I truly believe Crawford is the best hawks goalie ever. Yes, above Hall and Esposito. I'm sure that take is gonna get me hate but Crawford was just on another level 🤷
I don't think I'll ever get the image of Holtby stonewalling Tuch out of my head. Just how different is that series had the momentum not shifted then and there. Above all else, Holtby will always have that to reminisce about, and nothing can ever take that away. Great video!
This is truth. I was at game 2 2018 and sitting on the Caps defensive end for 1st & 3rd period, at an angle where the goal line was basically a straight shot ahead of us. When the puck hit Tuch's stick I stood with everyone around and cheered bc it was that certain he would score there. Once we saw he didn't and the game ended soon after, I knew the series changed. Our group all kinda felt it was over from there and it was. Holtby stole that game and Caps never looked back. Hill's stick save in 2023 felt similar even tho it wasn't at the end of the 3rd like Holtby's save. Both were insane efforts with lasting impact, respectively.
I think no matter what Holtby will always have a legacy in Washington as one of the most important goalies we have ever had, but more importantly one of the best people on the team we have ever had. Like it’s telling that everyone who was with him on the Caps still love him and the town still welcomes him back happily
Agreed and not to take that for granted but that’s the way it should be. I also think that if you’re a correct Washington fan, you will recognize how amazing he was and truly like you said how he was one of the most important goalies we ever had but he was the heart of our team for awhile. Through the hardest times. Besides the early times like 2009 against the penguins, he has been with us through what I think were the hardest years.
Very well built case. At first I was like, "C'mon man!"... but you gotta watch the whole argument, and you did very well at convincing me of your point. Also, Crawford was pretty underrated. I remember him against Vancouver in the playoffs in 2011. He was all of a sudden lights out and man... all I have to say is thanks for the tip Campoli!
This video recontextualizes how I think of Holtby. I always pegged him as a great if not necessarily elite goalie playing on one of the most consistently-great teams of the 2010's. In my mind, Holtby was hurt by the fact that the Caps were a goalie factory, with goalies like Varlamov, Neuvirth, and Grubauer also experiencing consistently-strong play behind those defenses, but despite their successes, no one had a better Caps tenure than the Holtbeast. I always figured he fell apart only after leaving Washington, exacerbated by various injuries, ultimately leading to his premature retirement. However, I never dug any further into it than that, so seeing this video and these statistics putting his career into greater context was pretty eye-opening. I would not have said while Holtby was active that he made good teams better but bad teams worse, I would have just said he was a great goalie behind awful defenses or whatever. I love videos like this, and this one is particularly excellent! Liked, subbed, and commented for the algorithm, I look forward to more of your content!
I mean, we always had great goalies but they were never good when it mattered. Like, Neuvy was solid but he single-handedly lost us the TB series where we wiped the floor with them but got swept because of the MASSIVE gulf between Neuvy and Roloson. Holtby was one of the two or three best playoff goalies of all time, individually at least (obviously there's way too many goalies with multiple Cups, but if we're just evaluating individual stats, Holtby is on the Mount Rushmore). I'm convinced if Boudreau had prime Holtby during his tenure, we have 2 or 3 Cups.
So glad the algorithm decided to slip this into my recommendations. I'm obviously biased as a Capitals fan, but I love Holtby. He won't get the recognition he deserves outside of DC but I don't care. By the way, that 2012 Bruins-Caps series was wild, it needs more analysis.
My own super pro Holtby bias aside as a caps fan, this is one of the highest quality and well done hockey videos I've ever seen. Seriously. Idk how I've never seen this before, but this is the kind of analysis I would KILL for from major hockey networks. Freaking amazing work
Unfortunately the networks won't give you that because these videos take time and effort but they just want people to say stuff to a camera to get you pissed off. Honestly youtube is actually a great place for stuff like this if you can find it
He had so many seasons where he was insane. He also tied Brodeur all time for wins in a season. That is something else and a stat that you can't argue about lol.
