Maple Leafs in the market for a new Goalie
- Thread starter WhatIfGodWasALeaf
- Start date
Heroic Shrimp
New member
Potvin29 said:
Preparing for bad pun headlines.
Kin
New member
Significantly Insignificant said:
I might not rule out the possibility of a trade, one where the Leafs basically get nothing and have to take back an equally dead weight-ish contract, but failing that I think you just demote him to back-up and hope he straightens things out over the course of the season.
L K
Active member
Devan Dubnyk - 171GP 2.88 GAA .910 SV% during his time in Edmonton. Subsequently traded to Nashille during a stretch of 3.36 GAA .894 SV% for Matt Hendricks.
Jonathan Bernier - 184GP 2.66 GAA .915 SV% during his time in LA/Toronto. Currently in the middle of a stretch of 3.28 GAA .888 SV%.
They won't get anything for him, but he's a former 1st round pick goaltender of some pedigree. A team will take a flyer on him. The Leafs may need to retain salary or eat a player because of the 2nd year on his deal but he is movable.
Jonathan Bernier - 184GP 2.66 GAA .915 SV% during his time in LA/Toronto. Currently in the middle of a stretch of 3.28 GAA .888 SV%.
They won't get anything for him, but he's a former 1st round pick goaltender of some pedigree. A team will take a flyer on him. The Leafs may need to retain salary or eat a player because of the 2nd year on his deal but he is movable.
ZBBM
Active member
L K said:
OTOH, physically fundamentally, Bernier's not as bad as he's been these past two months. Nothing in his past would have led anyone to think he'd be as awful as he's been this season. Mentally fundamentally ... that may be a different story, though. As I said in the GDT, this is a player whose confidence is in full retreat. If he can get some help with that, I'm sure he'd snap back to the (pretty average) goalie he was before.
It's highly doubtful that he will ever be the number 1 the Leafs hoped for when they acquired him (and incidentally the trade was a good one for us IIRC) but he's not THIS bad. In some ways he's like Gustavsson: seemed like he might rise the occasion, and capable of some pretty spectacular goaltending, but way too inconsistent. Like the Monster, maybe Bernier's top end is as journeyman backup. But right now he's got to get his mental house in order.
Highlander
Active member
sorry for the double post but thought the other thread was finished:
I don't think it is surprise at all. Bernier has had some hard luck but has not made lemonade out of the lemons he has been dealt, such as playing on completely porous defensive teams of Carlyle the last two years and having to make over 40 stops game in and game out.
Nearing the end of last season (and I am not making this up), he admits to a lack of mental toughness, something he had to work on. Guess he didnt head to the right school for MT lessons.
My viewpoint is even though all players especially goalies may go thru some rough patches they do tend to bounce back fairly quickly or get discarded completely like Vesa, Raycoft and Justin P to some degree.
I think you are going to see Bernier dumped on the same heap in the not to distant future. I just don't see him rebounding or stopping the rebounds. You have to have mental toughness earlier than 26 in this game, I don't believe it is magically going to be developed later in life.
Unless he happens to bump into a goalie coach named "Yoda" and that is movie stuff
I don't think it is surprise at all. Bernier has had some hard luck but has not made lemonade out of the lemons he has been dealt, such as playing on completely porous defensive teams of Carlyle the last two years and having to make over 40 stops game in and game out.
Nearing the end of last season (and I am not making this up), he admits to a lack of mental toughness, something he had to work on. Guess he didnt head to the right school for MT lessons.
My viewpoint is even though all players especially goalies may go thru some rough patches they do tend to bounce back fairly quickly or get discarded completely like Vesa, Raycoft and Justin P to some degree.
I think you are going to see Bernier dumped on the same heap in the not to distant future. I just don't see him rebounding or stopping the rebounds. You have to have mental toughness earlier than 26 in this game, I don't believe it is magically going to be developed later in life.
Unless he happens to bump into a goalie coach named "Yoda" and that is movie stuff
Redleaf
Active member
I haven't given up on him completely just yet. Perhaps a stint in the 'A' would help rejuvenate him? The talent that has gotten him this far doesn't normally just drop off like a cliff. Although it has happened in the past to other players. I really hope he's able to turn it around.
Highlander
Active member
Don't get me wrong, I was at a Leaf game here in AZ two years ago and Bernier was very good in that game, indeed the reason why they won. I would love for him to turn it around as well. Just think he is in a pretty deep hole right now.
bustaheims
Active member
RedLeaf said:
It's not a talent issue, though. It's more of a mental issue, and those are a little more tricky to resolve completely. Some guys can get their heads straight, fix their game and get back on track. Others can't. Many careers have ended because players got a case of the "yips" that they couldn't get over.
ZBBM
Active member
bustaheims said:
Elsewhere I facetiously wished he could do a "mental conditioning" stint with the Marlies ? just a string of games so he can see if he can work things out. But on second thought, why shouldn't he get that string of games with the big club while Reimer's out? It's not like the Leafs have anything at stake in the standings.
Highlander
Active member
that is the conundrum, he needs to play to regain confidence but if he goes thru the next 10 still letting in soft goals and not winning, it could bury him for good, so it may well be swim or sink time. In any case he cannot continue to flounder for much longer.
I do wish good things for him however.
I do wish good things for him however.
GhostofPotvin29
New member
Kin
New member
Potvin29 said:
And I think it'd be fair to say he's been exposed a little bit over that stretch. I'm just saying that I think the "mental issues" talk is linked to these ten games and leaving aside whether or not that sort of talk can ever be legitimate it's almost certainly premature here.
GhostofPotvin29
New member
I think Bernier will turn it around, but I don't think that means he will become an elite goalie. It's probably more likely that he's around a league average goalie, give or take.
herman
Well-known member
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
I'd say trying to let him work it out with the NHL team was attempted earlier this season (October). I do think Babock is trying to protect the psyche of the rest of the team as well, and letting Bernier sink any of their chances whenever he's between the pipes might not be in the team's best interest, even if it does wonders for the Tank.