Ben Bishop....USA Goaltender?

[yave1964]

  Ben Bishop defeated my Detroit Red Wings 3-2 last night. David Poille, Predators GM and the GM of the USA Olympic team said Bishop has deserved consideration as the goalie for the team. No kidding.

 

"Absolutely," Predators and U.S. team general manager Dave Poile said. "He's played terrific. He's definitely on our radar."

Poile said that for his evaluations, a player's recent performance is more important than anything done previously for USA Hockey.

"Especially for goalies, we need guys who are playing well this year," Poile said. "Certainly that favors somebody like Ben with how he's playing."

 

  The five netminders who merit consideration are Bishop, Ryan Miller, Jimmy Howard Jonathan Quick and Craig Anderson. Their statistics:

 

NAME         WINS     LOSSES    SAVE PCT.     GAA.

 

BISHOP          11              2                 .927            2.12

MILLER           2               11                .912            3.40

ANDERSON   4                6                  .912            3.12

HOWARD       5                9                  .911            2.74

QUICK            10              5                  .906            2.38

 

  Okay, I know as well as the next guy that a goaltenders record can be the result of his team, an elite team can carry a solid goalie and visa versa.

  Tampa has not been an elite team, in fact they missed the playoffs last season by a wide margin, an irrelevant also ran. You cannot say that Bishop has stumbled into the net minder job with the Blackhawks for Gods sake. It is the Lightning netminder job.

  These are the five goalies under consideration. Bishop is:

first in wins,

first in win pct.

first in save pct.

first in GAA.

 

  In fact on a club that missed the playoffs last year at this point he LEADS ALL GOALTENDERS IN WINS THIS SEASON.

 

  If his statistics do not take a serious fall between now and January first there is no way no how someone could justify leaving him off of the USA Olympic team. No way.

Edited November 10, 2013 by yave1964

[flyercanuck]

My concern for Bishop would be he's never really played in a pressure situation like the Olympics. Quick showed he could play with the best of them in winning a cup. Miller has shown a tendency to get off his game easily. Anderson has had decent playoffs but nothing that make him stand out. Howard has had some good runs.

 

 Of course as a Team Canada fan, I've got my own goaltending worries.

[HockeyLady]

I say he deserves a shot at being TEAM USA's goalie in the Olympics... He's proven himself already in the top notch NHL so, he definitely IMO deserves a shot here for my TEAM USA.

[yave1964]

  I think my three would be:

 

Starter: Quick. Been there done that deserves to be the starter based off a combination of past performance and the fact that he is having a decent season.

 

Bench:

Bishop. Nobody of the options is close to him for the season he is having this year.

Anderson. With the asterisk of he has to be healthy

 

 That leaves Miler and Howard on the outside looking in and that is fine with me.

[jammer2]

@yave1964  From a USA perspective, it would be good to get a nice young goalie acclimated to the Olympics/International hockey. Even if he sits on the bench and maybe plays a few games against Belarus etc,  it would be a nice breaking in experience. Bishop was a big reason why the Sens didn't fall apart when they lost Anderson for a few months last year. Great size and quickness. Even as a 3rd goalie it would be a nice learning experience. I like his potential, but realistically, if Anderson plays like he can, I can't see Bishop beating him out for back up.....but just being there would be a big moral victory.

 

 I'd take Bishop over Howard or Miller at this point. Howard is older and has had his fun, time to break in the kid. Miller...well, my thoughts on him are well documented.