The Curious Case of Devan Dubnyk
Posted 1:50 PM ET | Comments 3
Devan Dubnyk was the Oilers first pick in the 2004 draft being selected 14th overall from the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL in a year that he won gold at the World Under 18 Championships with a 3-3 record with 1 shutout and a 2.51 GAA and .917 SV%.
Dubby has had a tough start to his season this year after coming off what you could call his best stats year in the 2012-13 shortened season where he posted a SV% of.920 and a GAA of 2.57 which would, in a normal situation put him along side some of the best young goalies in the game until you look at his record...14-16-0-6.
As compared to another young up and coming goalie from the Toronto Maple Leafs in James Reimer who had a .924 SV% and a 2.46 GAA but managed to finish the season with a 19-8-0-5 record...
Or how about Jonathan Quick with the L.A Kings, who lost to Chicago in the NHL playoffs semi-finals. He finished last season with an 18-13-0-4 record, a .902 SV% and a GAA of 2.45. Got you thinking yet?
Okay one more comparable goal who finished second in the East last year, Carey Price, who is almost always mentioned as a contender for Canada's starting Goalie at the upcoming Olympics. He finished last season with 21 wins and 13 losses, he had a SV%.015 points less the Dubby at .905 and Price's GAA was just a bit worst at 2.59...
How about comparing their career stats, side by side without know how the teams finished each year. I put in 2 other goalies just to compare. Again I know the start to this season has been tough but here are the stats.
All of these goalies have more wins the losses by the way, except Dubnyk:
Dubnyk 52-64-0-20 with .911 SV% and 2.84 GAA (GAA a bit high)
Reimer 57-33-0-14 with .917 SV% and 2.69 GAA (A bit better)
Quick 157-105-0-29 with .914 SV% and 2.33 GAA (Nice GAA but SV% not much better)
Price 151-123-0-39 with .916 SV% and 2.55 GAA (Contender for team Canada?)
Anderson 147-123-2-32 with .915 SV% and 2.72 GAA (What?)
Fleury 259-153-2-39 with .910 SV% and 2.63 GAA (Offense helps this guy out, obviously)
I would have to think that Dubnyk should be getting a bit of credit for these numbers...these numbers include some horrid numbers from this year that I am sure Devan is not pleased with and in no way should this teams failures be put on his shoulders.
I guess the problem goes deeper...maybe if there was a more complete team in front of Dubnyk for these few years he has played he would have better numbers then these goalies. Maybe if he played on a team like San Jose, L.A, Boston or Vancouver.
I would like to see a better faith for Dubby then the lashings he is getting from fans and reporters. I head that the apparent "brain trust" of the Oilers was in N.Y last night. Not sure what they were there for, maybe just went to see what a 6'4" forward looks like. I hope that they were not there to look at the Ducks ample supply of goaltenders...even though it would be sweet to see a Jonas Hiller in an Oilers jersey, a goalie is not a problem. The problem is defense and structure...
Lets hope that they were in N.Y looking for some defense and not looking to replace a goalie that needs a team in from of him...or actually trade Dubby to the ducks and then he could get the feeling of winning. We could just add him to the list of bad decision made by Oilers front office...
Laters
Dubby has had a tough start to his season this year after coming off what you could call his best stats year in the 2012-13 shortened season where he posted a SV% of.920 and a GAA of 2.57 which would, in a normal situation put him along side some of the best young goalies in the game until you look at his record...14-16-0-6.
As compared to another young up and coming goalie from the Toronto Maple Leafs in James Reimer who had a .924 SV% and a 2.46 GAA but managed to finish the season with a 19-8-0-5 record...
Or how about Jonathan Quick with the L.A Kings, who lost to Chicago in the NHL playoffs semi-finals. He finished last season with an 18-13-0-4 record, a .902 SV% and a GAA of 2.45. Got you thinking yet?
Okay one more comparable goal who finished second in the East last year, Carey Price, who is almost always mentioned as a contender for Canada's starting Goalie at the upcoming Olympics. He finished last season with 21 wins and 13 losses, he had a SV%.015 points less the Dubby at .905 and Price's GAA was just a bit worst at 2.59...
How about comparing their career stats, side by side without know how the teams finished each year. I put in 2 other goalies just to compare. Again I know the start to this season has been tough but here are the stats.
All of these goalies have more wins the losses by the way, except Dubnyk:
Dubnyk 52-64-0-20 with .911 SV% and 2.84 GAA (GAA a bit high)
Reimer 57-33-0-14 with .917 SV% and 2.69 GAA (A bit better)
Quick 157-105-0-29 with .914 SV% and 2.33 GAA (Nice GAA but SV% not much better)
Price 151-123-0-39 with .916 SV% and 2.55 GAA (Contender for team Canada?)
Anderson 147-123-2-32 with .915 SV% and 2.72 GAA (What?)
Fleury 259-153-2-39 with .910 SV% and 2.63 GAA (Offense helps this guy out, obviously)
I would have to think that Dubnyk should be getting a bit of credit for these numbers...these numbers include some horrid numbers from this year that I am sure Devan is not pleased with and in no way should this teams failures be put on his shoulders.
I guess the problem goes deeper...maybe if there was a more complete team in front of Dubnyk for these few years he has played he would have better numbers then these goalies. Maybe if he played on a team like San Jose, L.A, Boston or Vancouver.
I would like to see a better faith for Dubby then the lashings he is getting from fans and reporters. I head that the apparent "brain trust" of the Oilers was in N.Y last night. Not sure what they were there for, maybe just went to see what a 6'4" forward looks like. I hope that they were not there to look at the Ducks ample supply of goaltenders...even though it would be sweet to see a Jonas Hiller in an Oilers jersey, a goalie is not a problem. The problem is defense and structure...
Lets hope that they were in N.Y looking for some defense and not looking to replace a goalie that needs a team in from of him...or actually trade Dubby to the ducks and then he could get the feeling of winning. We could just add him to the list of bad decision made by Oilers front office...
Laters
Hate to say it but while he does not have much in front of him, goalies are often the first to take the criticism. Dubnyk also has not endeared himself with letting in soft bad goals at the worst possible times either. Is he solely to blame? No. But it IS clear no Edmonton goalie is comfortable or has a real abundance of confidence going into any game at all.If anything a chance of scenery MIGHT just spark something for him, bring back some confidence and help him rebound more.
I think the difference between Dubnyk and the comparables you mentioned is the fact that those other goaltenders can take their teams on their back and win games for them whereas Dubnyk has not shown that.
Dubnyk would have been a fine fit for a good puck possession team in need of solid goaltending. Oilers defense remains weak even with Ference. Unfortunately Tambellini was responsible for not drafting properly. The year they took Yakupov should have been Ryan Murray instead