The big headline entering the season for the Calgary Flames was the addition of free agent defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, and a new emphasis on defense with defensive minded coach Brent Sutter taking the vacated helm behind the bench.
There were a lot of unanswered questions in the Flames camp, such as where the production of offense would come from other than Jarome Iginla, especially with the loss of free agent Michael Cammalleri to the Canadiens, and how the Flames would play under new head coach Brent Sutter. But one of the biggest question marks was the play of goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff.
Wins are/were never a problem for the Finn, but after his breakout season in the Flames 2003-04 cup run and his Vezina trophy (awarded to the leagues best goaltender) winning campaign in 2005-06 his stats steadily declined—until this season.
Nearing the midpoint of the season there’s little argument that Kiprusoff is Calgary's MVP thus far. As of December 15 he is fourth in the league posting a .928 SV% and fifth in the league with his 2.18 GAA.
One big criticism of former Flames coach Mike Keenan was that he rode Kiprusoff too much, and was relu ...
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Article written by Derrick Light
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