There is good news for Oiler fans in regard to NK. Tom Renney told Bob Stauffer today that Khabibulin will need to perform in order to keep an NHL job.
Coach Renney when asked if Khabibulin can rebound: "He better. No one knows that better than Khabbi does. My exit interview with him was very poignant. He knows what is in front of him and should he not be able to seize that then the dynamic changes and he's well aware of that."
Last season, Khabibulin's SP was 45th out of 47 "regulars" (he beat bruiser Rick DiPietro and Ty "2006 G1" Conklin) and 71st among 87 goalies overall. His final number (.890) improved after a devastating start (15gp, 4.07 .879) buried the young Oilers despite young Dubnyk being 4gp, 2.99 .923 at the time of Khabiblin's November 2010 injury.
The interview was very encouraging for this Oiler fan. Should NK come into camp and turn back time then it's all good; otherwise, the Oilers will move Dubnyk into the starting role and possibly employ Yann Danis in a backup role.
This has nothing to do with his legal troubles. No one is promised a job in the best league in the world. It must be earned. It sounds like Tom Renney has the courage of his convictions in regard to the goaltending in 11-12.
Good show.
I'll take 1 Ray Emery please.
ReplyDeleteI hope the Oilers really do feal that way about Khabibulin, but will believe it when I see it.
ReplyDeleteSending him down (if he had a bad camp), would be ultimate admission of failure from KLowe/3.1 and I especially can't see the Prez of Hockey Ops admitting it.
That said, I'm not rooting for Khabi to fail, but am expecting it.
How they address NK/goaltending will tell us a lot about whether the Oilers have any interest in winning hockey games this year.That quote from Renney is encouraging.
ReplyDeleteI especially can't see the Prez of Hockey Ops admitting it.
ReplyDeleteHey, I've got an idea - why don't we all commit to referring to him as the "President of Hockey Oops"?
Christ I'm hilarious.
Encouraging indeed.
ReplyDeleteOnly problem is that the only option if(when?) NK fails is Danis. I don't think they can really sign anyone between now and camp with offers of "well if NK sucks then we will play you if not hope you like OKC of whoever picks you up on waivers".
I don't think they can really sign anyone between now and camp with offers of "well if NK sucks then we will play you if not hope you like OKC of whoever picks you up on waivers".
ReplyDeleteThey signed Gerber for less than that last year. I don't have a great feel for the goaltending market as it stands right now, but if there are guys out there with a lot of NHL experience who can't find a guaranteed NHL job, you'd think their second choice would be a team whose tandem is an unproven kid and an injury-plagued suck machine.
Ansine - you misspelled your accurate critique of every comment I've ever made here.
I hope the Oilers really do feal that way about Khabibulin, but will believe it when I see it.
ReplyDeleteWhat Rich Said
JW has already shown how bad Khabibulin has been over the last few years - even if he rebounds, he's going to rebound to below league-average levels.
ReplyDeleteThat's not good.
I wonder if you could figure out examples of goalies who have had a couple of bad years, only to "refind" their forms? Or does that not happe?
ReplyDeleteA couple of bad years? His post lockout save percentage is .901 - his first year with the Oilers was a good year.
ReplyDeleteSo, they're still evaluating Khabibulin?
ReplyDeleteIf the past is any guide, they'll figure out he's the worst starter in the league sometime next year. Then they'll call him a criminal in public, causing the local MSM to say how terrible he was all along. Finally, they will remedy the absence of Khabibulin by employing. 3 goalies on the active roster.
From the sunmedia account:
ReplyDelete"In Scottsdale, we deal with lots of people who have different types of status ... "
Translation: celebrities tend to have celebrity issues.
For 14 days he'll be guarding the crease like a man possessed. "Our Lady of Blessed Shutouts, don't fail me now."
A while back Roger Ebert controversially outed himself as a long-time AA member. His post is deadly serious, but has some good humour.
From My Name is Roger, and I'm an alcoholic
The chairperson asked if anyone was attending their first meeting. A guy said, "I am. But I should be in a psych ward. I was just watching the news, and right now I'm hallucinating that three of those people are in this room."
Since then he created a tempest in a teapot by Tweeting "Friends don't let jackasses drink and drive."
Friends don't let friends drink and drive
There are times in life when black meets white. How long do you hang back to let the people who should have done something about it deal with their grief? The boundary of personal and public dissolves when you are carting off upstanding citizens from the oncoming lane in complementary black boxes.
Even though legal counsel assured him he had a strong case ...
On what grounds? Mistaken identity? 70 MPH is the new 40? 0.15 is the new 0.05? No, if the facts are accurate as reported, I think he earned his short visit to the complementary grey box.
