| 08 April 2009
Ok - real quick recap -- Sharks won 1-0 in a shootout. Avs outworked San Jose all night, but hit the post 3 times. Galiardi looked good, and Peltier did not (especially in the first).
First a general observation: Hockey fans develop emotional attachments with all players, good and bad, but it always seems to be a little more extreme with goaltenders. Especially when there isn’t a clear cut number 1 guy (which has been the case in Colorado since the Theodore trade). No matter how good or how bad the netminders are, there always seem to be people that would jump off a cliff for their guy and like to run over the other guy’s mom with a tractor.
Now, back to the recap:
I couldn’t disagree more, David. Put the Budaj button back in the closet.
Of course Budaj’s going to play well for stretches - he is in the NHL for a reason. By default, any goaltender in the NHL is one of the very best in the world. They are all extremely talented and they can all play at very high level, otherwise they wouldn‘t be where they are at. When on their game, any NHL goalie can a steal game.
So what’s the difference between a great NHL goalie and a not so great NHL goalie? It all comes down to confidence. The guys that have long NHL careers, they are rarely to never shaken up by a goal, no matter how soft or flukey the goal was. It’s a special trait. It only seems natural that a bad goal would erode confidence and throw you off your game, but good NHL goalies can just let it roll off their back. Example: You can’t see it in this clip, but Brodeur was actually laughing after this goal.
There were moments throughout the entire season, starting with first 3 games of the season and most recently in the 7-2 blowout against Anaheim, where Budaj was visibly shaken after opponent‘s goals. He lacks this key trait and if he can’t fix that quickly, if he can’t “erase” that bad goal from memory and stay confident within his game, he won’t be in the NHL much longer.
And honestly, I don’t really see that happening for him. I wish the guy well, but you either have that quality in your makeup or you don’t. You can give a rookie a pass if a goal shakes him up here or there, but Budaj has been an NHL goaltender since 2005 and has played 180 games.
Budaj supporters: Sorry, but we have to move on.
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