Ersberg not No. 1 (yet)

Coach has a very good point. It's really exciting to finally see some solid performances in goal. Hope it continues.

Sorry to be a nag, buuuut....

"it takes time to earn the right and DEVELOP THE MENTALITY to be able to DEAL with the RESPONSIBILITIES of being a No. 1 goalie."

These are things Labs has never managed to do.

I'm glad Iceberg is getting the starts because he deserves them and he gives our team the best chance to win, but I resent TM's quickness to disregard Ersberg as being close to ready. He gives all the confidence in the world to Labarbera for seemingly no good reason, and after Ersberg goes on a 3 game winning streak he brings up failed back-ups who were put in the #1 position? He's getting his Kings goalies mixed up...

But hey, again, so long as the Iceberg gets the starts I don't care what his title is, so long as there are several W's next to it.

I'll say it for TM, Iceberg is our number one goalie!

Easy solution to this problem, keep winning, and everything will work its way out.

I've always liked the Swedish:-)

TM makes a good point about Iceberg's experience and needing to wait. I think what he's saying is that if you name him number one right now, he could crack a little under the pressure, and every game so far has been close. If you keep him in the mindset of a backup, he feels he has to earn each start and plays well. Eventually, he'll gain more confidence to stop thinking of himself as a backup goalie, and will take over as the number one mentally. I think TM is waiting for that time before naming him number one.

I posted this in another entry:

Naming Ersberg the #1 is important on two levels, and on a third to a lesser degree.

1) It lets the team and fans rally behind him knowing that the job is his. Each goalie does things a little differently, and the team can practice more to supplement Ersberg's strengths and protect his weaknesses more if they know that's who will be in goal 80% of the time.

2) It lets Ersberg know that he will not be benched after a loss or 1 bad start, or give LaBarbera the impression that after one bad showing, the job is his once again.

3) Confidence. This I don't think is as big a factor, but apparently it was for LaBarbera. Either way, it is generally nice to know that the coach is behind you 100%.

-------------------

With that said, I can understand why TM is hesitant regarding this matter. He named JLB the #1 WITHOUT earning the right, and look where that got us. BUT, although TM may not want to anoint Ersberg the #1 under his logic, he should also concede that JLB also HAS NOT earned the right to be called a #1, so that Ersberg does not have to play in fear that one mistake will have him riding the pine for 10 straight games again.

he won't get named the #1 until he beats teams with winning records. Fla, St, and Dal are bottom dwellers. If he can stand on his own against better competition, then i think TM declares him #1. until then TM will ride the hot hand and make his decisions game-to-game.

that said,when Iceberg eventually has a bad game, i hope TM doesn't automatically go back to JLB. we all know what JLB brings, lets find out what Iceberg is made of.

JDM - It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but isn't it the line of questioning kinda lame? There's no real point in naming a young guy the number one because it's just titles. Plus, it keeps everyone on their toes. The player management doesn't make much sense (harrold on the wing is a good example) but the results do. If the players understand that they need to keep their motivation levels and effort high, they'll continue to play well as a team. I think we see that already. Calder, for one, is playing much better now than in game 1 against San Jose. Boyle is working on improving.
Don't be insulted by Murray's comments. He's asked questions and has to answer. He's managed to get some good performances by players that were underacheiving and that's good.

said the man who said he didn't know "ANYTHING" about Anze Kopitar... Dustin Brown... Patrick O'Sullivan...

so therefore, he couldn't know "ANYTHING" about Jason LaBarbera, yet he annointed him #1... and then after 10 games changed horses in the middle of the stream...

Who cares who's #1... the guy who's playing, AND WINNING, deserves to keep playing until the wheels come off the cart. Certainly the incredible "goaltending depth" this organization is claiming to have is showing a few chinks in the armor...

If you don't have a Luongo, a Brodeur, et al... you might as well just make fruit salad with every lemon, cherry, melon and peach you can find.

