Post by playbyplay on Sept 25, 2007 21:52:47 GMT -4
You'll have to forgive me if this post finds its way into unknown territory. I'm new at this thing and I'm not a hundred percent sure how I'm supposed to start a new message thread. Technology is scary.
I'm going to start off by saying that I'm a close follower of all things related to the Saint John Sea Dogs. I read the newspaper articles, I follow the message boards (though I haven't yet posted until now), I attend almost all the home games, catch the odd practice, and watch or listen to most of the team's road games. Call me an addict and I won't deny it. What I'm trying to communicate to you guys is that I have a good idea of what's going on with the team and, therefore, I have some informed thoughts pertaining to some of the ongoing debates on this site.
I want to talk about our 20 year old situation. This topic is fairly important and I feel a lot of you are overlooking some key points. The poll reveals that Travis Fullerton was the most suspected of being dropped or traded from the team. People were saying 'why keep an average 20 year old backup?' This irks me for several reasons. Fullerton joined the team last year when hopes to make the playoffs were practically gone. With 35 games to play in the season the team was hoping to just make it to the end alive. The first game Fullerton played was in Halifax where he let in 5 goals in a 5-3 loss for the Dogs. That's no shut-out, but it was enough to earn him a pat on the back and a star of the game. I remember. I watched the game on the web. This would be 1 of 30 some odd games where Fullerton played exceptionally well, well enough to keep his team in the game. Read past articles, read the message board (as I did). You will see that Fullerton was said to have given the team a chance to win every game he played in with the exception of one or two. Actually, the coach even said it... but what does he know, right? The 19 year old goalie was nominated for team MVP, a great accomplishment considering half the year he wasn't even on the team, no?
BUT THEN... news of an 18 year old European goalie, ranked high on the prospect list for the NHL draft, coming to the Dogs this year changed everything... well at least for some of you. Without having seen a single game this goalie from oversees had played, Fullerton became "an average back-up goaltender" and Robert Mayer became the #1. Fullerton became a hack, a back-up for life, "easily expendable." Without a single person from the organization declaring Mayer the starter and Fullerton the backup, it is accepted on this board that this is the case. What the hell happened? Over the course of the summer, had Fullerton's raw talent diminished to that of "Roger Kennedy?" Apparently. But I'm someone who hasn't forgotten him and his ability to make each game winnable. The obvious arguments after this looooong blurb will be 'look at his stats last year,' and 'well if he's not Mayer's backup then why didn't he start the home opener?' Two reasonably valid points which I'll easily negate before you have the chance to write them. One, stats are ultimately irrelevant. Now I know this seems like a ridiculous statement but are they really all-revealing? Not really. You've seen it before. A goalie plays terrific and lets in 5 and 6 goals. A goalie plays horrific and lets in 1 or 2. Scouts don't base their decisions on stats alone. They look at how a goalie reacts after a goal, how he keeps his team in the game, how he plays in the closing minutes in the 3rd with a tied game. You put ANY goalie in the league in Fullerton's position last year, and see if you don't come up with the same stats. I'll stand by that remark, being a goaltender myself. Secondly, Beaulieu's decision to start Mayer is not making a statement that he is going to be the number one -- maybe after Christmas IF Fullerton is traded, but I don't think so for now.
Guys and girls, when it boils down... Jacques Beaulieu is looking after the best interest of his TEAM, not individual players. Let's face it, if he ain't winning, he's looking for a coaching job elsewhere. Hockey at this level is a business, and a lot goes on behind the scenes that we probably wouldn't want to know about, and that goes for the players too. Just because Mayer has a reputation, if he's not performing over here and winning us games, Jacques isn't going to play him anyway, showcasing him to the scouts, trying to get him drafted... NO. He's going to play the goalie who can perform and help him keep his job by winning some games. That's all there is to it, and from what I seen, that goalie is who you deem the "backup." I guess time will tell.
If you want to read from another source that supports my opinion, read Quiet Confidence, an article posted a week or so ago that also appeared in the Telegraph Journal. About Fullerton.
As with Jordan Knox, he deserved to go and I knew it would be him from the start. They caught me off guard when TWO 20's went, but I knew Knox would be out. Check your subjectivity at the door guys... let's speak the truth objectively because I know some of you had an attachment to the kid who, I'm not denying, has got talent. His Major Junior team was asking $5000-10,000 for Knox, a big price to pay for a 20 year old. If Beaulieu was certain the kid was going to play on this team, do you think he'd take the time he did to put the money down for his rights? He was giving Knox time to make an impression, and though he was by no means terrible, he wasn't standing out as a highly-priced 20 year old should... thus, cut. Charland was another one I could see going, but second on the list to Knox. You guys are right, ok. What Saint John needs desperately is a few goal-scorers. But you can't say that because we have Mayer now and a solid blue-line we are ok defensively and should put all our focus on offense. No, no, no. You don't know how Mayer plays in this league (he has yet to play a game above average from what I've seen, he's lazy in practice from what I've seen, and his confidence doesn't quite seem to match his talent). Knox wasn't putting up points right away which is what Jacques was basing his decision on, Charland wasn't either... easy decision. Now we have an extra 20 slot if we want to fill it with a talented forward who can help put some numbers up on the scoreboard.
Since I'm the only one thus far to defend Fullerton and agree with Beaulieu's decision to let Knox and Charland go (unless I've overlooked some previous messages), let the argument continue!
