In April I wrote "Look for an Improved Hiller"
There have been people I've talked to who said Hiller didn't play very well last season. One of the main situations like I said in the April entry was the whole "You Win. You're in" by Anaheim's head coach Randy Carlyle; as one who hasn't been a fan of that since it started.
The goalie situation seems to be taken care of after J.S. Giguere was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Vesa Toskala. The only thing that the constant switching of goalies succeeded was basically nothing. The team in front of a goaltender played poorly while so many people say, 'oh just because a team played poorly he still should of had more saves.' Obviously there's saves a goalie should of made which could of changed a game in a win or at least helped. For the most part goalies can't score and they aren't skating on that ice that is set between and the opposing goalie. They're not skating down ice to 'crash the net' or put the puck in the back of it. Goalies also rely off of their defense. Obvious factor is goalies are a big part of their team. The "Win and you're in" punished the goalie.
One game Jiggy would be in net and then the Ducks would go home with a loss the next game Hiller was in. Then the Ducks would go home with a loss. RC could of handled the situation better. The fact that a either Hiller or Jiggy went in having to win. Winning is one of the best things in the world but RC made winning as if it were a force, like a parent who calls their child a failure if they don't get first place in everything; calls them a failure if they loose even one thing. Pushes too hard. Winning seemed more of task to each goalie than a want. Neither goalie could do anything about the team who didn't really do too much to win. At times seemed like they didn't even care. They could say something to help as a force for their teammates to win.
The issue is putting a goalie in for one game then benching him for the next because of a loss doesn't exactly help his confidence. If the team in front of them doesn't seem to want to win he'll start to lose that too. Constantly switching a goalie on a team doesn't "shake up" a team either. Professional athletes should be equipped for anything, that's why they're professional. Right? In a way yes but for the most part, no. Professional athletes are just as much human as we are (they just get paid millions for playing sports)
Changing the goalie would just confuse the team and need to 'change their game up a little' since every goalie plays a little differently. This in a way could interrupt a team in its play. Especially if they don't know who will be in net. Which is what Carlyle did at times, no one knew who was going to be in net that night.
The constant switching of the guard for each game is tantalizing to the goalie because it doesn't give him time to get on a roll. Sure, a goalie will be in net not perform up to what is expected of him and most of all up to his standards but at the same time gives his best effort despite struggling then he's benched the very next game won't give him any sort of consistency. As said before, it was like a parent calling their child a failure if they didn't win every single game, which is futile, setting expectations too high. If a goalie can't get the grip of his play then he'd perform worse than he knows he can.
Carlyle pretended to give Hiller some steady starts benching Jiggy for long periods of times. Giving Hiller at times too much play. While he was obviously exhausted from playing less than 24 hours later in a back to back games. Hiller did get his 30 wins but Carlyle could of made that road a little easier. While to give the benefit of the doubt to Carlyle, the goalie situation with two competitive goalies could be a taunting task. Carlyle just should of figured out a better way to handle both of his goalies. As in giving a goalie a few starts and letting him know he'd be starting instead of waiting at most the night before a game. If either Hiller or Jiggy had struggled mightily then bench him. Not punish him for one loss or pretend to give him some steady starts, then replacing him a couple games later because of a loss. Even if he performed fairly well.
Hiller was played too much near the end of the season. While his performance level went up slightly after Giguere was traded. Carlyle gave some sort of refusal to play Toskala which would of given Hiller a little more rest directly after the Olympics. Where Hiller admitted it was both mentally and physically tiring after the Games. When the Ducks finally acquired Curtis McElhinney. Hiller did get some much needed rest and it also helped improve McElhinney after playing very little behind star goalie Mikka Kipprusoff.
Next season though should be a lot less weight on the shoulders of Hiller. Which means he'll perform a lot better. Since the season ended, I've always thought that Hiller would be back to himself for the 2010-2011 season. While no spot is guaranteed until camp is over. The expectation is Hiller will be the official No 1 goaltender and McElhinney knows his role as a back-up goalie. No more confusing a goalie or poor mishandling by coaching staff. Ducks now have a No 1 and No 1B goaltender.
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