Just found your channel and your videos deserve WAY more attention. AMAZING narrating and the NHL stories you cover seem to be lost in time, just for you to dust them off and present them to the modern audience. PLEASE do a video like this about Evgeni Nabokov or just the early 2000's sharks. My early childhood memories will always be the highs and lows of the sharks and how nearly every season, we could've won it all. On the back of Evgeni Nabokov, who never won a cup or a vezna
Such a shame he got hurt. Would've loved to see him Rocking the Red again. He had a decent season in Dallas (yes I know analytics may say different). I can't really argue with any of your points but he will always be a Caps legend. Grubauer was probably the reason we lost the first 2 games against Columbus. In comes HoltBEAST out of desperation and the rest is history. I mean he shut out the Lightning TWO games in a row to seal a route to Cup Final. Yes, us Caps fans may overrate him but he's ours to overrate.
Although his career ended quietly, Holtby had an incredible run of dominance. A vezina winner, Stanley cup champion, and made a series-changing save in the finals that can be looked at as one of the best in history. Best goalie in Capitals history
I always wondered wtf happened to Braden Holtby he was once one of best goalies in NHL at one point then after leaving the Capitals he just fell off it was so weird anyways thanks for producing this video
As someone who saw him as a bear when I was a kid and having him be the only player I remember from this time it really is nice to see what became of him and if he was good or not because i never really was into hockey until this year and at a glance (and i guess a deep dive too) its very unclear
My enduring memory of Holtby is one of him coming up short when it mattered most except for one series in which it resulted in a Cup. His performances in 15, 16 and 17 playoffs in particular where he was the second best goalie on the ice in every single one and had abysmal collapses in deciding games hurt the most. Yes the Cup cleansed some of it but there was more meat on the bone for this Caps team particularly in 2019 where they had no business losing to that Canes team up 2 goals TWICE in Game 7. The story of Holtby's career is coming up short in the biggest games in the playoffs.
I partially disagree. He 100% is the reason we lost Game 7 against the Hurricanes, and I think the 2017 playoffs was where the magic started wearing off, but at least in 2015, I think he was easily our most valuable player, particularly against the Rangers. There was only one goalie he could have lost to.
@@PinholesGraham That seemed to happen every series though. 2016 he's outplayed by Matt Murray and 2017 by Fleury with a big meltdown in game 7. Holbty always seemed to be the second best goalie on the ice during the playoffs until he caught lightning in a bottle with 2018. He was susceptible to the bad goal syndrome great goalies seem immune too and he would do it in the biggest games. Awesome video though, extremely well done.
great video man, really well done. def agree that he was all three of elite, bad, and average at one point in his career. I can see u growing a lot as a channel, keep grinding
Just been thinking about this guy. He won a Cup, a Vezina and was nominated another time and yet it feels like his career was significantly shorter than most top level NHL goalies might expect. He had absolutely no tail to his career.
I would love for him to somehow make a comeback on a cup contending team and win like 1 more cup or so. I'm an Avs fan but I've always liked watching Braden Holtby during those Capital days
Yo, Mr PG, i want you to know, i live near where Holtby was born, so i got lucky and met him on the golf course one summer. I hope you get the chance to meet him, because he is an amazing person.
The eye test can be so deceiving. As a life long caps fan there was no possible way that looking at Brayden Holtby you could discern that he isn't an individual goalie due to his volume of flashy saves.
Holtby stood up to the defending Cup champion Bruins and didn't flinch. That is history. He also beat them. As a rookie. His composure is Top 10, maybe Top 5.
I dont believe he was elite but at times in his career he was great i loved him to death in his time in WSH it was a sad day when his play started to fall off
I literally cried when he was released. I knew it had to happen and I even called for it during the season but it still hurt me to my core. I was so hoping he would come back this season at least as a back-up if he hadn't gotten hurt.
