Sergei Bobrovsky: From Playoff Starter To Sitting In The Press Box Without An Injury

After starting Game 1 and 2 of the Conference Quarterfinals, Sergei Bobrovsky will find himself in a new role for Game 3: sitting in the press box as Brian Boucher starts and Michael Leighton backs him up on the bench.

I said on Twitter and perhaps even in the live blog on Saturday that I would much prefer to have Boucher coming in off the bench to relieve Bob than Bob coming in off the bench to relieve Boucher. That being said, I would much rather have a toddler come off the bench to relieve Boucher than Michael freakin' Leighton, who is not very good at hockey.

As far as Laviolette' reasons for doing so: I do not know. Starting Brian Boucher in this game is not the worst decision he has ever made. Boucher and Bobrovsky have sort of been 1A and 1B all year. Bob started 52 games, Boucher started 29 games, and Leighton started 1 game against Los Angeles for shits and giggles. Much was made about the calming influence Boucher brought to the team once he came in for Bobrovsky in Game 2. That could be a part of it. Another part of it could be the following quotes from Bobrovsky gathered by Teemu H, the guy in charge for following Flyers prospects in Europe.

"Physically I'm feeling normal. Mentally... not really. But I'll get over it soon." - Bobrovsky on last game.

"Whatever the coach decides, so be it. I will accept any decision." - Bobrovsky on who starts Game 3.

"I let in 3 goals. It's my job to stop the puck. 3 goals on 7 shots. That's unacceptable. Thanks to the guys we won." - Bob on his game.

Maybe the benching has something to do with this. Maybe it does not. I have no problem with Boucher starting Game 3 of the playoffs tonight. He has performed fine for the Flyers all year. But should Boucher he falter, the last person I want to see between the pipes for the Flyers is Michael Leighton.

Michael Leighton Is Not Very Good At Hockey

(Originally posted as a fanpost at Broad Street Hockey)  

(Title inspired by the wonderful folks at The Good Phight)

Since the Flyers lost in a shootout to the Washington Capitals last night, there has been a lot of talk about how the Flyers goalies are "not good enough" and they need to call up current Phantoms goalie Michael Leighton because only god saves more than Michael Leighton and he is better than the two knuckleheads named the Flyers currently have in goal.  Does this sound about right to everyone?

Well, it is true that this is what a lot of people have been saying, but the claims they make that Leighton is the better goaltender are completely false and are frustratingly misinformed. Before we get into statistics, though, let me just say that anybody judging a goalie over a single game and a shootout is being completely absurd.  Shootouts are like spinning a roulette wheel.  In Game 82 against the Rangers, the Flyers got lucky and the roulette wheel came up an orange number.  Last night, the Flyers got unlucky and it came up a white number.  Also, why are people saying Brian Boucher "sucks at shootouts" and therefore the Flyers need to recall Michael Leighton for the playoffs because of it?  Stop me if I am stating the obvious, but there are no shootouts in the playoffs.  Okay, so the people who make that jump are probably in the minority of those screaming for Leighton, but still, people look at the past few games that Boosh and Bob played and all of a sudden believe Michael Leighton is a god who saves more than Bernie Parent.  Or whatever it is he and his five-hole are being called these days.

Let's take a look at even strength save percentages this year, shall we:  Why ESS%?  Because it is one of, if not the most informing stats about a goalkeeper that we have.  Goals against average is much too dependent on the play of other players on the ice, and save percentage factors in shots and goals given up while short-handed or on the power play, where the defense is set much differently than normal, in addition to being up or down a man.  All numbers taken and derived from data on NHL.com

Brian Boucher, career ESS%:  .911
Brian Boucher, since start of  2008-2009 season ESS%:  .918
Brian Boucher, 2010-2011 ESS%:  .921
Sergei Bobrovsky, 2010-2011 (also career) ESS%:  .921
Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky, combined 2010-2011 ESS%:  .921
Michael Leighton, career ESS%:  .908
Michael Leighton, since start of 2008-2009 season ESS%:  .908
Michael Leighton, 2009-2010 season with Flyers (because 1 game in 2010-2011 is insufficient to say anything):  .916

What does this say?  Well, it says what the title says, "Michael Leighton is not very good at hockey."  He is a career .908 ES% goalie who has not outperformed Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky by any stretch of the imagination.  If you go by career, numbers, Boucher is a better goalie than Leighton.  If you go since 2008, Boucher is a better goalie than Leighton.  If you go for the small sample sizes, Brian Boucher's most recent season with the Flyers is better than Michael Leighton's most recent season with the Flyers.  Boosh has admittedly played better than his career numbers the past 3 years, but look at Leighton.  His career ESS% is .908.  His ESS% since 2008 is .908.  But in the 2nd half of the 2009-2010 season he is at .916.  Whoa.  Holy playing way above your true talent level, Batman!  And even Leighton playing above his true talent level has not eclipsed the numbers that Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky have put up this year.  And while Brian Boucher has been playing above his career numbers as well, he has consistently been playing better than his career average the past three years, while Leighton's high numbers come in only a 5-month span.  The goalie with the consistently higher numbers over the past few years is always going to be a better gamble than the goalie who had decently high numbers for a five-month span.

Brian Boucher is not a great goaltender.  Sergei Bobrovsky is a rookie.  While none of the two can considered a slam dunk between the pipes, one thing is for certain: They are both certainly better and more capable of playing Flyers' goaltender in the playoffs than Michael freaking Leighton and his five hole, the ghost of which still haunts the Wells Fargo Center to this day.

