We're starting to hear the first murmurs of maybe, just maybe it's time for the Sharks to take a look at Vesa Toskala and decide that it's time to swap the goalies out. Yeah, that's about right--Nabokov would have had the job for over four years (having shown up in the 1999-2000 season) in a month or so.
San Jose loves their goalies.
They love them, they eat them alive, and then they spit out the gnawed-on bones, and look longingly at the next cute wide-eyed puppy goalie.
Jarmo Myllys, who did one season returned to Finland, and never came back
Brian Hayward, whose lower back looks like what happens to Silly Putty when you put it in the microwave
Jeff Hackett, who cared too much to be with a team that bad
Arturs Irbe, the first fluffy puppy who thrilled and then so disappointed us all
Wade Flaherty, the ultimate good soldier, who's still hanging on with the league
Jimmy Waite, looking for one last chance
Chris Terreri, who learned there is no place like home
Ed Belfour, who fooled us all
Kelly Hrudey, who finished his career in SJ
Mike Vernon, who tried to, but ended up where he started
Steve Shields, who never seemed to really *be* here
Evgeni Nabokov, who stole the job from Shields and stole the hearts of the fans
Miika Kiprusoff, who had the chance and couldn't reach to grasp it
Geoff Sargeant, Jason Muzzati, Sean Gauthier, who can point at the books, nod, and say "Yeah, I was there..."
...and Vesa Toskala, the latest, the newest, the shiny new jewel in the chest:
Oh, he makes the saves...
The fans cheer him on
He's highly marketable, you know
A fresh face
Just what we need!
An attitude wrapped in a whiplash smile
Yeah, we'll take him
Who's next?
Laurie-
Do we wear them out because of insufficient offense and/or poor defense? Do we pick the wrong ones? How do you go about finding a Marty Brodeur?
Personally, I think they just get burnt out under the weight of fan expectations. If we want our goalies to last longer, we should care less.
Posted by: Jeff Silverstein at November 24, 2003 08:54 PMBy the way, anyone else see a resemblance to this?
Posted by: Jeff Silverstein at November 24, 2003 09:08 PMSorry, that last link didn't quite come out right. Try this one instead:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?X298322A6
Posted by: Jeff Silverstein at November 24, 2003 09:48 PMIs it just us or is this a pattern with other teams as well?. The common denominator seems to be that teams, depending on the situation at any given time, may be simply looking for the hot hand. Sometimes the hand arrives by surprise, sometimes they keep rotating until they can find one. Leads to erratic histories in hindsight, with the better ones staying consisently near the top (no coincidence that they are usually on the best teams as well).
Posted by: Dean Bubar at November 25, 2003 09:21 AM