See ya at the rink!
I'm going to start off by saying that I'm a close follower of all things related to the Saint John Sea Dogs. I read the newspaper articles, I follow the message boards (though I haven't yet posted until now), I attend almost all the home games, catch the odd practice, and watch or listen to most of the team's road games. Call me an addict and I won't deny it. What I'm trying to communicate to you guys is that I have a good idea of what's going on with the team and, therefore, I have some informed thoughts pertaining to some of the ongoing debates on this site.
I want to talk about our 20 year old situation. This topic is fairly important and I feel a lot of you are overlooking some key points. The poll reveals that Travis Fullerton was the most suspected of being dropped or traded from the team. People were saying 'why keep an average 20 year old backup?' This irks me for several reasons. Fullerton joined the team last year when hopes to make the playoffs were practically gone. With 35 games to play in the season the team was hoping to just make it to the end alive. The first game Fullerton played was in Halifax where he let in 5 goals in a 5-3 loss for the Dogs. That's no shut-out, but it was enough to earn him a pat on the back and a star of the game. I remember. I watched the game on the web. This would be 1 of 30 some odd games where Fullerton played exceptionally well, well enough to keep his team in the game. Read past articles, read the message board (as I did). You will see that Fullerton was said to have given the team a chance to win every game he played in with the exception of one or two. Actually, the coach even said it... but what does he know, right? The 19 year old goalie was nominated for team MVP, a great accomplishment considering half the year he wasn't even on the team, no?
BUT THEN... news of an 18 year old European goalie, ranked high on the prospect list for the NHL draft, coming to the Dogs this year changed everything... well at least for some of you. Without having seen a single game this goalie from oversees had played, Fullerton became "an average back-up goaltender" and Robert Mayer became the #1. Fullerton became a hack, a back-up for life, "easily expendable." Without a single person from the organization declaring Mayer the starter and Fullerton the backup, it is accepted on this board that this is the case. What the hell happened? Over the course of the summer, had Fullerton's raw talent diminished to that of "Roger Kennedy?" Apparently. But I'm someone who hasn't forgotten him and his ability to make each game winnable. The obvious arguments after this looooong blurb will be 'look at his stats last year,' and 'well if he's not Mayer's backup then why didn't he start the home opener?' Two reasonably valid points which I'll easily negate before you have the chance to write them. One, stats are ultimately irrelevant. Now I know this seems like a ridiculous statement but are they really all-revealing? Not really. You've seen it before. A goalie plays terrific and lets in 5 and 6 goals. A goalie plays horrific and lets in 1 or 2. Scouts don't base their decisions on stats alone. They look at how a goalie reacts after a goal, how he keeps his team in the game, how he plays in the closing minutes in the 3rd with a tied game. You put ANY goalie in the league in Fullerton's position last year, and see if you don't come up with the same stats. I'll stand by that remark, being a goaltender myself. Secondly, Beaulieu's decision to start Mayer is not making a statement that he is going to be the number one -- maybe after Christmas IF Fullerton is traded, but I don't think so for now.
Guys and girls, when it boils down... Jacques Beaulieu is looking after the best interest of his TEAM, not individual players. Let's face it, if he ain't winning, he's looking for a coaching job elsewhere. Hockey at this level is a business, and a lot goes on behind the scenes that we probably wouldn't want to know about, and that goes for the players too. Just because Mayer has a reputation, if he's not performing over here and winning us games, Jacques isn't going to play him anyway, showcasing him to the scouts, trying to get him drafted... NO. He's going to play the goalie who can perform and help him keep his job by winning some games. That's all there is to it, and from what I seen, that goalie is who you deem the "backup." I guess time will tell.
If you want to read from another source that supports my opinion, read Quiet Confidence, an article posted a week or so ago that also appeared in the Telegraph Journal. About Fullerton.
As with Jordan Knox, he deserved to go and I knew it would be him from the start. They caught me off guard when TWO 20's went, but I knew Knox would be out. Check your subjectivity at the door guys... let's speak the truth objectively because I know some of you had an attachment to the kid who, I'm not denying, has got talent. His Major Junior team was asking $5000-10,000 for Knox, a big price to pay for a 20 year old. If Beaulieu was certain the kid was going to play on this team, do you think he'd take the time he did to put the money down for his rights? He was giving Knox time to make an impression, and though he was by no means terrible, he wasn't standing out as a highly-priced 20 year old should... thus, cut. Charland was another one I could see going, but second on the list to Knox. You guys are right, ok. What Saint John needs desperately is a few goal-scorers. But you can't say that because we have Mayer now and a solid blue-line we are ok defensively and should put all our focus on offense. No, no, no. You don't know how Mayer plays in this league (he has yet to play a game above average from what I've seen, he's lazy in practice from what I've seen, and his confidence doesn't quite seem to match his talent). Knox wasn't putting up points right away which is what Jacques was basing his decision on, Charland wasn't either... easy decision. Now we have an extra 20 slot if we want to fill it with a talented forward who can help put some numbers up on the scoreboard.
Since I'm the only one thus far to defend Fullerton and agree with Beaulieu's decision to let Knox and Charland go (unless I've overlooked some previous messages), let the argument continue!
See ya at the rink!
lol 
;D this feels soooo wrong. jk
