Tim Connolly..why is he not on IR??

[hopeleslyobvious]

Before Connolly comes back, we have plenty of salary cap room. When Connolly comes back, we have 2 spares: one forward and one defenseman. That's not optimal but it's not terrible either. After he comes back, if 2 forwards or 2 defensemen get hurt, I guess we would probably put one of the 2 injured guys on the 10-game IR so we could bring up someone from Rochester.

 

I have never been a believer in Marty as a #1 goalie. You don't have to convince me that he's not cut out for the job -- the 3 seasons prior to last year convinced me. If Miller goes out for the season, we are screwed. However, I think Marty is a really good backup. Last year, when Miller broke his thumb, I was assuming we would struggle to stay close to .500 while he was out. Instead, Marty ripped off 13 wins in a row. I know he wasn't Dominik-like during that stretch. But the team was comfortable and confident with him there and got the wins.

 

That's why I'm comfortable with him if Miller goes down for a month during the regular season or a couple of games in the playoffs. If we bring in somebody as a backup and then realize he can't play in the NHL, we could fritter away home-ice advantage in the playoffs. Wouldn't it have been nice to have had game 7 of the conf. finals in our building last year?

 

The other thing about having Marty is that I think it helps Miller, because (i) it creates a competitive situation that keeps him sharp and (ii) he doesn't have to live with the pressure of knowing that if he gets a night off the team is probably going to lose.

 

 

Since Connolly is not on long term IR right now the team is getting NO cap relief.

 

As for injuries later in the year, you can't just put a guy on the long term IR, he has to be diagnosed as having an injury that will likely keep him out 10 games or 26 days.

 

As for Marty's streak.

 

It was a good run, but remember that 7 of those games were against non-playoff teams (5 against Washington and Pittsburgh), he had a lot of goal support, and if he was playing that spectacular Mika wouldn't have gotten the start against the Rangers after his win in Boston.