We're Still Searching

We're still searching for a No. 1 Goaltender. The Coyotes ended the Ducks three game homestead winning streak on Sunday in overtime. The Ducks don't exactly have a number one goalie just yet. Giguere has definitely improved, his confidence has sky rocketed and he had his first season shutout against the hottest team in the NHL in a 3-0 win over the Chicago Black Hawks, who went to lose against the Kings in overtime. As with Giguere, he has won three out of four of his last games he's started in. The Ducks have won four of their last six games, a sign the Ducks are starting to turn their game around but they still need to prove that they can keep winning, they need to prove; yes, we can win and with some losses in between we are out of this losing funk.

Hiller was benched after he was in for the 3-2 loss against the division and California (So Cal vs Nor Cal) rival San Jose Sharks. With the mantra of Randy Carlyle's "You Win. You're in" Hiller rode the bench, while his teammate J.S. Giugere stole the show and has showed he is back to the old form Giguere. When Giguere is hot he's hot. The issue still stands, the " Win. You're In" as I've stated in previous blogs and on Twitter I don't like it. Hiller being benched after losing to the Sharks, especially after just one goal shouldn't of had him benched. Take for granted, Giguere was able to show himself, to reveal the fact that he's back to form. Giguere also lost in shootout in the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on November, Friday the 13th. Giguere lost against the Penguins and Hiller was in goal for the overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lighting; where Scott Niedermayer would win it for the Ducks. Hiller would be in for the loss against the Sharks. The switching of goalies isn't helping either Giguere or Hiller. Hiller had one of the biggest chances to show himself, while Giguere was out on injury. As Giguere got healthy, he was in net but then would lose and would ride the bench then Hiller would be in and Hiller would lose and then he'd ride the bench. Doing this to a goalie may very well kill his momentum, in fact it does kill it. Win or lose a goalie should start the next game, especially if the game was lost by a goal or in the ever so controversial shootout. In Carlyle's case, it shows his lack of education within goaltenders. Not sure what either goalie thinks about this. There's certain things some players keep to themselves (unless you're name is Sean Avery or in a goalie's case Ray Emery) at least via media. We all know how much controversy the Giguere "I'd rather retire than be back up goalie" comment turned out to be. Hiller is a fairly quite guy, he isn't one who'd talk a lot and he's a lot more shy than Giguere is. And from what has been said; Hiller is one of the most quite guys in the locker room.

Here's another issue with the "You Win. You're In" we're going to continue to look for a No 1 goaltender, if the goalies keep being switched up. One isn't going to completely establish himself. He's sitting on the bench the next game, after he was in for the loss the previous game. This seems to make either goalie believe, not only does he have to bail out his team when needed but he also has to WIN in order to play the next game. Everyone likes the word win there's a blatant obvious fact. The needing to win and only win so he can play the next game isn't exactly prime time, great experiment but it obviously doesn't work, so why continue using that? Give both goalies, Hiller and Giguere at least 3-4 games, then go off of their performance. A goalies performance mattes more than whether he wins or loses. One player can only do so much in winning a game.

Giguere has been doing very well but was in for the loss against the Coyotes in overtime. Most likely Hiller will get the start against the Kings, again not goign off the performance of a goalie. Problem: Hiller has sat on the bench for four games, playing in a game and practice is a whole different manner. Since Hiller has sat on the bench for so many games his momentum which he had in the game against the Sharks despite the goals he let in shouldn't of gone in and was off of his mistakes. Though at least one goal my look off of his mistake but also came from the lack of defense in front of him just for a second; however the Ducks did outplay the Sharks. Hiller will perform his best and hopefully we'll beat the Kings. But if you noticed when Giguere sat on the bench for a couple or so games, due to Hiller winning. He also had trouble finding momentum in his own self.


We're still searching. Yes, we're still searching as this entire blog article has been about. For number crunching and on paper. Giguere has a better GAA than Hiller, but Giguere's GAA is in the goalie world mediocre. Hiller's is somewhat stomach churning in goalie language:

J.S. Giguere's record: 3-3-3 with a .915 save percentage and a 2.69 Goals against Average.

Jonas Hiller's record: 7-8-1 with a .909 save percentage and a 3.02 goals against average.


On paper, number crunching, for a goalie can be a little deceiving, despite on average how many goals a goalie lets in. The stats only show the negative side if his SV% or GAA is high on an average basis. It doesn't show how well the team in front of him performed, nor does it show how he performed in the game. Was he spectacular, Average, Mediocre, okay, horrible, terrible? Those stats don't exactly show it but those stats are mainly what hits hardest among many fans and stats aren't just that way for hockey it's in every sport.