplayed him or they're super confident in Talbot but that's a weird one.
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Nilsson played in 3 games (120 minutes total) and saved 53 of 53 shots. Scrivens played in 3 games (122 minutes total) and saved 52 of 56 shots. Not sure if I'd read that much into those numbers though, especially since Nilsson has been a pretty terrible goalie at the NHL/AHL level the past couple of seasons.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Nik the Trik said:
Man, I don't know if Nilsson just outplayed him or they're super confident in Talbot but that's a weird one.
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Nilsson played in 3 games (120 minutes total) and saved 53 of 53 shots. Scrivens played in 3 games (122 minutes total) and saved 52 of 56 shots. Not sure if I'd read that much into those numbers though, especially since Nilsson has been a pretty terrible goalie at the NHL/AHL level the past couple of seasons.
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Interesting how stats in a subpar KHL would give you that kind of edge.  I guess being 6'5" didn't hurt him.   
 
I'm glad that even with an improved GM and a new franchise player the Oilers are still capable of making (seemingly) dumb decisions like these. I don't think Cam Talbot is going to be their saviour either. They'll continue playing goalie-roulette for a little while.
 
Scrivens just wasn't good enough.  He had an .897 SV% at even strength last season, worst in the league.  Not that I'd expect it to be that bad going forward, but it wasn't like he was good last year.
 
Potvin29 said:
Scrivens just wasn't good enough.  He had an .897 SV% at even strength last season, worst in the league.  Not that I'd expect it to be that bad going forward, but it wasn't like he was good last year.
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Yeah, Scrivens wasn't very good either. I'm just not sure Nilsson will be an improvement in any way. I don't know if Burke/Treliving would be willing to trade a goalie to a divisional rival, but Edmonton would be smart to target the Flames for help here, they're rumoured to be trying to move Jonas Hiller for some reason.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Potvin29 said:
Scrivens just wasn't good enough.  He had an .897 SV% at even strength last season, worst in the league.  Not that I'd expect it to be that bad going forward, but it wasn't like he was good last year.
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Yeah, Scrivens wasn't very good either. I'm just not sure Nilsson will be an improvement in any way. I don't know if Burke/Treliving would be willing to trade a goalie to a divisional rival, but Edmonton would be smart to target the Flames for help here, they're rumoured to be trying to move Jonas Hiller for some reason.
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I could be remembering this incorrectly but I think Jeff Marek once was listing a group of teams that just didn't make trades with each other(I'm pretty sure he said this in relation to Leafs/Sens) and Flames/Oilers were one of them.
 
Nik the Trik said:
I could be remembering this incorrectly but I think Jeff Marek once was listing a group of teams that just didn't make trades with each other(I'm pretty sure he said this in relation to Leafs/Sens) and Flames/Oilers were one of them.
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Yeah, that doesn't exactly surprise me. Chiarelli and Burke have of course made moves before though, so I wonder if they can get past that. Although teams generally don't like trading goalies within a division, regardless of how heated the rivalry is.
 
Maybe not worth it's own new thread, but here's a good Players' Tribune article by Ben Scrivens about goaltending.  It's the first of 2 parts and has a great title:

Please, Please, Please, Don?t Call Me Athletic

There are people who will shoehorn a term into a sentence to make them seem like an expert, but the term they splice in is such an overused clich? that all you can think is, What an idiot. I know I don?t have the normal, nine-to-five desk job, but I?m convinced that every industry has its own ubiquitous saying that spreads like an infection and quickly loses its meaning. These buzzwords become so pervasive in the office and workplace, that, eventually, no one questions their meaning anymore. Company X promises to ?disrupt the Y industry.? Marketers distinguish themselves with a ?holistic? approach to your campaign. And my personal, cringeworthy, favorite: ?synergy.?

In the hockey world, my gears grind when I hear the term ?athletic? goalie. What makes one goalie athletic and the other unathletic? Doing the splits? Stacking the pads? Windmilling a glove save? Are those really the top qualities you want the goalie of your team to have? They wouldn?t be for me.

In a time of internet experts and hot-take media, we are left with a complete void where nuance used to reside. Sometimes, a lack of nuance is harmless, like saying, ?I could eat burritos at every meal.? (Really? At every meal?) Other times unalterable, definite opinions can have drastically negative ripple effects. (Has anyone been watching the U.S. election coverage?)

So with this in mind, I?d like to try to calm the waters surrounding modern goaltending.

This won?t be an article written only for goalies, chock-full of reverse-vertical-horizontal (RVH) and backside-recovery references. Goaltending doesn?t have to be complicated. Analytics are good thing for hockey. Advanced stats are becoming mainstream and accepted, and I view that as a positive change, but I also need to see a goalie in action to fully evaluate his or her skill. At the end of the day though, the only question that needs to be answered is, Did the puck stay out of the net? How the puck stays out of the net is less relevant than many people think. I?ve been fortunate to play in the NHL for the past four years, for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Los Angeles Kings, the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens, and I currently hold the NHL record for saves in a shutout. I know a few things about this position.

more....
 
Nik the Trik said:
It's funny how often goalies become the better analysts of the game.
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So here's part 2 of Scrivens' piece for The Players' Tribune:

On to the Mental Side

I spent the majority of Part I of my catharsis addressing what I think are the most important skills for young goalies to focus on in their training. I took a few liberties with announcers and media types, and the response I received from (most) goalies was subdued elation. I think what I wrote resonated with them because our position is fundamentally misunderstood ? not all great saves are created equal. But for all the goalies out who took a modicum of pleasure at seeing outsiders get ?put on blast,? as the kids say these days, you may not like what?s walking down the slot.

We, the goaltenders? union, do ourselves a huge disservice with how we mentally approach our position. How can we expect anyone to take us seriously when we?re the most superstitious players around? Why should we expect anyone else to take us seriously when our coaches and teammates look across the locker room and see us in the middle of our superstitious pregame rituals? How many wraps of tape make the knobs on our sticks ? 75? Will we have a bad game if there are 76? Why are we adamant that sitting in silence while we dress for the game will have any effect on the outcome? Are we serious when we insist that putting our left skate on before our right is as important to our success as having a good night?s sleep? If we knew a pilot or a surgeon who could only perform after a 10-minute shower, a bagel with peanut butter and an elaborately choreographed handshake with every flight attendant or nurse, would we trust them? Or would we look at them like they had two heads?

In hockey, there?s a myth about our position that says we are weird because we stand in the way of 100-mph slap shots. The last time I checked, penalty killers block those same 100-mph shots too. The only difference is that we goalies wear gear designed specifically to protect from those shots. Using the above logic, penalty killers should also be called weird since they?re less protected. But they?re not weird, and they shouldn?t be considered as such. We aren?t weird because of the dangers of our position. We?re weird because we have to tap each post three times and squirt water down our backs to trick ourselves into believing we?re going play well.

As goalies, we subscribe to superstitions that no one would ? or should ? take seriously. Patrick Roy used to talk to his posts. I think Patrick Roy would still have been a great goalie even if he kept mum. Braden Holtby, this year?s Vezina Trophy winner as the league?s top goaltender (100% deserving, by the way), would be just as good whether he sprayed his water bottle in the air to get his eyes dialed in or just drank from it. (Emphasis: Not a criticism of Holts and his water droplet tracking. I understand why he does it much more than you do.)

(more....)
 
That's superb article. I think I probably learnt more about goaltending from that than in watching for years.

(OK that's hyperbole, but it's very, very good).
 
Not surprising.  He's a smart guy.  Which is why I'd have no problem with him returning as Leafs backup (or Enroth or Ramo).
 
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