@@XaviRonaldo0 hard not to love the guy considering everything hes done for the franchise i have his jersey in my collection so i got nothing but love for him
I'll tell you one thing, man. Braden Holtby is elite. I'll tell you why. If you go into his career and look at this and look at that, you may or may not find convincing evidence but one thing is true: he played out of his mind in my opinion and his legacy is that he is/was indeed elite. Immortally. He won a cup with the Caps and proved who he was with that. He had not been plying that great before that but he annihilated that concept forever. Anyone who thinks he sucks or this or that is not an honest person lol. He was the best goalie we Caps fans have ever had and there are some serious names to compete with on that list. The only one that equals him ultimately is Lundqvist ( Kolzig is actually equal in my opinion too), but Holts is one of the reasons why we won that Cup, period and how many times would the Caps have been in the final/won the cup if they had only gotten over the second round hump and slayed their demons earlier? Holtby was always there and whenever we lost, we lost as a team. He is a darn good goalie and no matter what kind hate you can give him, anyone would be happy to have him on their team (except some insane fans) lol.
I think it is important to note that for several years I think 2 or 3 he had the best playoff stats among all goalies. Something like a high .920 %. The team in front of him just performed terribly.
Holtby to me is the epitome of the modern goalie. Excellent at times but never exceptional over a prolonged period. Into this group I place Bishop, Quick and many others. I'm not degrading them as they were all superb at times. But they don't sit comfortably among guys like Roy, Hasek, Esposito or Plante. Only Lundqvist, Price and Luongo had the longevity at a constantly high level while Crawford is the modern Chris Osgood. Never got the respect he deserved. As a qualifier my partner is a Canucks fan and loved them signing Holtby. But he was rather brutal in his spell there. 🤔
statistically, he was pretty much carried by his defense even in his prime and individual play hasn't been good since 2017-18 season. I say this as someone who has seen most of his games during his time in LA. He is similar to Holtby in the sense that his flashiness makes you think that he is elite but he benefitted so much from the Kings Defense. I forgot where I saw the stats but apparently the Kings on average allowed the fewest shots, most of them in low danger areas as well. Ive seen Quick let shots go right through him too many times...
@@PinholesGraham it’s a very compelling story. Back up to Lou and then to Marty. Great numbers. Hard fall. Fantastic human. I would love to see the data on his career like outlined in this video!!!
He's not elite I'm sorry. He is in my eyes the best goalie in the teams history. What's astonishing about him is that we just signed Kuemper to 5 years and they're the same age. I think he had spurts of elite play. But there was inconsistency. However, let's also look at the fact that in the 19-20 regular season the team itself put up better numbers. He had a better save percentage than Samsonov but a worse GAA. Which as a player, from my experience leads me to believe the team felt the need to play more conservatively on defense with him in net. But again I have to add. The 18 playoff run...... if he does that consistently for 7-8 years he could've been a potential HoF candidate. Comes in off the bench, shuts out that loaded Tampa roster in games 6 and 7. Makes the Save against Tuch that alters that entire series.
From the time he started in the playoffs as a rookie against Boston to the time he won the Cup, he was one of the two or three best goalies in playoff history. He may not have been elite over the course of his entire career, but his prime was *ELITE*.
I’m a Caps fan but I never liked Holtby. I could see right through his play and that it was all the defense in front of him. I kept trying to tell other Caps fans but they were drinking the Holtby kool-aid. In addition, “the save” wasn’t an exhibit of his skill, it was quite simply, just an incredibly LUCKY desperation save. He had flashes of brilliance throughout his career, sure, but he wasn’t anything special or “elite”. Most of the time he was just “meh”. Don’t even get me started on his BS political views.
Do a video about how underrated Crawford was. PLEASE. Nobody seems to appreciate what he brought to the Hawks dynasty.
