Hard to say if this comes from being a Myers fan or not but I have to go with the 19 year old kid over the 26 year old. At 19 with no big game experience Myers comes in and dominates. Howard had 4 seasons in the AHL to get his feet wet and came up a few games to play for the Wings during that time. Not only does being 26 give you maturity, perspective and more time to get better as a hockey player but it also helps prepare you for being thrust into the spot light. Myers came in cold so to speak from the WHL, fought for a spot and got it first time out of the gate and then had a great season. A kid making it at 19 is a big difference than 7 years later. But like I said, I'm a Myers fan.

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the wings were in 11th before they officially handed the reins to howard. i mean, you have a first year player, and he has numbers that almost mirroring millers, who is far and away the vezina favourite, you have something special. if miller wins the vezina, which i think he does, then a first year player whose stats are right there with his, a slice lower, that to me gives you the calder. its not like howard was just the best rookie goalie, he got snubbed of a vezina nomination, which many thought he was going to get.

its not a case of him just playing well, its him playing with the elite, at least for one year.

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I still am going for a 19 year old without any professional hockey experience over a guy who had so much more time to develop into a goalie.

Even if he is still a rookie, he's had much more time. Howard should get second behind Myers, especially since Myers had numbers in his rookie year comparable to some of the better defense men in this league.

19 year old>26 year old.

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I had this argument with Mike forever ago when I wrote a blog post about it. There's no changing his mind.

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mechaphil

i never change my mind. im stubborn.

weve had good discussions. and in most years, id give it to myers, hands down. i like the kid alot. though i do question his toughness.

ANYWAYS. still. if a rookie goalie comes in, and puts up numbers on par with an elite goalie, that to me is special.

and another thing. myers turned 20 before howard turned 26. you cant use the 19 year old defense, then go with howards current age. i know it doesnt make a huge difference, but we need to even, ya know?

age is age, and i know it skews people, but sit back, and ignore the age for just a second. look at their years experience in the NHL. both were rookies. now look at howards stats. ignoring age, ignoring myers jersey, would you change your mind? thats how you need to approach this.

if the answer is still myers, thats cool, i do hope he wins it. but to me, i still think howards season was more special. just how i see it.

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If Miller doesn't win the Vezina, I'm going to go all Kanye on their ass. "Yo Ilya I'mma let you finish...but Ryan Miller had the best 09-10 season of all time... OF ALL TIME!"

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

I know, but age should be a huge factor.

When Nabby and Belfour won at 25, there wasn't anyone who possibly could have won the Calder then. I looked back on numbers of the second place people and no one was as impressive as Myers was this year.

When Belfour won it, the only one close would have been Federov with 79 points in 77 games.

Nabakov had no competition that year, Sedin's, Gaborik, Richards, Turco?

Same thing last year with Mason winning it, yes he was younger than both Ed and Nabby, but no one came close to deserving it.

I'm sorry Mike, but you can't ignore age or experience in this, a rookie is not a rookie when a person has 4 years of AHL experience under their belt compared to only Junior experience.

Myers never tasted a NHL game unlike Howard this year. Myers went to playing 50 games a year in Juniors to jumping into an 82 game schedule that was all fucked up because of the Olympics.

Had Howard put up those numbers at age 20 or 21 without ever playing an AHL or NHL game it goes to him hands down.

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Years exp. in the NHL:
Jimmy Howard, age 25/26 -
2005/2006: 4 games
2007/2008: 4 games
2008/2009: 1 game
2009/2010: 63 games

Tyler Myers, age 19/20 -
2009/2010: 82 games

Sure, that was Howard's "rookie" year, but the fact of the matter is, he's had NHL experience in small doses going back five years.

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mechaphil

Actually, Myers played 58 regular season games + 22 playoff games + 3 Memorial Cup games + CHL All-Star Game + 6? 8? WJC games in his final junior season. Just setting the records straight.

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mechaphil

Thanks Phil, but he played 88 games this year also, got to count the 6 playoff games too.

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His final year of junior he played 90 at least *ahem*

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mechaphil

yeah, but how many goaltenders go in cold turkey? not many at all. and those who do, are rushed and typically get ruined. i think masons going to be special, but he shouldnt have sniffed the NHL till 09-10. (and howards season was better then masons, by alot)

and the last time i checked, aaron, the calder goes to who has the best season in their first NHL season, not professional rookie.

the nature of the position dictates a slow development. goaltending is a not a "ready to play" position like forward, and to a lesser extent, defense. also, goaltending, because of the limited number of spots, creates logjams, and sometimes goalies get stuck back. that doesnt happen to forwards and d-men as much because of the injuries suffered and man games lost is much higher. a kid can come in and play on occasion.

howard should have been up in 07-08 though. he really should have been.

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How many defensemen go in cold turkey and don't get ruined? There's a reason it's called the hardest position to play in the NHL.

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mechaphil

defense is harder then goaltending? bull shit. i think defense takes the longest to perfect, thats for sure. but hardest position? 5. STRONGLY disagree.

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Whoops, you actually caught my typo for me - the saying is "hardest position to master".

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mechaphil

whew. i was gonna say! yeah, i can dig that phil. different pages, but its all good. i wont be shocked no matter who wins. unless its NOT myers or howard.

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Well, I can say if Duchene wins, foul play is afoot.

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mechaphil

We have different views, and I won't be mad if Howard wins over Myers either.

Both deserve it.

Myers wasn't a guy who was leaps and bounds over people, he played well enough not to screw up often and that is what defense is all about.

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If Howard wins over Myers it will have nothing to do with his stats, and all to do with a HUGE headstart and the Wings being the Yankees of hockey.......that team is STOCKED full of veteran leader/all stars. And, as its been said, Howard has 3 years of college and 4 years in AHL to develop. For God's sake the kid played 186 fuckin AHL games before coming up full-time, and to ME that does not in any way = rookie.

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"I can't really hear what Jeremy says, because I got my two Stanley Cup Rings plugging my ears...." -Patrick Roy in reference to Jeremy Roenick's trash talking

as someone who watches the wings every game, i can tell you, the red wings were downright bad alot of nights this year. that was NOT the same team as years past.

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