If you know someone drinks (too much), and you know the person drives (too fast), when the day comes (you hope not), whether or not complementary black boxes are called to the scene (god help us), I think the new social contract is grief without mercy.
Please, all of you Khabibulan bashers should look at the replays of his goals against & count the number of times the goals were just tap ins because of extremely poor coverage of forwards or defencemen. Poorest defensive coverage team in the league bar none & we're blaming one guy for all this?
ReplyDeleteWhen you're watching a randomly selected portion of the goals Khabibulin has let in of sufficient sample size to be reasonably confident of your conclusions, and you're comparing it to similarly selected and representative samples from one or more control groups, then you can talk to me about qualitative data. Until then, I'll put my trust in the same methodology as drives every other field of human endeavor (other than those which to not purport to have predictive value, that is).
ReplyDeleteThis was such a bad signing by Tambellini that I suspect Klowe actually did the deed and made Tambellini take the credit (debit). The Russians generally are thieves and on pay day somebody should call the cops on these guys. One can only hope that Sheriff Joe will have him cleaning ditches in pink coveralls.
ReplyDelete'then the dynamic changes' is pretty loose speak.
ReplyDeleteI'll believe it when I see it.
If RNH doesn't play this season, they'll ride the MVP all year. Tanks for the tanks NK.
Etown: Yeah, and then Dubnyk is headed straight to the HOF with his save%.
ReplyDeleteSo it will start:
ReplyDeleteEDM:
35
40
OKC:
Danis
Roy
At game 16 Khabby strains is foofoo valve and then Roy is going to carry the mail in OKC?
They need another goalie in the worst way.
I'd call Emery's agent, pitch a 2 way contract and show him how many games Nik has spent on the IR in the last 3 years.
Nik will be on the IR and leaving Roy alone in OKC will be a disaster down there.
OKC got younger and less experienced at all positions, they can't leave they team hung out to dry in goal too.
Sign another G and let Roy get his feet wet in the ECHL, he'll be up in the AHL soon enough.
WG: What? Why?
ReplyDeleteJust get a cheap AHL veteran if that ensues.
Ray Emery is just calling for trouble.
As for Roy there's no real reason to send him in the ECHL with the results he's had.
Are there other NHL calibre goalies unsigned out there right now? I'd look it up, but Wipeout is on.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Tambellini was 0.164 when he offered Khabi this contract.
ReplyDeleteI don't follow the blog enough so apologies if someone has made that comment b4.
@etownman,
ReplyDeleteDo you realize that Dubnyk had the same porous defence in front of him and yet he posted significantly superior numbers?
Comrade Clarkenstein:
ReplyDeleteHow can you say such bad things about the proud, hard working Russian people. We love the NHL.
A. Yashin
I answered my own question.
ReplyDeleteEmery, Nabokov, Turco and Leclaire.
All are an upgrade on NK, though Leclaire may not likely play more games than him.
Bar Qu: Danis' been fairly good in the NHL.
ReplyDeleteIn fact I'd argue only Nabokov would be better.
Actually, fpb, I think all of them would be an upgrade over NK, though I can understand the concerns over Emery that you raise and the injuries that Leclaire will have. But, as guys who are on the outside looking in for jobs this season, I think you could sign any one of them to a one-way contract, with the understanding that no matter how well they do in training camp, they start the year in OKC. And make certain they clear waivers by signing them to a one-year deal at too high a price.
ReplyDeleteEven Turco, who didn't light the world on fire last year, wouldn't sneeze at alot of cash to play inferior opposition in the AHL (I'm guessing, anyways).
Ah, heard on the 1260 that Bulin's doing a fortnight in the clink. Is that at a regular grey bar hotel or is he headed to tent city?
ReplyDeleteI was somehow surprised when Google told me that Nabokov and Turco are younger than Bulin. Not sure if either are much of an upgrade over Clink.
Did Gerber already sign elsewhere?
I'd call Emery's agent, pitch a 2 way contract and show him how many games Nik has spent on the IR in the last 3 years.
ReplyDeleteJust don't let him know you tried the same thing with Martin Gerber last season. Perfect!
Bar Qu: Nah I know. I meant over Danis. Buddy's getting underrated.
ReplyDeleteTurco's had 2 sub ,900 years in the last 3. So that's in the NK range, and worse than JDD.
Emery's been floating around ,900 all his life except last year and 2007. Wouldn't touch that.
Leclaire's always injured. They release a press statement when he's healthy now.
Nabokov would be worth it but he might not be cheap.
Honestly i'd just procure an AHL veteran like Drew Macintyre.
