Canes Country Exit Analysis: Cam Ward

And the only reason I’m affraid he gets it is his relatively-low price tag for the year.
You can tell he benefitted from the defensively minded Mo, as I’m sure any G would have. Too many times was he left out to dry by the rushing defense pre-Mo. Seems like the reign of Laviolette was so very long ago.
Once he’s making 5-6M a year, he’s going to have to be awesome all year long to get an A from me. All that aside I think he had a fine stretch run and a pretty good playoff run. He’ll have to step it up a bit in the coming years to earn that big check, despite the defensive upgrades to the blueline. Perhaps the prospects in the wings will push him to excellence.

One last thought, I can’t wait for Brodour to retire so some other goaltenders can go to the all-star game.

His stats have gotten better every year and, as Cory stated, he’s only 25. Cward has a chance to be a top5 goalie in the NHL for years to come, and should be an All-Star soon. With an explosive #1 center like Staal and a potentially dominant goalie, the Canes are poised for a solid 5-7 years of competitive hockey.

I gave him an A – because of his age and therefore his “value” , still at an early point in his career. I think goalies are the hardest to rate because they’re alone in their position in each game. You can compare the skaters to each other on any given night against any given team.

I agree with much of C-Leaguer though on Ward’s inconsistency – which is what seems to separate the A’s from the B’s when it comes to goalies.

I def’ly agree with the comments about the change to Mo emphasizing defensive responsibility of all 5 skaters in are part of his improvement. I feel like this ongoing strength in our own end (eg: not having the likes of Babchuk crashing Ward into the goal in Boston – game 5? – too bad that didn’t invoke rule 69) and the elevation of Barrasso’s status this season will really help to see what Ward is capable of.

I liked the little bit in Branecky’s piece on Canes’ making great coaches where he mentioned Cam Ward was undoubtedly a future GM.

On a somewhat unrelated note, Cam Ward is my pick for future general manager. He works the phone on fantasy football trades like no other.

Question for all you laptop GM’s:

Would we rather JR sign him up long-term this summer (like he did with Staal last year) or wait till we see one more year to better understand Ward’s potential? I can’t imagine us walking away from an arbitration ruling, if that’s the worse case of waiting till next year (like happened to Zherdev and the NYR) Would Ward (or his agent) want the sure thing now or another year for him to demonstrate greater worth?

Cam was 12th in GAA with 2.44 allowed behind the likes of Mason, Brodeur…Thomas led the league. He was 14th in save % at .916%. And….he was 3rd in wins with 39 behind Kippersoff (45) and Nabakov (41). Perhaps this just illustrates the point that through the mid point of the season Cam struggled for consistency. He was nonexistent on the NHL leaderboard until the end of the season when he went on his marathon of starts. I think Cam should be ridden hard just like his hero MB and should play 70+ every year. Nabokov played 76. He seems to respond best when the world rests on his shoulders with no alternative backups. This may not be the best development scenario for prospects, but it seems to work for Cam. He is a proven winner with a great attitude and is rightly part of the backbone of our org going forward.

I gave him a B. I think his best years are ahead of him. He was one of the best this past season but is capable of much more. He is the type of guy who just improves and improves each year. If he can improve this season as much as last, he will be a top three guy. To get an A, he needs to take that next step.

Guys, we may be about to see Martin Brodeur in his prime all over again right here in CAROLINA! Next year he will likely earn an A from me.

Gee………lets get the season going already…….