'Hawks Bloggers Weigh In On Roenick, Niemi v. Huet

Much like the Bulls, the Blackhawks are on an extended road trip of their own right now. Unlike the Bulls, they haven't/won't lose every game, which the Bulls are definitely going to do, because the Bulls suck. Take everything we said on Friday and light it on fire! For real. Not really, but kind of. 

The 'Hawks are in Calgary tonight, attempting to get things right after a bad loss against the Senators on Tuesday. Goalie Cristobal Huet took the brunt of the criticism after allowing four goals on 18 shots. As such, the 'Hawks will start Antti Niemi in net tonight.

The big controversy of the week in Hawksland comes via Jeremy Roenick, who questioned if Huet/Niemi are good enough to bring the Stanley Cup to Chicago this year. Here's what JR told ESPN Radio yesterday:

"Can Huet bring them 16 games (in the playoffs)? I say no, I think he can probably get you through two rounds," Roenick said. "To go 16 games, you need a goaltender that is going to stand on his head and is going to steal games.

"And Niemi is a good goaltender too, don't get me wrong, they just need that one little extra boost in goal that I think that would make the guys more confident in front of him. And if those guys are even more confident than they are right now, that team will be unbeatable. They are still two good goaltenders, but I don't know if they could do it for the full 16 wins."

Delightfully, these comments pissed off every 'Hawks blogger around. They deemed Roenick a "meathead", "bullhorn", and a "hockey cliche-spewing mouthpiece". And then they tore down his argument.

Second City Hockey goes first.

As far as JR's contention that your goalie needs to stand on his head and steal games to win the Cup, that's pure bullshit.
...
I feel like I might throw up in my mouth the next time I say this, but gone are the days when a goalie wins you the Cup by himself.  I'm sure he still can with a virtuoso performance, but even those require more.  Furthermore, the Hawks reached the Conference finals last year with a goalie who, aside from a couple periods, was the very definition of mediocre.  2.98 GAA and a SV% below .900.  That's just not very good.

Blackhawk Up went to the cold, hard statistics and pulled up the regular season goaltending numbers of every Stanley Cup champion last decade. Here's what they concluded.

Putting this in perspective, the Blackhawks duo of Huet and Niemi currently rank 13th in the NHL in save percentage. If they remain at this pace or improve, that rank will be better than four of the last five Stanley Cup winners. Only three of the eight Cup winners ranked in the top 10 and a single team ranked in the top five.

Then BU sums it up with this, and, I think, hits the nail on the head. Emphasis mine.

The thing is, meatheads, the Blackhawks statistically compare to recent Stanley Cup champions -- even in goaltending. The reason idiot fans and stupid "experts" talk about the goaltending "situation" is because there isn't much else to complain about with this Blackhawks team. There have been minor bumps in the road, and the goaltending hasn't always been what the fans have wanted.

Despite nine f-ing shutouts, the meatheads whine on the few occasions Huet and Niemi have an off night. Furthermore, on the nights of those shutouts the meatheads remind us how great the defense was in front of them.

In conclusion: the 'Hawks' goalies ain't so bad. No need to worry too much yet. And yeah, Jeremy Roenick is kind of an idiot.