Seconded
I truly believe Crawford is the best hawks goalie ever. Yes, above Hall and Esposito. I'm sure that take is gonna get me hate but Crawford was just on another level 🤷
As a Hawks fan I must admit even I underestimated him at times... But i mean how cant you like a guy who says Fuckin right chicago on a hot mic
Bro who has ever underestimated him? I have never heard of that ever. He won 2 cups ffs
@@clandon9624 so did Murray. Trash goalies win cups all the time
I don't think I'll ever get the image of Holtby stonewalling Tuch out of my head. Just how different is that series had the momentum not shifted then and there. Above all else, Holtby will always have that to reminisce about, and nothing can ever take that away.
Great video!
This is truth. I was at game 2 2018 and sitting on the Caps defensive end for 1st & 3rd period, at an angle where the goal line was basically a straight shot ahead of us. When the puck hit Tuch's stick I stood with everyone around and cheered bc it was that certain he would score there. Once we saw he didn't and the game ended soon after, I knew the series changed. Our group all kinda felt it was over from there and it was. Holtby stole that game and Caps never looked back.
Hill's stick save in 2023 felt similar even tho it wasn't at the end of the 3rd like Holtby's save. Both were insane efforts with lasting impact, respectively.
Nah you’re so right it’s so sad his career didn’t get the justice it deserved
I think no matter what Holtby will always have a legacy in Washington as one of the most important goalies we have ever had, but more importantly one of the best people on the team we have ever had. Like it’s telling that everyone who was with him on the Caps still love him and the town still welcomes him back happily
Agreed and not to take that for granted but that’s the way it should be. I also think that if you’re a correct Washington fan, you will recognize how amazing he was and truly like you said how he was one of the most important goalies we ever had but he was the heart of our team for awhile. Through the hardest times. Besides the early times like 2009 against the penguins, he has been with us through what I think were the hardest years.
Very well built case. At first I was like, "C'mon man!"... but you gotta watch the whole argument, and you did very well at convincing me of your point.
Also, Crawford was pretty underrated. I remember him against Vancouver in the playoffs in 2011. He was all of a sudden lights out and man... all I have to say is thanks for the tip Campoli!
This video recontextualizes how I think of Holtby. I always pegged him as a great if not necessarily elite goalie playing on one of the most consistently-great teams of the 2010's. In my mind, Holtby was hurt by the fact that the Caps were a goalie factory, with goalies like Varlamov, Neuvirth, and Grubauer also experiencing consistently-strong play behind those defenses, but despite their successes, no one had a better Caps tenure than the Holtbeast. I always figured he fell apart only after leaving Washington, exacerbated by various injuries, ultimately leading to his premature retirement. However, I never dug any further into it than that, so seeing this video and these statistics putting his career into greater context was pretty eye-opening. I would not have said while Holtby was active that he made good teams better but bad teams worse, I would have just said he was a great goalie behind awful defenses or whatever. I love videos like this, and this one is particularly excellent! Liked, subbed, and commented for the algorithm, I look forward to more of your content!
I mean, we always had great goalies but they were never good when it mattered. Like, Neuvy was solid but he single-handedly lost us the TB series where we wiped the floor with them but got swept because of the MASSIVE gulf between Neuvy and Roloson.
Holtby was one of the two or three best playoff goalies of all time, individually at least (obviously there's way too many goalies with multiple Cups, but if we're just evaluating individual stats, Holtby is on the Mount Rushmore).
I'm convinced if Boudreau had prime Holtby during his tenure, we have 2 or 3 Cups.
So glad the algorithm decided to slip this into my recommendations. I'm obviously biased as a Capitals fan, but I love Holtby. He won't get the recognition he deserves outside of DC but I don't care.
By the way, that 2012 Bruins-Caps series was wild, it needs more analysis.