Ersberg made an interesting comment last Spring at the time he was enjoying some late season success. Something to the effect that for him, the NHL was easier than the AHL as a goalie. The reason he stated - and this is a paraphrase - was that there are fewer broken plays in the NHL because everyone is so good talent-wise. The passing, checking, line play, puck movement. Makes sense, I guess, from his viewpoint. More often than not, he knows where the puck is going.

Having better D in front of him and more veteran players couldn't hurt either at the NHL level. Though we now have one of the youngest teams in the league. The other thought is that man, oh man, think of a future with an experienced Doughty, Quincey and Johnson as 3 of your top 4 D-men this season or soon. If any of Martinez, Voinov, Teubert, Hickey or Campbell also develop, Kings will be deeper in young D since forever. No everyone makes the show, but the pond is now getting stocked.

Not everyone makes the show, but the pond is now getting stocked (to mix my metaphors).

So let me get this straight...

Terry Murray's biggest problem with Ersberg continues to be that he sees him as only having played a limited number of games in the NHL, despite his performances. So the solution is to NOT play him more games?

I think that conundrum is described best with "You can't get a job without experience and you can't get experience without a job". Maybe Terry Murray should start accepting two things:

1. Ersberg has impressed on a more consistent basis in his limited NHL experience than LaBarbara has over the years, particularly in the fundamentals of goaltending.

2. The same team plays better in front of Ersberg than they do LaBarbera. It was true last year and it's already true again this season.

Bill said:

2. The same team plays better in front of Ersberg than they do LaBarbera. It was true last year and it's already true again this season.

In my opinion they've played worse, but haven't had to pay for it. Modano's goal last night looked like a clinic by him and Zubov. There've been all sorts of poor plays by the skaters that Ersberg has rescued them from. I think Murray recognizes that and is counting his blesssings to have won 3 games in a row by 1 goal (discounting the empty netter against St. Louis). If the team doesn't resolve the breakdowns the scales are going to lean the other direction before too long.
Everything else aside, the 3 victories were MUCH needed. Sometimes all you need is a little luck and a great performance from the goalie to change everything around. If the Kings were 3-10-2 we'd be losing it.

JLB, LaBabs, LaBarbara Streisand, LOLbarbera, PILLOWS...

Here's a new one: lAHLbarbera...

Give Ersberg the #1 already!

Aw c'mon, make him No. 1.....

Seriously tho, I can understand TM, The Iceberg is still developing. One of the things TM doesn't want to do is overload him mentally, he's still essentially learning the game from an NHL standpoint and doing a very good job at it. In time, it will happen automatically (actually, it's already happening).

We've hungered for a good No. 1 since Felix Potvin for so long that we'd take practically anyone in the spot. Frankly, I don't care what they call him (I do prefer Iceberg tho) or what number, spot, place in the line-up they put him or name him, so long as he contunues to play the way he's playing and the Kings continue to have the success they're having with him in goal.

I actually agree with Murray here, the only problem with his argument is that the only comparison against it right now is Jason Labarbera... Because Labs has barely played more games, and has never held a #1 position in his career his argument could be applied to both goaltenders the Kings have up in the show right now. I think we just need to drop the label and let Ersberg run with his streak, give Labs maybe a couple of starts, and see if Ersberg can pick it up and so on and so forth.

As said in a pervious post, what did labs do to prove himself the clear #1? Murray had no problem giving him the first (10?) starts.

Its the same thing with the first line. How many games did it take for him to figure out Moulsen wasn't ready? And again with Calder, yes he's playing better, but get real...he's not a first line player. Brown and Kopi can make a mediocre player look solid. Why not give give sully a REAL look on that line? Or lets see how Teddy P does.

The Burg has earned the #1 spot in net and Labs has earned a seat on the bench. Murray has earned to have his judgment questioned.

does anyone else remember Bergie beer? The Iceberg is a little too obvious and lacks poetry for my taste. But then again, so was Bergie beer.