For those that want to play around with data, I have Bob's, Boosh's and Leighton's, shots faced, shots saved, and ESS% numbers by year in this handy-dandy spreadsheet I made.

Rod The Bod Hangs Up His Skates Today (And A Few Other Blog Tidbits)

• The NHL is going to be without one bad ass bod in the locker room. One of my childhood favorites, Rod "The Bod" Brind'Amour has finally decided to hang up his skates at the age of 39. Rod The Bod was a key component to the Flyers Stanley Cup Finals run in 1997 and was a huge figure for them in the decade, joining the likes of Eric Lindros, John LeClair, Eric Desjardins, Mikael Renberg, and the person playing goalie for the week.
• Aspeaking of Flyers news, the Flyers have agreed to re-sign Michael Leighton for 2-years. I will reserve full judgment until the free agent goalies dwindle out, but if the Flyers think they can go back to the Stanley Cup with Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher as the team's 2 main goalies, Paul Holmgren should be banned from ever coming within 150 feet of the Wachovia Center. Come on Homer. Ellis. Mason. Bernier. SIGN ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
• Remember all that gobbledygook about how much I don't know about soccer? Well, yeah, I was lying to you. What I just realized about my original predictions about teams I expect to get out of group stage was that 15 out of 16 were correct. 15 OUT OF 16!!! And to think the only one I got wrong was because of a very last second change I made. I originally had Argentina and South Korea (which would have made me Mr. Perfect) getting out of Group B, but changed my mind at the last minute and changed South Korea to Nigeria. Now I am aware that I did not indicate this in the above post, but I listed the team I picked to win the group was listed first. I got 6 out of 8 of those correct, with the only ones I missed being because I had the wrong order with Mexico and Uruguay and England and the USA. Comparing that to someone who admittedly watches much more soccer than I do, Mookie only got 11 out of 16 correct (6 out of 8 on the group winners as well). Why yes, I do like to kid around and show off when I am ultra successful in picking. Why do you ask?
• Sometime later today when I finish watching yesterday's Round of 16 games, I will post the announcing schedule for the quarterfinals as well as my predictions for the quarterfinal round.
• Charlie Manuel is completely clueless on how to handle his pitchers and sucky bullpen. If today does not illustrate all that is wrong in a nutshell, then I don't know what does.
• Go Argentina!!!
  

The Flyers Goalie Carousel Continues: The Return Of Boosh?

Goalies that have dressed for the Philadelphia Flyers this season:
Mike Emery
Brian Boucher
Michael Leighton
Johan Backlund
Jeremy Duchesne
Sebastion Caron
Michael Lee Teslak
Carter Hutton

For the Eastern Conference Finals, the starter was Michael Leighton while Backlund backed him up. This Stanley Cup Finals could see a different back-up goalie for the Philadelphia Flyers. It's the same guy who started the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Flyers: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! From CSN Philly

Goalie Brian Boucher practiced with his team again Friday, and is 99 percent certain he’ll back up Michael Leighton when the Flyers open up the Stanley Cup Final Saturday at the United Center.

“Today was another day,” he said. “Every day, it’s gotten stronger. I feel a lot more confident every time with my situation on the ice. I haven’t had any problems.”

Boucher sprained the MCLs in both of his knees in Game 5 against Boston. He still has a noticeable limp, but said he has felt more comfortable the more he has practiced, and that he would be ready to go for Game 1.

“He looks good,” Danny Briere said. “I think just like everybody else, he’s excited. He’s excited to be back on the ice. Just like Jeff (Carter) and Simon (Gagne) and Ian (Laperriere), he thought his season was over. But as we’re moving along, all these guys have the chance to keep playing now.

“Brian looks like himself. Just like the way he was before. So that’s very encouraging going into the Final. We have both guys, I don’t know their records – who has how many wins other than 12 that we have – but it’s got to be pretty close. We’re comfortable with both of them.”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

Something that will be interesting to see is how this affects Michael Leighton at all. Whereas Backlund got 40 minutes of NHL ice time during the season (and a little over a minute during this post-season) and was likely there only in case of an injury, Brian Boucher has been a proven commodity for the Flyers in goal this post-season, and maybe be more likely to be called upon if Leighton struggles. What will this do to Leighton, knowing that a plug could very well be pulled if he can't play well? Will he wilt under the pressure and force Boucher to finish up this playoff run that he started, or will Leighton rise to the occasion and thus go from being placed on waivers earlier this year to starting goalie in the Stanley Cup Finals who keeps his team in the game?

Only one thing is for sure: Tomorrow's Game 1 can't come soon enough! LET'S GO FLYERS! (CLAP-CLAP CLAP-CLAP-CLAP)

Chris Pronger Knows The Flyers Goaltending Situation By Heart!

It appears as if Chris Pronger (and his elbows) are in a good mood this morning. When asked about the Flyers goaltending situation this morning, he broke it down so well that you would have to be a simpleton to not understand what was going on. Here are Chris Pronger's words via NHL.com

It might have taken him a while to figure it out, but Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger believes he has solved the goalie carousel in Philadelphia. In the process of offering his explanation, he also provided a good laugh.

"Well, I've never seen this type of situation where you have a starter and have another starter, then another," Pronger told the media Wednesday morning. "Then you go back to the other starter and go back to your third guy, who's now the second guy, who became your first guy, who was your cousins' brothers' sisters', friend."

Like we said, "Prongs" has finally figured it out!

See! And you thought all the random people the Flyers have been getting to play goaltender was just that, a bunch of random people. There is a method to the madness, I tell you, and the Flyers' very own Assistant Captain Elbows has figured it out!