My own super pro Holtby bias aside as a caps fan, this is one of the highest quality and well done hockey videos I've ever seen. Seriously. Idk how I've never seen this before, but this is the kind of analysis I would KILL for from major hockey networks. Freaking amazing work
Thanks so much for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Unfortunately the networks won't give you that because these videos take time and effort but they just want people to say stuff to a camera to get you pissed off. Honestly youtube is actually a great place for stuff like this if you can find it
Us Oilers fan know all to well how good Dubnyk was….after he left.😢
Thanks Eakins
I have a shirt with John Scott celebrating a wicked goal he ripped past Holtby a while back. I still think it’s so funny.
Talk about filling a need. A channel like this has been missing from TH-cam for a long time
I would really like to see similiar analysis of career of Roberto Luongo. He is also a very enigmatic goalie with some incredible advanced stats.
He had so many seasons where he was insane. He also tied Brodeur all time for wins in a season. That is something else and a stat that you can't argue about lol.
Except he didn't
Can you do one of Carey Price? I really enjoyed this video but Pricey has been my fav since I was a kid.
this channel will explode happy to say I was one of the first thousand subs
Just found your channel and your videos deserve WAY more attention. AMAZING narrating and the NHL stories you cover seem to be lost in time, just for you to dust them off and present them to the modern audience. PLEASE do a video like this about Evgeni Nabokov or just the early 2000's sharks. My early childhood memories will always be the highs and lows of the sharks and how nearly every season, we could've won it all. On the back of Evgeni Nabokov, who never won a cup or a vezna
That cup run for Holt Beast and the Caps in 2018 was so fun to watch as a Preds fan seeing them beat the Pens.
Such a shame he got hurt. Would've loved to see him Rocking the Red again. He had a decent season in Dallas (yes I know analytics may say different).
I can't really argue with any of your points but he will always be a Caps legend. Grubauer was probably the reason we lost the first 2 games against Columbus. In comes HoltBEAST out of desperation and the rest is history. I mean he shut out the Lightning TWO games in a row to seal a route to Cup Final. Yes, us Caps fans may overrate him but he's ours to overrate.
When he was on he was unreal, but the decline was fast and ugly...
Great video mate!
Also, "he good people" hilarious the way you wrote that.
I'll always remember Holtby for his weird water bottle drop tracking warmup and kinda looking like Eagle Sam from the Muppets
Although his career ended quietly, Holtby had an incredible run of dominance. A vezina winner, Stanley cup champion, and made a series-changing save in the finals that can be looked at as one of the best in history. Best goalie in Capitals history
he may not be an elite goalie but he’s definitely a legend. Mad respect for the holtbeast o7
You should more views feels like a Jon Bois video for hockey
It’s great
we love holts in washington he’s such a lovely guy and was amazing in game 6 and 7 against tampa in 18 W video
@@PinholesGraham to shut out a team with the firepower of TBL 2 games in a row is just insane.
I always wondered wtf happened to Braden Holtby he was once one of best goalies in NHL at one point then after leaving the Capitals he just fell off it was so weird anyways thanks for producing this video
As someone who saw him as a bear when I was a kid and having him be the only player I remember from this time it really is nice to see what became of him and if he was good or not because i never really was into hockey until this year and at a glance (and i guess a deep dive too) its very unclear
Randomly met this guy on vacation once. Really nice. Love the video.
My enduring memory of Holtby is one of him coming up short when it mattered most except for one series in which it resulted in a Cup. His performances in 15, 16 and 17 playoffs in particular where he was the second best goalie on the ice in every single one and had abysmal collapses in deciding games hurt the most. Yes the Cup cleansed some of it but there was more meat on the bone for this Caps team particularly in 2019 where they had no business losing to that Canes team up 2 goals TWICE in Game 7.
The story of Holtby's career is coming up short in the biggest games in the playoffs.
I partially disagree. He 100% is the reason we lost Game 7 against the Hurricanes, and I think the 2017 playoffs was where the magic started wearing off, but at least in 2015, I think he was easily our most valuable player, particularly against the Rangers.
