The Calgary Flames were downed 5-2 by the San Jose Sharks in California as goaltender Jonas Hiller returned from his injury lay-off in the same poor form seen prior.
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It wasn’t exactly the ideal comeback for the Swiss goaltender, who had been out with a lower body injury, leaving the ice mid-game against the Ottawa Senators back in October.
Last season, he staked his claim as the number one guy in the net for the Calgary Flames as they went from strength to strength, rode some luck and had a solid play-off run.
This year, by comparison, has been somewhat of a reality check as he hasn’t managed to re-capture anywhere near that form, as seen in these statistics:
Now, granted it’s a little unfair to look at post-injury statistics as the sample size is minimal and quite frankly the whole Calgary Flames team under-performed against the Sharks.
However, a 3.67 goals against average and 0.861 save percentage prior to going down doesn’t exactly scream ‘hot’ goalie. Last year’s play-off run saw him play an equal number of games (seven) over a similar period and saw a very healthy 0.919 save percentage and 2.61 goals against average.
Looking at the statistical down-turn for Hiller at the start of this season compared to last year’s play-off run and last year’s regular season, there’s clearly something not quite right going on.
Could it be he struggled for confidence due to the three-way struggle at the start of the year for the Calgary Flames net?
Could it be that he knows this is his last year on contract and has allowed the pressure to perform and win a new one (or a trade) affect his game?
Could it be quite simply that last season was a bit of an anomaly for both himself and the Calgary Flames?
There has been no clear indication of what factors are truly clouding Hiller’s game but it’d surely be highly advisable for the Calgary Flames management team to find out and try their best to rectify the issue. With that said, this could already be occurring behind the scenes.
Given that Karri Ramo showed much better form as the month wore on and he made the crease his own, the expectation is that Ramo will be back in net next time the Calgary Flames take to the ice. Hiller will likely be benched and probably won’t see game-time outside of back-to-back games, an injury or significant dip in form for Ramo.
Beyond that, it seems rather unlikely that he’ll be retained by the Calgary Flames come the end of the season – it’s more likely they’ll look within the system to bring up a new goaltender, especially with some of the options (Jon Gillies, for example) they have available.
Next: Flames Need To Show Interest In Ryan Johansen
Should the Calgary Flames be giving up on Jonas Hiller or should he be given a little more time? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Stats courtesy of ESPN.com.