Taking a break from the defensemen for a minute, at #6 we see the first goaltender on the list, Tyler Bunz. Goaltending is so very important come the postseason, Oilers fans should know this better than anyone as in recent memory Dwayne Roloson and Curtis Joseph both stole series for us almost single handily. If your memory is as bad as mine then perhaps the Boston Bruins surge to the cup on the back of one Tim Thomas might ring a bell?
The Oilers long term goaltending solution is still up in the air. One thing is for certain, Nikolai Khabibulin is not part of it and his career is on life support and being read its last rites. Devan Dubnyk is still up in the air although he had a solid year last season but he doesn't have enough of a track record to put a whole lot of stock into him just yet.
This leaves us with a number of goaltending prospects that we have been stockpiling in the last three drafts. Bunz has the size and seems to have the mental toughness to become a solid goaltender having gone head to head with the 2011 1st overall pick in the postseason and thwarting him and his teammates time and time again en route to a series win against Red Deer.
Unfortunately goaltenders are almost as hard to predict as the winning lotto number with the possible exception of really highly touted goaltenders. Even their success rate is hit and miss (see Dipietro, Rick). The Oilers have not had much luck in drafting and developing their own goaltenders, Dubnyk being the lone remaining representative drafted in the 2000's. You'd have to imagine that sooner or later that trend will be bucked and if so, why not Bunz?
2 comments:
I have faith that it will indeed be Bunz to buck the trend. He has the skills and the work ethic, not to mention the confidence. Not only that, but imagine the Oilers headlines with a netminder named Bunz. Amazing!
Well we have 3 guys with potential in Bunz, Perhonen, and Roy with Tuohima having an outside shot as well. If one of them becomes the goalie we need that would be exceptional. Besides he;s got decent size and he's a western kid so I like his chances in a goalie fight better than the other candidates even though Perhonen is a big boy ;)
Post a Comment