Anaheim Ducks Rant Week: Jacob Robles – Stop Blaming the Goalies

Pucks of a Feather’s contributor rant week continues. The Anaheim Ducks have a pair of great goalies. Jacob Robles reminds us to give the masked men a break.

Stop blaming the goalies. Yes, I’m talking to you. Stop it. Don’t make me get the spray bottle.

The Hard Knocks Life

Goalies. You love them or you boo them (if you’re from Philadelphia). I’m fairly new to the position, but I’ve always been a big fan of the masked men. It’s a position like no other and it’s easily the toughest.

Having to skate around in almost 20 pounds of equipment, while stopping a puck flying at you is no easy task (sometimes at speeds approaching 100 mph). The job requires great balance, a tough mind, and a flexible body. That body also needs the ability to handle physical abuse.

A Convenient Scapegoat

More from Pucks of a Feather

• Who could the Anaheim Ducks consider presenting offer sheets to?
• Is Pierre-Luc Dubois on the cards for the rebuilding Anaheim Ducks?
• Making the case for the Anaheim Ducks to trade with the Edmonton Oilers
• Anaheim Ducks might benefit tremendously by trading John Gibson
• How close are the Anaheim Ducks to becoming contenders again?

• Your Dman lost his man and couldn’t stop a 2-on 1 from breaking out and lead to a goal? Blame the goalie.
• The goalie stopping 40-50 shots a night? It’s his fault for getting hurt.
•  The defense is a mess and your goalie gets run by his own teammates? Blame him, again, for getting hurt.

This year was an odd one for Anaheim Ducks goalie hate. We bounced around a lot between saying John Gibson was bad, then saying he was really good, to Ryan Miller was great, to Miller is bad.

I have a little more to say in an upcoming article that dives into a heavily debated topic amongst the Ducks fandom, but this year’s goalie debate was ridiculous. In the end, Anaheim used three goalies on a consistent basis this season. That was due to the ever rampant injury bug decided that it wasn’t hard enough for the Ducks to just be missing forwards and defensemen!

Ride the See-Saw

Every one of them had their highs, and all three had their fair share of lows. Hey Jake, players get hurt, what are you getting at? I’m glad you asked! I understand how frustrating it is to have your number one get hurt on a consistent basis. I understand that having to rely on the second and third string consistently is frustrating.

You can’t solely blame them. There are five other players out on the ice that makes up a team. The goalie is the backbone, but the rest of the body has to do its job for the backbone to be able to hold up strong.

There’s a Man Behind the Mask

Yes, I want John Gibson to be 100% every year. But, nine times out of ten, that’s not the case. He’s young, he has some growing pains that in this case, are quite literal. It’s an issue for sure, but if you can’t love John Gibson when he’s ailing, trying to be the best he can be, you don’t deserve John Gibson when he’s stealing the Anaheim Ducks points in games they have no business being in.

Every goalie gives up weak goals. Yes, every goalie has a string of rough games. It happens. Goalies aren’t perfect and we know that. For that matter, nobody is perfect. You should realize that too. Gibson is ours and he’s here to say.

Next: Ducks Rant Week - The Five Stages of Grief

I was gonna make a Taylor Swift “Shake It Off” reference here to finish this off but I’m better than that and have some self-respect for myself. Instead, I’m gonna end it here with a thank you.