There was only one goalie he could have lost to.
@@PinholesGraham That seemed to happen every series though. 2016 he's outplayed by Matt Murray and 2017 by Fleury with a big meltdown in game 7. Holbty always seemed to be the second best goalie on the ice during the playoffs until he caught lightning in a bottle with 2018.
He was susceptible to the bad goal syndrome great goalies seem immune too and he would do it in the biggest games.
Awesome video though, extremely well done.
great video man, really well done. def agree that he was all three of elite, bad, and average at one point in his career. I can see u growing a lot as a channel, keep grinding
One of the better made hockey videos I have seen in a long time.
7:40 time traveller from the future, here: Holy hell, Bobrovsky! And it’s about to do it again!!
Just been thinking about this guy. He won a Cup, a Vezina and was nominated another time and yet it feels like his career was significantly shorter than most top level NHL goalies might expect. He had absolutely no tail to his career.
I would love for him to somehow make a comeback on a cup contending team and win like 1 more cup or so. I'm an Avs fan but I've always liked watching Braden Holtby during those Capital days
Yo, Mr PG, i want you to know, i live near where Holtby was born, so i got lucky and met him on the golf course one summer. I hope you get the chance to meet him, because he is an amazing person.
he was sort of like corey crawford or tim thomas as someone who had an unusual path to the nhl and was sort of underappreciated or overlooked
The eye test can be so deceiving. As a life long caps fan there was no possible way that looking at Brayden Holtby you could discern that he isn't an individual goalie due to his volume of flashy saves.
Great Video and analysis! You should keep doing these!
Holtby stood up to the defending Cup champion Bruins and didn't flinch. That is history. He also beat them. As a rookie. His composure is Top 10, maybe Top 5.
@pinhole graham This video is awesome. Plz do a video like this for henrik lundquist. I think the analytics will make him look even better.
I dont believe he was elite but at times in his career he was great i loved him to death in his time in WSH it was a sad day when his play started to fall off
I literally cried when he was released. I knew it had to happen and I even called for it during the season but it still hurt me to my core. I was so hoping he would come back this season at least as a back-up if he hadn't gotten hurt.
@@XaviRonaldo0 hard not to love the guy considering everything hes done for the franchise i have his jersey in my collection so i got nothing but love for him
I'll tell you one thing, man. Braden Holtby is elite. I'll tell you why. If you go into his career and look at this and look at that, you may or may not find convincing evidence but one thing is true: he played out of his mind in my opinion and his legacy is that he is/was indeed elite. Immortally. He won a cup with the Caps and proved who he was with that. He had not been plying that great before that but he annihilated that concept forever. Anyone who thinks he sucks or this or that is not an honest person lol. He was the best goalie we Caps fans have ever had and there are some serious names to compete with on that list. The only one that equals him ultimately is Lundqvist ( Kolzig is actually equal in my opinion too), but Holts is one of the reasons why we won that Cup, period and how many times would the Caps have been in the final/won the cup if they had only gotten over the second round hump and slayed their demons earlier? Holtby was always there and whenever we lost, we lost as a team. He is a darn good goalie and no matter what kind hate you can give him, anyone would be happy to have him on their team (except some insane fans) lol.
Love this channel.
Holtby will always be a Elite goalie to me. "The Save" ... 'nuff said :) 😀
Really interesting! nice job! love it! Big Holtby fan!!
Remember the Corey Crawford Tuka Rask era
Holtby ain’t good, he ain’t bad, but he sure as hell ain’t ugly.
Awesome content,man !
I think it is important to note that for several years I think 2 or 3 he had the best playoff stats among all goalies. Something like a high .920 %. The team in front of him just performed terribly.
