2015-16 Report Card: Joni Ortio

Joni Ortio

Grade: C

FlamesMM: B-

As hard as I try to keep these report cards individualized, like many Flames Joni Ortio fell into an early season rut after having some rough games. He was eventually placed on waivers (and successfully passed through) to go down to Stockton where he put up numbers that were actually worse than his NHL numbers by this season's end. However some of it can be justified by the fact that the AHL is a much more offensively focused league when compared to the NHL. Ortio's first start after his February callup was a 2-1 loss to the Kings where he made 35 saves in a game that the Flames were thoroughly outplayed. In Ortio's 17 starts in the latter part of the regular season, he allowed two goals or less 10 times! Ortio has the potential at the very least to be a reliable young backup in the NHL which Matt Murray showed in these playoffs to be kinda important haha. Ortio was the best out of the Flame goaltenders this season and deserves to be back for more. He gets a B- because his poor start to the season and his numbers in Stockton but just barely. B-

Samwell9 – C-

I, like many other followers of the Flames had high hopes for Ortio that were probably unsubstantiated. His stats in the AHL prior to this season were never particularly special, other than in 2013-2014 where he posted a .926 save percentage in 37 games. Since then, his AHL numbers have been nothing close to that and while he had some strong games in the NHL in seasons past, he struggles with consistency and can be badly blown out now and then. In an ideal world, Ramo would have started this season with Ortio as backup, unfortunately the three goalie disaster eventually led Ortio to be waived to the AHL after a couple rough starts. Once Ramo had been injured and Hiller failed miserably in resembling an NHL goaltender, Bob Hartley finally conceded to Ortio and for the most part, Ortio looked pretty good. His stat line is not overly pretty but he had some strong games toward the end of the season and looked like he has the potential to at least be a solid backup at a low cost. I would be happy to see Ortio return as the backup to a solid starter, hopefully we find out soon whether Treliving feels the same way. Either way, Ortio gets a C- for his year.

MarkParkinson14 C

Joni Ortio is another example of everything that was off with the Flames goaltending this season. He was average. His start to the season was horrid. When the Flames called him up to help the situation, he made it worse. His stint between the pipes when Ramo got hurt and Hiller continued to be garbage was much better, but it still wasn't anything that would make you think Ortio is the future. Does he deserve a chance to make the team as a backup or compete for the starting role? Sure. He's young and has some upside, but when you're one of 2 goalies to be put on waivers during the season that's says everything.

BizzleJ: B

Joni Ortio in my opinion is the future franchise goaltender of the Calgary Flames. He had a great season in Adirondack, picking up 21 wins out of his 37 starts and had a save percentage of .912. His play with the Flames wasn't quite as good winning only 7 games out of his 22 starts, but in his defence, he had 5 overtime losses which could easily have been 5 more wins putting him over the .500 mark for wins. In the few games I personally watched him play, he played really well, made some great saves and looked very calm and cool under pressure. I give him a B grade.

MattyFranchise: D

HockeyGoalieEh: C-

Ortio was the best of the Flames goalies during the 2015-2016 NHL season. That's a lot like saying he was the healthiest patient in hospice. While Ortio was the best man in net this past year, he was still not very good.

Ortio came in at 45th out of the top 69 goalies in minutes played in adjusted even strength save percentage. That puts him solidly in the "mediocre backup goalie" range. To give you an idea as to how on-the-fringe that is, had he been just one spot lower on the list it would have lowered my rating from C- to D+ and that would have brought his group score down to a C-.

His statistics over previous years and in the NHL aren't anything to write home about either. A career backup is likely all he'll ever be and that's being generous. Given his numbers over the past four years, the Flames would still probably best be served looking for both a starter and a backup in the offseason.

by Michael MacGillivray