• Brent

    Rich, thanks for the update! It looks like Quick will get in a couple of games over that time – good for him. Let’s see how much he has developed since facing Hejduk on a mini breakaway.

    I hope Ersberg is a good healer.

    Time to shine LaBarbara!

  • EAT THE RICH

    Rich, any word on why they’re saying Pursle rather than Purr Celllll????

  • Quisp

    Because that’s how he says his name.

  • john

    because thats how he requested his name to be announced,

    i think.

  • Rich Hammond

    Yes, Helene and I actually made a point of asking him, because there was also the whole Teddy/Ted thing. He said he prefers Teddy “Pursle,” which is the way they’ve been pronouncing it.

  • jediknight329

    hopefully the kings have a female massage therapist for ersberg. if not, his lady friend should assist in his recovery. take it light erik. get healthy and come back strong.

    i’m interested to see if quick gets in any games and if he does, how he will respond.

    if jlb can stop the first few shots against in his games and the kings can give him a few goals to work with, we may have a shot to weather this storm. no shootouts for jlb. none. period.

  • Roger

    I watched Lundquist play against the Ducks last night and I am jealous. Thats the kind of goaltending we need on this team. He made some unbelievable saves in tight. And you could see how calm and confident the Ranger players were in front of him. Thats the kind of Goaltender the Kings need. And I dont think Labs is it. Sorry Labs. You just dont have it. A backup goalie at best.

    Roger

  • Deano Lombardo

    Lets hope groin pulls are contagious! I wanna see Quick and Bernier NOW! Oh and by the way, please waive gauthier, calder and lablardo

  • Nick

    Yeah I don’t think Labarbera is quite as good as Lundqvist either… I also think that Crosby guy is pretty solid… That Ovechkin has a helluva shot… Brown man, that kid can hit!

  • Aloysius

    Glad to see Ersberg knows when he needs to sit out … unlike someone by the name beach-ball ;0

  • historyguy

    Roger, you are right, Lundquist is the kind of goalie the Kings need. Of course, he’s the kind of goalie that every team in the league wants. Unfortunately, there are precious few like him.

    In the NHL, there are probably 5 lights-out starting goalies (like Lundquist), 20 mediocre ones, and 5 awful ones. I’d put the Kings in the bottom part of the mediocre category. Luckily, TM has instilled enough team defense to make the situation workable, which is what he knew he had to do, as lights-out goalies don’t grow on trees and are very hard to acquire.

    The Kings are biding their time, of course, until they can see if Bernier can become that kind of goalie. He’s probably the only one in the organization who has a shot to be that.

  • Kevin Y

    …did anybody else hear that? It’s Jason LaBarbera screaming. Now, he’s gonna see more shootouts.

    Notice that in the last two games where LaBarbera replaced Ersberg, the game went into a shootout? Just as long as LaBarbera starts the game, we should be safe.

  • mrbrett7

    Thank you Historyguy…you said what needed to be said.

    Something so many of these bickering fans don’t seem to want to get through their heads. Elite starting goaltenders don’t come along often, and at any one time in the NHL, there are around 5, and that’s it.

    At this point in time…Lundquist, Luongo, Brodeur, Kippursoff…that’s about it. The rest are in the mediocre to less than mediocre category. What does this tell you? An elite goaltender would be nice…but it’s not necessary.

  • deadcatbounce

    Good luck, Jason LaRebound!

  • Anonymous

    Add Bckstrm to that list. In fact, I’d much rather have Bckstrm than Kipper.

    Nabokov, Huet, Tim Thomas, Fleury, Miller, Price, and even Giguere are also goalies I would classify as way better than “mediocre”. I’d take any of these for the Kings, any day. Probably Turco too, even if he’s had an awful start this year.

  • wavesinair

    There must be more categories than just elite, mediocre, and awful. Giguere, Nabokov, and Fleury are mediocre goaltenders? In the same category as Labs? Not a chance.

  • Ersberg

    Keep in mind that draft# doesn’t necessarily equate to elite status. I.e. Henrik Zetterberg defies that guideline. Zatkoff and Quick have just as much a chance to become an elite goalie as Bernier or any other prospect for that matter.

  • mrbrett7

    Waves…I do not consider Giguere and elite goaltender, not by any stretch of the imagination. He gives up fatter rebounds than the fat lady, and has twice lost his starting job.

    Nabokov, Turco…they are up there, but until they prove it when real games are on the line, nope.

    Fleury…your kidding, right?

    The only reason I feel that Luongo is, is because of his play on absolutely horrific teams. He was winning 30+ games/year in Florida and Vancouver, and the teams playing in front of him were just God awful (still are).

