Goalies

If you have 4 years of rebuilding ahead of you and a prospect bench to keep them on, which young goalies would you take. Dobbers goalie ranking doesn't have much to separate them.

Guys like:
Rask, Bernier, Howard, Varlamov, Schneider, Smith, Elliot and anyone else I'm missing.

I'm looking for franchise or bust.

It's all about opportunity, Bernier has the best shot out of those guys you mentioned.

All the others are good but might never get the chance to be the guy with a great young team like LA who will be a top 4 team in the west in 2 years time.

bernier is your best % play in otherwords, good luck man

give me Schneider

Bernier is definitely the best choice here. In max two years he will be the starter on a young powerhouse LA team. Dobber has described his upside has an "All-Star goaltender who steals games and seems destined to win a Cup or two". If you don't get him now, he will quickly become unaffordable, a little like Carey Price.

After Bernier I would rank them as follows:

Smith: #1 short term, as he will be the starter in TB this years, in a few years however he gets past by a few
Rask: Starter for Boston by 2011; all star goalie afterwards
Elliot: May bump Gerber out of the way by 2010; star starter
Howard: Soon an average starter on a powerhouse Detroit team
Schneider: Great talent, but Luongo limits his value; needs a trade to climb this list
Varlamov: Great talent; backup by 2010-11; will battle will Neuvirth for starter gig

Smith in the show (Tampa). Has paid his dues. His chance is now. He best not drop the ball. Kolzig in the wings. Youthful tenders in the wings that would benefit with a year of seasoning. Grab him, then convert to a more comfortable ride.

1) Rask is Bernier a couple of years advanced. He's paid his dues in the minors and moved along steadily. Looking like a potential starter fairly soon.
2) Bernier coming off a disappointing season
3) Howard progress has been slow. Still hasn't managed that .920 save percentage in the AHL that I think young tenders need, to prove they're ready for the next step. You've got to be interested in Detroit though. Wings are also well noted for their patience.

- Varlamov I need to learn & watch more over time
- Schneider really only coming onto the NHL radar hard now
- Elliott lots of guys seem to really like this kid. Similar to Howard, I want to see a stronger season in the AHL. Has risen hard and fast in recent times to get to this point. The next climb is the steep one. Good chance he sits at this level for a while.
- S. Mason - cream of the Jr. crop
- Pavelic - lots are super high on this kid
- Ramo - again lots are high on this kid
- Crawford

Goalies are hard to pick as in addition to personal factors, team factors play into their points totals. If you get a good one, great. Don't force it though. You can always pick up what you need when you're ready to race your club. A bunch of deadbeats on the bottom of the roster isn't good for anything.

pudge wrote:
If you have 4 years of rebuilding ahead of you and a prospect bench to keep them on, which young goalies would you take. Dobbers goalie ranking doesn't have much to separate them.

Guys like:
Rask, Bernier, Howard, Varlamov, Schneider, Smith, Elliot and anyone else I'm missing.

I'm looking for franchise or bust.

Bernier definitely, simply because I like the future of the LA Kings, and Bernier is a very solid goalie prospect.
Brian Elliott, Tuukka Rask and Cory Schneider are likely next in a three way tie.
Then it's Jhonas Enroth in Buffalo, tied with Varlamov.
Then It's Helenius, in a tie with Ondrej Pavelec.

If Harding is eligible for you, I'd probably take him with The Bernier/Rask/Elliott/Schneider group.

This is how I rank them. I personnaly think Rask has a greater upside than Bernier and I figure Fernandez and Thomas won't be around for too long since both of them become unrestricted at the end of 08-09.

I would draft Rask before Bernier but it's tight. I know a lot of people love Bernier, I just think he's a smallist goalie.

So in 4 yrs...
Rask, starter in Boston
Bernier, starter in LA
Harding, starter in Minny
Pavelec, I think he has a strong chance to move Lehtonen
Howard, great team... should get big numbers but not the best goalie of the list... not a game stealer in my book.
Elliot, agreed... he can burn Gerber unless Ottawa trades for a G (if it Khab... I really like his chances in 2010)
Smith, better chance than Ramo to be no.1, forget Kolzig.
Varlamov, has a fighting chance to knock Theo before his contract ends
Schneider, behind Luongo... I don't give him much chance unless moved elsewhere (4 yrs is gonna be long for him).

There are plenty move that haven't seen much in the show yet like:

Leneveu, now in the big apple... backup duty with Lundy
Montoya, is he ever gonna get a chance, moved out of NYR because of Lundy... if Bryz ain't the real deal I see him as the starter for Phoenix
S. Mason, I have doubt about Leclaire... he could be the man
Ramo, will compete with Smith but I see him has a backup
Crawford, like his potential but with Huet... AHLer or backup
Enroth, don't know enough
Helenius, don't know enough

Regards

I'm taking: Rask, Bernier, Howard, Elliot, Varlamov, Schneider in that order

Veritas0Aequitas wrote:
I'm taking: Rask, Bernier, Howard, Elliot, Varlamov, Schneider in that order

+1, I really like that order...