In today's FTB Karina linked an article comparing Canucks/Leafs (http://www.suite101.com/content/vancouver-canucks-and-toronto-maple-leafs-trade-placesfor-now-a297817, written by Markus Hondro) and while it was poorly written and easy to ignore, it contains a comment, which I hear all to often: that Jean-Sebastien Giguere is coming off "three off years".  I feel this represents some generally held belief that Giguere is a has been and has been crap for years and I want to try to refute that by showing some stats (which I am not so great at, so wish me luck).

****This is my first attempt at a fan post so I would appreciate constructive criticism but please be warned about the terrible formatting that will follow.  As well please note that rankings relative to the rest of the league are based on Goalies with at least 30 GP that year.

So first off a look at this actual quote.  "three off years" would suggest 07/08, 08/09, and 09/10.  So here is his stat lines according to tsn:

So this quickly dispels the notion of "three years".  His 07/08 numbers (0.922, 2.12, 4 SO).  That was good for 3rd in S%, 2nd in GAA, and tied for 9-19th in SO, in the ENTIRE NHL.  So any arguments about his off years must be based on TWO off-years not THREE. 

My next thought was that he didn’t have a bad YEAR in 08/09. H

e was actually a top goaltender in the first part of the season (and was invited to the all star game) and fell off when his father died in December. His game just collapsed and he couldn’t seem to get his head in the game. So I went and looked up the stats using nhl.com (glove-tap to mf37 for providing me with the link).  And his numbers were actually a little worse than I thought: 

Just to show the graphical comparisons for his rankings relative to the year with those same stats:

So while his numbers weren't awesome at the beginning of the year they were still good and if looked at for that year, would have left him in 21st in S% (1 spot ahead of Stanley Cup winning MA Fleury), 42nd in GAA (so not good), and if SO were prorated to 4 (its a cumulative stat so hard to compare for smaller sample sizes), would put him in a tie for 14th-16th.  So I was wrong he didn't have a great start (which makes me wonder why he got the All-star game invitiation--probably because of his awesome 07/08), but at the same time it wasn't terrible like the rest of the year suggests.  So you could still call this an off year, but not as terrible as his overall year showed.

So lets look at last year (stats from tsn.ca):

So again I'll look at his 'relative to the rest of the league'.

So I would argue that being in the top 15 in all 3 stats would say it was a good year and he did that.  So therefore he just had a bad first 4 months.

So depending on if you consider his start to 08/09 a bad season he had either a bad 1 2/3 season or a bad 1 1/3 season.  Definitely not 3 seasons!

So that's the end of the stats and here is my opinion.  The man lost his father when he was only 31 years old and that is really traumatic.  When he came back from it he just couldn't be consistent, couldn't seem to keep his head in the game.  Goalie IMO is one of the most mental-based positions in professional sports, and if you can't be in the game mentally your screwed.  I believe he needed a change of scenery to get back to his form from just over a year before, and I think we may very well have that.  He is only 33 (not 43) and for a goalie that is not necessarily past your prime.  Looking at many of the top goalies in 09/10, many are in there 30s: Miller (30), Bryzgalov (30), Kippersoff (33), Vokoun (34), Nabokov (35),  Brodeur (38).  So at 33 he has some solid company that no one else stresses about. For an interesting comparison look at Kippersoff's 07/08 and 08/09 stats and then his rebound in 09/10.

Let's hope thats Giggy this year.

Cheers.