The first eleven are guys who are better than Theodore. After that, it’s a toss up at best. But I know I’d rather have Theodore than, say, Manny Fernandez, Chris Mason, or Cam Ward.

There’s only like 5 ot 6 guys ranked above our JT60 that I’d probably rather have. Thomas, Backstrom, Mason, Nabokov, Luongo, and Kipper, basically. The rest… toss-up, pretty much. JT has been red hot the last few months, and some of those other guys..not so much. For example, how’d MA Fleury make it in ahead of JT?

But here are the ones I’d take Theo over…and I’m including a playoff run in my calculations.

Clemmenson, Fernandez, Nittymaki, Mason, Turco, Conklin, Anderson, Ward, Smith (really?), Roloson, and Hiller. So that makes him about 13 or 14 on the list, about where he should be, middle of the road, which is all we really asked for from our goalie, isn’t it?

I hope JT see’s this and post’s this up in his locker. And takes it down in June with a big ol’ smile on his face.

Theo’s numbers are as good as anyone else’s. but as a goalie myself (playground and pond level, i assure you), he always seems awkward to me to watch. he has to be the worst skating goalie in the league. he looks like he’s gonna trip over his stick or something everytime he tries to handle the puck. he might have one of the best butterfly in the league, but he’s real shaky elsewhere.

his glove and blocker are simply average. he’s doing better at controlling rebounds while he’s been hot, but he’s still real bouncy. and again, brutal with the stick. maybe it’s because he’s just a little fella (listed at 5’11", 182) and he’s gotta carry all the equipment, but to me he just doesn’t carry himself well, unless he’s dropping into the butterfly.

i’m happy he’s playing well right now and pray it continues. maybe i just have a preference for bigger goalies (positioning over reaction), since i qualify as the former, not the latter.

I didn’t sleep for six weeks and wake up on April 1st, did I? Or are they dipping too deeply into the Molson up there? Where do you start?

Miikka Kipprisoff at 11…he had a great year in 2005-2006 and has turned into a throroughly average goaltender since.

Jonas Hiller at 9?…Let me guess, Jonas’ mom is really good with computer code and wrote a program to stuff the ballot box (or is that just an all-star thing). He’s been an NHL goalie for eight seconds, for heaven’s sake.

Manny Fernandez at 13…he’s played more than 50 games in a season exactly once, or is this just a “how they’re doing right now” thing?

Because if that’s the case, then ‘splain to me Miller at 5, because he’s given up five goals (maybe that’s it) in three of his last 12 games and has been below a 90% save percentage in six of those games. He does have two shutouts, so we’re guessing inconsistency isn’t a problem for those guys.

Goalies in hockey’s salary cap era are quickly becoming like running backs in NFL. Other than Luongo and probably Lundqvist, that’s one amorphous blob of goalies who can be very good or somewhat bad.

The top 10 goalies I’d most like to have going into the 2009 postseason, if healthy:

1 Lundqvist
2 Vokoun (the most underrated player in hockey — see page 26 of this Hockey Analytics report in pdf)
3 Luongo
4 Brodeur
5 The other Backstrom
6 Ryan Miller
7 Evgeni Nabokov
8 Tim Thomas
9 Kiprusoff (Who I think is better than he’s played in Calgary. A change of teams would do him good)
10 Jose Theodore

To me, the top four are in a pack, followed by the next three, and then the last three.

Please show more disrespect for Theo’s game. Based on his quotes, this is a guy who just loves to show his detractors how wrong they are. Maybe he’s got a Napolean complex. In any case, keep telling him how bad he is. Maybe he’ll win a Cup just to prove you wrong. Oh, and while you’re at it, tell Ovie he’s not MVP material.

Whaddya think? I say he gets 10 assists a year passing the puck up ice to breaking Caps. You take the under or the over?

This team’s defense is going to be its downfall, not its goaltending.