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Calgary Flames

2015-16 Report Card: Jonas Hiller

The worst season of goaltending in a decade does not get you high marks.

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Jonas Hiller

F

Sv% 5V5 Sv% 5V5 Sv% Low 5V5 Sv% Med. 5V5 Sv% Hi Adj. 5V5 Sv% GP TOI W L OT/SL GAA
0.879 0.8954 0.9709 0.8815 0.8077 0.8999 26 1350.9 9 11 1 3.51

Samwell9 – F

I feel for Jonas Hiller, I really do. Despite putting together a 404 game, 9-year NHL career in which he had a 197-140-37 record, he just never seemed to have the full confidence of the organization he was playing for. In Anaheim he had to fight for playing time with a number of goalies such as Viktor Fasth, Frederik Andersen and John Gibson, while in Calgary he was competing against Karri Ramo. It was quite unfortunate for him, because he had routinely put up average to above average stats.

Last season, Hiller worked perfectly in tandem with Karri Ramo, carrying the load a bit more and ultimately posting better numbers. Hiller was big for the Flames in a number of games last year: the game he stopped 49 of 50 shots in Chicago, being a brick wall in the playoff clinching game against Los Angeles and some strong outings through the first 5 games of the playoffs against Vancouver. For some mysterious, unfathomable reason, everything changed for Hiller in Game 6 against the Canucks. Hiller allowed 2 goals on the first 3 shots of the game, Ramo came in and the Flames stormed back to that huge series clinching game 6 victory. Hartley went back to Hiller to start game 1 against the Anaheim Ducks in round 2 and Hiller provided more of the same from game 6. He let in 3 goals on 14 shots, the Ducks also hit a couple posts and Hiller looked incredibly uncomfortable in net.

Incredibly uncomfortable in net is how you could describe the entire 2015-2016 season for Jonas Hiller. He started the season as the second string goalie of the three headed goalie monster, but moved to being the starter after Karri Ramo was waived to the AHL after his own rough start to the year (not that Hiller’s start was much better). Hiller got injured shortly after Ramo was waived and missed a month of playing time. Upon Hiller’s return, Ramo had actually been playing quite well, so Hiller was relegated to backup duty, until Ramo suffered a season ending knee injury, making Hiller the de facto number one goalie due to Bob Hartley’s insistence not to trust Joni Ortio. In 9 appearances following Ramo’s season ending injury, Hiller had one single game where he posted a save percentage above .900. One game. He definitely did his part to help the Flames tank, before Hartley finally gave Ortio a chance and that was essentially the end of Hiller’s season, but not before an atrocious final NHL game in Anaheim, where he allowed 3 goals on 5 shots before being pulled. Sadly, that was Hiller’s final moment of his NHL career, he did not play the rest of the season, finishing with an .879 save percentage, a 3.51 goals against average and the worst save percentage since 2005-2006 when Andrew Raycroft of the Bruins posted an .879 percentage himself. It was a really terrible year and you really cannot give Hiller anything other than an F for his play this season. Thanks for last year Hiller, best of luck to you in Switzerland.

MarkParkinson14: F

When your Save % is .879 not much more needs to be said. Jonas Hiller had a good season in 2014-15 as part of a tandem goalie situation. So it would make sense to think he would be as good as he was the year before. Not so much. After putting Karri Ramo on waivers, Hiller slotted into the starting role and went 1-2 giving up 11 goals before being injured before Halloween and not returning until after Thanksgiving. And it's not like his return was anything spectacular either. Some experts say body language is over rated and not a good indicator of a player's psyche, but Jonas Hiller could prove that theory wrong. All Hiller had to do was give up 2 quick goals and you could see him deflate as if on cue. Calgary needed him to step up and he did the exact opposite. When you drop your last 5 starts of the season and look like you could care less about being in net, it's time to move on. Jonas Hiller had about as bad a season as you can have and for that he gets the dreaded F.

BizzleJ – D

When the Flames acquired Hiller, my first thought was, "Yes, this is the goalie that was played for the Anaheim Ducks that was stellar and typically a Flames killer. We finally have anothe Kipper!". Yah, that goalie showed up for the 2014/15 season, then this last season disappeared. Hiller's win percentage has typically been right around the .500 mark, including the 2014/15 season where the Flames made the playoffs and advanced to the second round where the wheels fell off against Hiller's old team, the Ducks. This past season however, Hiller's win percentage was around .346. His save percentage was low and his goals against average was on the high side. Granted, he was injured in October, and in my opinion, goalie injuries are more serious and likely to re-occur due to the physical strain on their bodies as they move from position to position. A goalie is never 100% after an injury, which is why I am giving Hiller a tiny benefit of the doubt and only giving him a D rather than an F.

FlamesMM – F

Let's look past Hiller's abysmal statistics and his consistent ability to let pucks fly past him. Let's look past how his 2014-15 season got us into a playoff spot before he lost it against the Ducks and never seemed to recover. No, let's look at his complete lack of care and effort once it became clear that the Flames weren't going anywhere this season. First of all, the fact that he was starting made no sense to anybody with half a brain, and secondly he still played ahead of goalies trying to make a mark in the NHL. My only plausible theory is that he had incriminating photographs of Brian Burke or Bob Hartley or some kind of dirt on the organization. Hiller's complete lack of effort and care for the organization that kept his hockey career alive after his bout of vertigo, showed that his days in the NHL were truly done. I almost wanted to give Hiller an insufficient grade since he probably had the same save percentage as a shooter tutor but I think that would let him off the hook too easily. F

HockeyGoalieEh – F

Swiss Jesus was persecuted last year. The fact that he wasn't the worst goalie in the league should make one question their faith in how general managers evaluate goalies and perhaps even humanity as a whole. He was certainly well outside of the top 60 goalies in save percentage, so he had no business being in the league. 2014-2015 Jonas Hiller – good to great. 2015-2016 Jonas Hiller – bloody awful.

by samwell9