Here's the ad:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/224/505155315_43c67dc5e6_o.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/pencilneckedgeek/505155315/in/set-72157600229340809/&usg=__yAFVG4ECwKjL7hn_20GzqFjDH8I=&h=500&w=333&sz=94&hl=en&start=7&um=1&tbnid=at9TwdaM91IZ0M:&tbnh=130&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dburgie%2Bbeer%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us%26sa%3DN

I'm really wondering what the reaction will be here when Iceberg has a few bad games in a row? It happens to everyone. Will you still support him if his GAA is high 3's at the all star break? Will you curse out TM if he hasn't pulled him before then?
Right now Iceberg is helping this team win some games. He continues to impress me each time I see him, but careers are not made in less than 20 games.
Let's let him earn the #1 title over time.

I think it's missing the point to wonder what JLB has done to deserve the #1 label. The idea was to call JLB #1 and see if he rises to the occasion (he didn't). Murray also believes in giving goalies enough room to succeed or fail on their own, thus the ten games. I don't think Murray has any special faith in JLB; he was simply the only goalie in camp with more than 15 games NHL experience. It made sense to give him the reigns and see what he did with the opportunity (nothing, it turns out). Also, there may have been pressure from DL, given the circumstances, to try to get JLB's stock to move upward, so he could be dealt (that's not going to work out now; he'll be waived or traded for a conditional fourth round pick). They tried calling him #1, and hoped that he would play and act like one. Now Ersberg is playing. I think (hope) if Ersberg has a bad game, he will still get the starts, especially if his GAA is below 2.00 on average.

This is all great news. By Xmas, hopefully we'll see Bernier or Quick in place of JLB. And Lewis, Purcell and Clune.

I'm with Kingston, Mr. Marbles, and nykingfan...

It is not that TM is infatuated with JLB, it's more that everyone here seems to be infatuate with EE. Let's be real. JLB let in some terrible goals. The team in front of JLB made some terrible mistakes that cost us. EE has let in a couple of bad ones. The team in front of EE has made some terrible mistakes that have NOT cost us (yet). When you compare JLB's loss to Detroit to EE's win against Florida, please tell me you're looking at more than the W when evaluating the goalie. Admit that JLB and EE have had very different teams to play against...let's do what TM is doing, wait and see how he continues to play.

All that said I don't see what the big deal is with being "named" #1, but apparently that's just me.

_42

I understand the wait and see approach by TM. And I've also noticed that while he is not calling Ersberg the #1, he's also stopped calling JLB the #1.

And for those that say Ersberg hasn't beaten any good teams yet, don't forget his first start against a rising Ducks team that he only lost 1-0 in OT.

nykingfan said:
I'm really wondering what the reaction will be here when Iceberg has a few bad games in a row? It happens to everyone. Will you still support him if his GAA is high 3's at the all star break? Will you curse out TM if he hasn't pulled him before then?

nykingfan:

Yes, and here is why IMHO. Ersberg has earned it by playing solid game in/game out and is not giving up bad goals that cost the teams wins. Yes, he gave up a bad goal against Florida but it did not affect the momentum or out come of the game. On the other hand, he has made some critical saves at opportune times to seal games and/or keep the momentum on the Kings side.

Labarbara has a knack for giving up bad goals at crucial times and not making the big, timely save to keep the team's confidence up. They are both seeing limited shots (which is a welcomed surprise) but the win/loss are polar opposites. This is not a coincidence!

This happened last year, this is happening this year. I just don't know what it is about Labs and getting chance after chance, I think he has black mail material on DL or AEG because his play doesn't deserve all the chances he gets!

ok I'll play devils advocate for a moment.

YOu're right that Iceberg's mistakes haven't cost us any games, but they very easily could have cost us. What if we don't recover after some of the bad goals he's given up and we lose those games?
Barbs played some good games and made some incredible stops. He didn't make the big save when we needed it and while I can't say he cost us the games, he sure as hell didn't help us win them.
Now if Iceberg does the same and the reaction is different, doesn't that make us hypocritical?

again,I'm playing devils advocate..I believe Ersberg should be the goalie at this point. I'm just saying he's not Patrick Roy..therefore he will go through some bad streaks.

Anonymous, Bergie beer, now that is funny. My grandpa used to suck that crap up like crazy. Does that make me white trash?:-) You just brought back some cool memories. Thanks.