Goalies are overrated: TV Heads promote foolishness...

Is anyone watching Arizona at Toronto? (I typed this post while watching the game last night)

I believe goalies, specifically NHL goalies, are one of the most overrated positions in all of sports.

Need I go any further than TSN's second intermission show?
Every "talking head" there, Bob McKenzie's being the biggest, supported the idea that the goalies are killing the 5 or 6 worst teams in the NHL. Their evidence, just look at the save percentages.

And sure enough - the bottom five teams or so all have terrible save percentages.

How is it that these guys who are respected hockey guys think the goalies are letting these teams down? Because there is too much emphasis on goalies! It's simple.

If you believe that goalies CAN and SHOULD save everything;
if you believe that goalies win games and deserve full credit for shutouts;
if you believe goalies are more integral than playmakers, shooters and finishers;
if you believe that goalies stand on their own regardless of the system and defensemen in front of them, then you HAVE TO also believe that the bottom teams are on the bottom as a result of goaltending.

It just isn't so.

Look at the bottom teams:
Columbus: They aren't playing good team hockey. The offense does create opportunities but it is leaving the goalies out to dry. This team, for good amounts of time, just gets lost defensively and it has killed them and Bobrovsky.

Anaheim: This team isn't close to playing the tight hockey they have played in the previous seasons. And really, they have lost a lot of those key hard-workers and even a key d-man in Beauchemin. Not to mention, where are Perry and Getzlaf!? (Andersen is 0-3-0-1 with a .938 svpct.)

Buffalo: Um - rebuilding. This team is not going to become a winning team with Carey Price in net. Don't get me wrong,  Chad Johnson hasn't proven to be any better than a Darcy Keumper, but goaltending is not the fix this team needs. Commitment to their own zone and simple maturity to the NHL game will go much further than a Henrik Lundquist-type in net.

Calgary: Calgary is playing basically the same as last season...they push aggressively and give up a lot in their own zone as a result. Even with a guy like Giordano, this team can't keep games close on a nightly basis. This season, though, they are not producing goals like they did last season. Especially, third period ones. (the two wins are with Hiller who has the lesser save pct.)

Carolina: If you blame Carolina's woes on Cam Ward, you have not watched this team deteriorate over the last 9 years. Ward is not the only goalie that can't win here. Again, this is a thin team and the top-tier talent isn't producing or creating. And certainly the defensive effort is sporadic - there is not a lot of talent on the defensive end. Ward faces a lot of quality shots.

Toronto: Switch goalies with any team in the league and you still have a group that is re-learning team hockey as well as learning new teammates. They don't seem like the same team as last year, at least the way they played Montreal. Tonight, it is a bit different, this hungry Arizona team isn't letting off. But Reimer/Bernier haven't been protected well. And when goalies aren't confident they tend to play back in the net. Tim Thomas 2011-style would still get shelled - maybe worse, because he was SOOOOO  aggressive in attacking the shooter.

To me, the idea that some hockey experts are pointing to goaltending as the problem of the above teams is unreal. The idea that switching Price with any of these teams' goalies and the teams will switch in the standings is preposterous. Carey Price has a losing record with any of these.

But since the "talking heads" and the "experts", like Bob McKenzie, ARE saying it is all goaltending, I have no choice but to re-iterate: Goalies are overrated.