    Some goaltenders are a result of the team they play on (Osgood failed in St. Louis for this very reason, but continues to be successful in Detroit, as does any other goaltender). Backstrom in Minnesota wouldn’t be anywhere near the goaltender he is on most other teams without the defense he has playing in front of him, playing in front of him. He’s good, he isn’t THAT good.

    Very few elite goaltender’s come along each generation. My point is, you do not need an elite goaltender to win. You need a capable one playing behind a VERY good defense (Detroit, Anaheim).

    Khabibulin won a cup…are you going to say he is elite? Hardly…his team outscored everyone they played. Carolina with Ward in net? Nope…their system took everyone by surprise (speed and counterattack) and nobody knew how to counter it, that season…ever wonder why they haven’t made the playoffs basically since then, in arguably the worst division in hockey?

    I could go on and on…but the point is…give me a serviceable goaltender, one who makes timely saves, doesn’t give up bad goals, put a very good defense in front of him, and you will go far. I’d love to have one of the elite’s…I’d also like to win 100 million dollars.

  • Ersberg

    This is kind of how I rank goalies:

    1-Elite
    2-Very good
    3-Above average
    4-Average
    5-Sub-par
    6-Sucks

    I’d say Giguere is a 3, Nabokov a 2, Fleury a 3. Lababs is a 4, sometimes a 3, sometimes a 6. Ersberg a solid 3, but will end up being higher. Roy, Brodeur, Luongo 1. I don’t even place Lundquist as a 1..I’d place him as 2 in a good defensive system.

  • JonG

    Ersberg,

    Those are pretty fair rankings, but I would place Labs in the sub-par category. I don’t think he’s as good as Mathieu Garon, who I would classify as an average goalie.

    Labs is nowhere near as bad as Cloutier, but my biggest problem is that he doesn’t seem to come up with the big save when we need it. EE has given up some pretty weak goals, but I can think of only one occasion where it cost the team.

  • vicarious

    For the goalies its also mental toughness, the evaluation needs be made over time, and we are comparing NHL players against each other–on average they are by definition average. The goalies all have down times; injuries can be a problem too. Babs can be solid, usually is serviceable, and sometimes plays great for stretches. He had some solid games, just one glaring current problem an inability to solve that one cross-over move (and hey, on Monday the same move worked for O’Sullivan on Nabakov)

    Let’s see how Babs bounces back tonight. Win or lose, I’ll root for the guy.

    Go Kings (win in regulation).

  • EAT THE RICH

    Mrbrett -

    Sometimes I just have to scratch my head at the things you say.
    Cam Ward, Ryan Miller, Rick Dipietro, Tomas Vokoun, Duane Roloson, Carey Price…need I go on? Any guy TRULY capable of starting any night in this league is pretty darn good. I’d say there are some tremendous netminders who aren’t even starting. Jonas Hiller and Ben Bishop have already had some impressive games though they’re very young. I’d say Ersberg has a shot at being real solid. He’s still learning to deal with the physical demands.

    Oh yeah, that Khabibulin guy has a fairly impressive resume. Geez.

  • Alen

    Problem is we haven’t had 1 REAL starting goaltender in a really long time. We have NEVER had an elite goalie. For gods sake the ducks have had 2 pretty damn good goalies in that time and now Hiller looks like a solid goalie. I love how some of you make stupid excuses “only so many elites”, well no really? We haven’t even had a real starting goaltender to have anything close to elite in 40 damn years while the ducks have had a franchise goaltender who carried them to a cup, bryzgalov who I wish we were bad enough at the time to be able to snatch him up instead of the coyotes and now they have hiller who looks WAY better then Barbie Beachbull bum labarbera has EVER looked.

  • wavesinair

    Nice Ersberg! 6 categories is good. I like that you ranked yourself! Classic. I’m thinking 5 is better though. If we’re ranking starting NHL goalies, I can’t put any of them in the ‘sucks’ category only because it’s the NHL. In other words, by definition, a starting NHL goalie can’t truly suck.

    Heres the ranking system I came up with. Feel free to add to it or change it.

    1 | Elite (game thief, puck robber, hall of famer)
    2 | Solid (consistent with flashes of brilliance)
    3 | Workhorse (can get the job done with a good D)
    4 | Fickle (unreliable but shows promise, doubt has crept in)
    5 | Weak (on the way out, had chances, cant cut it)

    Heres my take on the Pacific division starters plus our 2 guys:

    2 | Giguere
    2 | Nabokov
    2 | Turco
    3 | Bryzgalov
    4 | Iceberg
    5 | Labs

    Agree? How would you rank other divisions?

  • Ersberg

    Waves-

    Haha, puck robber! I like that description. I like having 2 ranks above “average”, because I feel there are many goalies that fall into these categories, but are not elite. But that’s cool, yours is good, too. Ok, so the Northwest:

    2-Kipper
    1-Luongo
    2-Backstrom
    3-Budaj
    3-Garon/3-Roloson

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