Mind your own Bryzness!

[toughbrotherlylove]

Last off-season the Flyers brought in Ilya Bryzgalov to solve the dreaded goaltending issue that has been one well, for about as long as I can remember. When news broke that the Flyers acquired Bryz’s rights and then finally signed him, I will admit, I was pretty excited. I agree with most people that his contract length is too long, but if Bryz plays to his full capability, the cap hit of $5.6 million is very reasonable, and I will certainly see the glass as half full rather than half empty.

Moving onto the actual season. Bryz started fine beating the defending champs 2-1 making many big saves. Then he continued his strong play in game 2 of the season against the Devils, bringing the first shutout to Philadelphia in a very long time. After these strong games, Bryz started to slip a little, and then a little more until it snowballed and he ended up finishing his first month as a Flyer badly.

Bryz then rebounded in the month of November going 5-2, with a little over a 2.00 GAA and a .918 save percentage, pretty respectable numbers that regained the confidence of the Flyers Faithful.

Then December came upon us, HBO’s 24/7 started up and the hype for the winter classic bolstered into a frenzy, and we saw the worse Bryz we would ever see. Putting up numbers (30 goals in 10 games and an abismal .878 save percentage) that would have any fan base question, “why did we sign this guy?” It seemed after his horrible play that month, the fans took a turn for the worse on him.

In actuality after the month of December Bryz started to improve month after month.

In January he posted a 2.75 GAA and a .912 save percentage.

In February he posted a .909 save percentage and only let in 21 goals in 8 games.

In March, well I do not have to tell any Flyers fan about Bryz’s month of March, it was absolutely phenomenal.

Bryz faced a lot of scrutiny over his first season here in the Orange and Black. Fans and media were never happy with anything he ever did (generalizing of course, I realize there are some that are excluded from the majority). Bryz recently came out in an interview and made some questionable remarks saying he would not wish on his enemies what he went through this season.

I still am a Bryz supporter and maintain, now that he has a full season under his belt with the Flyers and knows what its like to be in a city that has intense passion for the sport he will be better next year(Mentioned this a few days ago on my blog site “Season over..” post). No HBO 24/7 and hopefully with less scrutiny from the fans and media, this guy will be able to focus on stopping pucks at the level we all have seen from him.

I understand as fans we have the right to speak our minds freely, complain and rejoice on all different sorts of occurrences. But does Mr. Universe have a point? I mean also as fans we want our players to be the best they can be, and if us not getting on Bryz’s case makes him his best, shouldn’t we refrain from it?

Follow me on twitter @EbbonDerr

Edited May 12, 2012 by toughbrotherlylove

[doom88]

Maybe he should be mentally tougher. He's paid a ton to play a game. Us fans have to go to work 40+ hours a week, put in a solid effort daily, and pay a handsome amount to go to games.

Bryz should either stop reading what people say about him (especially with the horribly biased and vengeful local writers), or just play better. Practice more if you're not getting it. Put in the effort and hard work. Sweat, care, and leave no question that you intend to do everything in your power to win. That will go a long way with an engaged fan base.

[aziz]

No HBO 24/7 and hopefully with less scrutiny from the fans and media, this guy will be able to focus on stopping pucks at the level we all have seen from him.

a goaltender playing for the flyers will never deal with "less scrutiny". neither will a goaltender playing for any of the 6, 7, 8 cities that take their teams seriously. if scrutiny=fail for bryzgalov, that means he will only ever have success with a small market club, and even then, only in the regular season.

the above is just talking about his focus issues, him making mistakes or not based on how much pressure he feels. beyond that, bryzgalov is physically and fundamentally limited, making the kind of goaltending that really seperates the good from the great out of his capability. he is immobile and he has the flexibility of someone with rigor mortis. if bryzgalov is in his happy place where he doesn't feel any stress, then we have seen he is capable of not giving up goals on lollypop shots from the blueline. when all is perfect in bryzgalovland -no bears, no lost in the woods, no fans taking notice of him- he is able to not embarass himself or his team. even then, though, he is not going to get from one post to the other in time to make a save on a cross-ice one-timer play. he is not going to be able to track a play behind the net quick enough to seal off the post on wraparounds if the dmen aren't at the top of thier game. deflections on shots wide of the net will always eat him up. he just doesn't have the physical capability, skating-wise or stretching-wise, to make those plays.

if the flyers can play perfect defense in front of him, bryzgalov can have success in philly, provided also that he is coddled by the press and the fans and doesn't feel like anyone has expectations of him. the problem is all defenses will have lapses and the press/fans are going to have expectations of a $51mil player. those two realities mean that the flyers will have limited and inconsistent goaltending for 8 more years or until they can find a way to start someone in front of bryzgalov.

[flyercanuck]

Last off-season the Flyers brought in Ilya Bryzgalov to solve the dreaded goaltending issue that has been one well, for about as long as I can remember. When news broke that the Flyers acquired Bryz’s rights and then finally signed him, I will admit, I was pretty excited. I agree with most people that his contract length is too long, but if Bryz plays to his full capability, the cap hit of $5.6 million is very reasonable, and I will certainly see the glass as half full rather than half empty.

Moving onto the actual season. Bryz started fine beating the defending champs 2-1 making many big saves. Then he continued his strong play in game 2 of the season against the Devils, bringing the first shutout to Philadelphia in a very long time. After these strong games, Bryz started to slip a little, and then a little more until it snowballed and he ended up finishing his first month as a Flyer badly.

Bryz then rebounded in the month of November going 5-2, with a little over a 2.00 GAA and a .918 save percentage, pretty respectable numbers that regained the confidence of the Flyers Faithful.

Then December came upon us, HBO’s 24/7 started up and the hype for the winter classic bolstered into a frenzy, and we saw the worse Bryz we would ever see. Putting up numbers (30 goals in 10 games and an abismal .878 save percentage) that would have any fan base question, “why did we sign this guy?” It seemed after his horrible play that month, the fans took a turn for the worse on him.

In actuality after the month of December Bryz started to improve month after month.

In January he posted a 2.75 GAA and a .912 save percentage.

In February he posted a .909 save percentage and only let in 21 goals in 8 games.

In March, well I do not have to tell any Flyers fan about Bryz’s month of March, it was absolutely phenomenal.

Bryz faced a lot of scrutiny over his first season here in the Orange and Black. Fans and media were never happy with anything he ever did (generalizing of course, I realize there are some that are excluded from the majority). Bryz recently came out in an interview and made some questionable remarks saying he would not wish on his enemies what he went through this season.

I still am a Bryz supporter and maintain, now that he has a full season under his belt with the Flyers and knows what its like to be in a city that has intense passion for the sport he will be better next year(Mentioned this a few days ago on my blog site “Season over..” post). No HBO 24/7 and hopefully with less scrutiny from the fans and media, this guy will be able to focus on stopping pucks at the level we all have seen from him.

I understand as fans we have the right to speak our minds freely, complain and rejoice on all different sorts of occurrences. But does Mr. Universe have a point? I mean also as fans we want our players to be the best they can be, and if us not getting on Bryz’s case makes him his best, shouldn’t we refrain from it?

Follow me on twitter @EbbonDerr

You see, that's how bad this guy is. He posts a .912 save percentage, or a 2.75 GAA, and people are applauding him. There are 30 goalies with better numbers than that...probably more. NONE of them made as much as Bryzgalov last season. None. You take his "breakthrough" stats of January and February and put them up against other starters and they're mediocre at best. Average. If you reach. March was great...whooppee! He was Michael Leighton in the playoffs. Actually, Leighton was better.