Quote:
Originally Posted by samifan24
Yeah, what's the deal with the goalies up there in Edmonton? They have Garon, ok, he's fine as a starter, I guess. Then they have the kid with the really long name, the rookie, and supposedly they want him to play but can't send him down to the AHL or they risk losing him on waivers. Oh, and they also have Dwayne Roloson, why? Why is he there?
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Garon: Great pedigree when he was drafted, never seemed to live up to the hype. Was given some leash here last year and played *really* well. Then he had a hiccup and MacT went right back to Roli (who's one of MacT's boys). Could be the future goalie of the team (for 3-5 years at least) and is in a contract year. One would think they'd sink or swim with him this year to see what he's got to see if he's worth investing a big contract on.
Roloson: Got a stupid contract following the Cup run because everybody had a big hard on for him. People seemed to forget that he didn't play well down the stretch and the only reason the Oilers got into the playoffs that season was because Vancouver sucked worse than we did. He did play well in the playoffs but his numbers were inflated because of the system they were playing (tons of shots from the outside plus we had a really good defensive group at the time). Horrible at giving up rebounds or playing consistently well for a prolonged period of time, his contract is up after this season as well.
Deslauriers: Young kid they drafted fairly high who's been jerked around in the system. Oilers have another youngster (Dubnyk) who's getting the majority of the starts in the AHL this season (now that the Oilers have a farm team of their own) so not only could they lose Deslauriers if they tried to send him down, it'd just muddy up the goaltending situation there. Deslauriers played quite well in the A last year and is a big bodied guy who has potential.
Going into the season I was hoping for a 60-22 type split between Garon/Deslauriers to really test Garon and to give us an idea of what Deslauriers could do at the NHL level. Unfortunately we're not abusing the deep pockets of our new owner (I'm all for putting Roli through waivers, and if he clears, then buying out his contract) and instead apparently trying to increase the trade value of an old, overpaid backup. A hot streak isn't going to change any of those aspects, but I suppose there may be a GM or two that might see a decent string and decide to give us a pick for him, but in the end he's one of MacT's guys and that's why he already has 4 starts this season after Garon stole 2 of the first 4 games for the team then had a hiccup in a couple starts. MacT has never been a guy to ride a goalie through a tough stretch and let them play their way out of it unless it's one of his boys which apparently Garon just isn't yet.
I'm hoping that Roli is out of here before the new year so that there's at least a good portion of the season to find out if Garon or Deslauriers is indeed our goalie of the future or just a pair of backups. Be great to make the playoffs and a deep drive this season, but this isn't the sort of question you want an ambiguous answer to, so better to take the potential bad side now so they know exactly where they stand come the offseason.
11 games into the season the only question answered (again) is which goalie MacTavish likes best and it's the one that won't do the franchise a bit of good after this season.
So long rant short, Roli is still here (imho) because of MacT and the old boys club and their "respect" for him.