Bro .914 save percentage is crazy
It kinda blew my mind that I kinda forgot how DOMINANT Crawford was for the hawks. This is extra sad considering I’m a hawks fan lol 😢
Gees these numbers do Rinne dirty 🤦♂️
95% of goalies are an enigma, Holtby is the prime example of that
Probably a goalie that’s an even bigger enigma is Mike Smith
i remember being at isles caps playoff series in 2015 during game 4. i turned to my friend and said isles have no chance you cant score on this guy
We said the same thing about Halak a time or two!
great video
Holtby to me is the epitome of the modern goalie. Excellent at times but never exceptional over a prolonged period. Into this group I place Bishop, Quick and many others. I'm not degrading them as they were all superb at times. But they don't sit comfortably among guys like Roy, Hasek, Esposito or Plante. Only Lundqvist, Price and Luongo had the longevity at a constantly high level while Crawford is the modern Chris Osgood. Never got the respect he deserved.
As a qualifier my partner is a Canucks fan and loved them signing Holtby. But he was rather brutal in his spell there. 🤔
I feel like if it wasn’t injury’s he could have recovered and been a solid 1B
yea im sry but when he tied brodeur solidified him as an elite for me no matter what you say.
2:54 bruh leave him be, his controller disconnected for a sec
7:41 lmao
Hello I enjoyed your video can you tell me where did you get those skill graphs? If you made them on your own can you tell me how?
Which graphs are you referring to? I made most of them in Microsoft Excel.
Pekka Rinne!!!
What happened to Jonathan Quick?
If you could do a video on this 🔥🔥
statistically, he was pretty much carried by his defense even in his prime and individual play hasn't been good since 2017-18 season. I say this as someone who has seen most of his games during his time in LA. He is similar to Holtby in the sense that his flashiness makes you think that he is elite but he benefitted so much from the Kings Defense. I forgot where I saw the stats but apparently the Kings on average allowed the fewest shots, most of them in low danger areas as well. Ive seen Quick let shots go right through him too many times...
Do a cory schneider one!!!!!!!
@@PinholesGraham it’s a very compelling story. Back up to Lou and then to Marty. Great numbers. Hard fall. Fantastic human. I would love to see the data on his career like outlined in this video!!!
Caps should retire #70. Best goalie in franchise history and always showed up in the playoffs, even when his team didn't.
In my opinion he was the biggest reason we lost Game 7 in 2019 and almost every game in 2020, but to each their own.
this man was my gay awakening
> most enigmatic goalie ever
> not Jim Carey or Gilles Gratton
Well..
Corey Crawford is the goat
He's not elite I'm sorry. He is in my eyes the best goalie in the teams history. What's astonishing about him is that we just signed Kuemper to 5 years and they're the same age. I think he had spurts of elite play. But there was inconsistency. However, let's also look at the fact that in the 19-20 regular season the team itself put up better numbers. He had a better save percentage than Samsonov but a worse GAA. Which as a player, from my experience leads me to believe the team felt the need to play more conservatively on defense with him in net. But again I have to add. The 18 playoff run...... if he does that consistently for 7-8 years he could've been a potential HoF candidate. Comes in off the bench, shuts out that loaded Tampa roster in games 6 and 7. Makes the Save against Tuch that alters that entire series.
From the time he started in the playoffs as a rookie against Boston to the time he won the Cup, he was one of the two or three best goalies in playoff history. He may not have been elite over the course of his entire career, but his prime was *ELITE*.
Olaf Kolzig was our best goalie.
Caps sucked in 2018 regular season defensively analytically
We've seen Matt Murray and Binnington also.
I’m a Caps fan but I never liked Holtby. I could see right through his play and that it was all the defense in front of him. I kept trying to tell other Caps fans but they were drinking the Holtby kool-aid.
In addition, “the save” wasn’t an exhibit of his skill, it was quite simply, just an incredibly LUCKY desperation save.
He had flashes of brilliance throughout his career, sure, but he wasn’t anything special or “elite”. Most of the time he was just “meh”.
Don’t even get me started on his BS political views.