Not overrated

It's kind of hard to keep completely up with Ducks in the Crease, when the Ducks aren't playing any hockey, instead they hit the golf courses early. Other than that in the MVP issue of The Hockey News. Ken Campbell had written about goalies in the playoffs. He stated how they're overrated. Remember that save Marc-Andre Fleury made last year? On Niklas Lidstorm that save will go down in history, but at least the way Campbell is talking, he's making it as if it's an overrated save.. While he  realizes it will go down in history...he's making it seem as if only Fluery  won the Cup (hence, him making it seem as if his save was overrated) He said at some point in his article that the skaters in front aren't getting enough attention. Last I checked last year, Evgeni Malkin won the Conn Smythe (Most Valuable Player in the playoffs award) and before that Henrik Zetterberg  won the Conn Smythe. There have been four player's names added to the Smythe since the lock-out and only one goalie has won it.. Cam Ward won it when the Carolina Hurricanes lifted the Cup in 2006. Then Scott Niedermayer won it when the Ducks lifted the Cup in 2007. Before the lockout in 2003; J.S. Giguere won the Conn Smythe despite being on a losing team. Since the Conn Smythe was introduced in the 1963-64 season only ten goalies were awarded the trophy; three goalies winning it multiple times. Go here for the list

Campbell says that in today's NHL after the most recent lockout in his article he stated "Teams lose because of goaltending. They don't win because of it" while to an extent that is true, it's obviously not very true and I'm pretty sure goalies aren't a huge fan of this statement. Without goalies a team can't win. How could they? Campbell did state that they're the last line of defense, goalies have been known that for years. Certainly, the can lose games for a team, letting in too many goals and ones they shouldn't of let in like Campbell stated that goalies can lose games. But goalies are always blamed for the lost games so many times; skaters have not been factored into that loss at least not immediately but a goalie can most certainly win games. Bail his team out. 

Somewhere, some how I'm pretty sure Campbell would say Jonas Hiller was overrated when he helped take the Ducks past the San Jose Sharks, the President Trophy Winners and then to Game 7 against the Red Wings last year. Was his performance overrated? Was Hiller the only guy Anaheim and fans talked about? Most certainly not to all those questions. The skaters in front of him were highly regarded too. According to Campbell teams under appreciate everyone BUT the goalie. Campbell's article is rhetorical to say the least.

While goalies are obviously highly regarded, they're definitely not overrated, so not sure where Campbell gets off.  Annti Niemi  is getting tons of attention. Why? Because he's overrated? No, because he's good and the fact that he's some Finnish product. Finland cranks out some amazing products. Teemu Selanne,Saku Koivu to name the two Finns on the Ducks. Last time I checked they're not goalies, and they get as much if not more respect than Hiller. Niemi has been beast for his team to the fact that people have asked, if he's even human. But Niemi is most certainly not the only player talked about and he's not overrated. Niemi seems to be pulling a Hiller against the Sharks. Evgeni Nabokov seems to be struggling but for the first two rounds of the playoffs. Nabokov wasn't talked about a lot. It was always Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton (surprisingly), Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatly, Dan Boyle those aren't goalies. 

Jaraslov Halak has struggled as of late but Mike Cammalleri is talked about a lot. Scott Gomez. Not goalies. Marc-Andre Fleury played well before the Penguins were knocked out by the Habs. But he wasn't the only one, who was talked about. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Chris Kunitz etc where talked about making huge contributions. 

Tuukka Rask had some great and amazing saves, a excellent performance. Such a young goalie, a rookie. Despite the Bruins recording the ultimate choke performance....and all this just the second round. Micheal Leighton came in to replace a injured Brian Boucher and Leighton has been outstanding in his performance. But like said for every other goalie, he's not the only player talked about and he's not overrated. Chris Pronger, Riley Cote, Ian Laperriere etc have been talked about making huge contributions

If you've watched the playoffs  you know that Campbell's assessments are wrong in so many ways about goalies.