There's a shitload of guys hanging in the ,920's in the AHL just begging for a chance. (Like Cédrick Desjardins)
And then teams keep resinging shit goalies like Alex Auld.
Did Gerber already sign elsewhere?
ReplyDelete..Yea, with Vaxjo of the Swedish Elite League.
And I guess my dream of signing Pogge is over again..Signed with Phoenix.
ReplyDeleteActually Nabokov will come cheap. According to cap geek his salary is $570K but has a NMC.
ReplyDeleteSince he refused to report to NYI last season, you would need to probably negotiate an extension for him and he would have to waive his NMC.
It's not likely he would want to come to Edmonton given the fuss he put up last season sitting out and not reporting.
Hey LT, it seems we were on parallel tracks today. I wrote a headline very similar to yours ("Regarding Nikolai") that I posted on the Cult of Hockey about a half hour after you posted this. I also focussed on Renney's interview comments about NK just as you did. Just one of those coincidences, but it gave me a bit of a start just now when I caught up on my daily read at Lowetide!
ReplyDeleteLT what is the NHL stand on this, if he pleads guilty. Do they suspend him like they would do in the NBA or NFL.
ReplyDeleteAs for Roy there's no real reason to send him in the ECHL with the results he's had
ReplyDeleteJust over average in the CHL doesn't make him an AHL goalie.
I know he made the WJC team, but his last year in the CHL doesn't scream pro-career.
No reason to think at this point he can carry the full load in the AHL when Nik goes down.
Ribs,
Dammit!
I guess they could "JDD" someone and pay them $1M to play in the AHL.
Archie: Don't know, but there are all kinds of questions about it. Can he play in the USA? What about the children? WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?????
ReplyDeleteIf Souray spend a year in chocolate city for words I can't imagine the penalty for this. Is there a mincemeat city?
Bruce: Great minds think alike. :-) I know we weren't ripping each other off since we were clearly writing at the same time.
I still wonder about that Philly goalie Bobrovsky. The Flyers can't find a goalie at the goalie guild, so maybe he's a player?
I'd be interested in Bobrovsky.
I can't see how a goaltender - a position that requires the utmost mental concentration - could perform well with a court case hanging over his head all season with jail time as a consequence.
ReplyDeleteHe takes his 2-week conditioning stint in Arizona and comes back focused. I believe Khabi will return to Bulin Wall form.
I'll believe it when I see it. The decision to sit Rekhab and play DD more often should have been made at Christmas 2010.
ReplyDeleteI believe Khabi will return to Bulin Wall form.
ReplyDeleteSooo, like .901%? Woohoo!
It sounds like Tom Renney has the courage of his convictions in regard to the goaltending in 11-12.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant.
It seems like the ideal time to get a 30 day sentence out of the way, so I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that Khabibulin's lawyer dropped the (likely specious) appeal at this exact time.
I'm certainly not going to wag fingers at anyone over something like this, but hopefully Khabibulin has some fruitful meditations while serving his time. Stranger things have happened.
With Khabibulin not allowed back in the country, I'm wondering who is going to back up Dubie for home games.
ReplyDeleteHas it been reported that he will be unable to enter Canada? Generally speaking, a Canadian with a single impaired conviction (there aren't different offenses depending on BAC, as there apparently are in Arizona) can generally enter the U.S., and the U.S. is generally more stringent about denying entry to convicted criminals than Canada is, I believe. I'd expect that Khabibulin would be able to enter Canada, though I suppose whether he could get a work visa is a different matter.
ReplyDeleteI remember I looked at the legislation when this whole thing came up last summer. Khabi is presumptively inadmissible to enter Canada as a result of the conviction. However, practically speaking he will almost certainly have no difficulty coming and going.
ReplyDeleteVery roughly speaking, the US has a similar policy where convicts are presumptively inadmissible. However in practice they usually allow one "freebie" conviction, so long as it isn't an offence on their secret list of crimes of moral turpitude. Impaired driving is not on the list however, so far as I know.
PS: This is a really rough characterization, so no one should rely on any of this, for any reason.
SS: You are articling at an Edmonton criminal firm, correct? When did/do you start?
Started June 15, and really enjoying it. And for what it's worth, your characterization of the American rules matches my understanding exactly (though nobody should rely on that, either). Somewhat ironically (since I'm supposed to be becoming all learned in Canadian law), I'm much more ignorant about Canada's entry rules than about the U.S.'s, since our clients tend to be Canadians, and Canadians seldom have trouble getting into Canada.
ReplyDeleterenney talks a lot of shit just to be heard. if the oil are serious about making him earn his playing time then we'l hear waiver and trade rumours come ST.
ReplyDelete