Man, everywhere I go folks are sleeping on Dan Ellis in Nashville. Disappointing really. I realize Pekka Rinne played real well last season. But in my opinion, the odds are starting to stack against him.

Here's a decent article summing things up:

http://www.thegoalieguild.com/?p=1798

Ellis is getting the benfit of the doubt this preseason. No pressure. And Rinne has the pressure. Can you say reversal of roles as seems to always happen in Tennesse? The stats from preseason show that:

39 Dan Ellis G 4 3 72 4 1.61 68 .944 0
35 Pekka Rinne G 4 3 50 10 3.97 40 .800 0

Don't forget how highly touted Ellis was before last season. Combine that with the fact that he's in a contract year and has made it known he needs to play real well to support his family, and you have all the makings of a sleeper that will take the #1 back. At the very least split games right down the middle... But I am confident that could change.

i'm a big fan of Rinne, but you're absolutely right. this situation is just like giggy/hiller one, and i wouldn't normally touch it unless i was desperate.

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@matsthomassen

Especially condsidering the solid preseason Ellis had and the dissapointing one Rinne had.

Ellis has something to prove.

I still remember that amazing game he stole against the Sharks last season - where he stopped something like 44 shots.

Too bad I drafted goalies high in all my leagues - I have no room for him =)

Yeah i drafted him rather late in my draft and was happy to still have him there, I already had 2 goalies but adding a guy like Ellis was a great bonus considerinG the spot i grabbed him, i am hoping for big things, a few teams in my league need a goalie, hopefully they are forced to come to me!

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The Comish's Dynasty Pool - YR1 Dual Champ!
G,A,+/-,PPP,PIM,SOG,W,GAA,SVS
3C- Toews $74, , Lecavalier $119, Madden $29
3L- McDonald (C) $65, Avery $60, MacArthur $22
3R- Semin $108, C.Stewart $5, Kopecky $12
4D- Phaneuf $107, Wisniewski $35, Goligoski $5, Robidas $50
1U- Ja.Williams $51
1G- Emery $5

BN- B.Stuart(D) $20, C.Bourque(LW) $5, Pickard(G) $5, Abdelkader(LW) $5, Conklin(G) $45, Y.Weber(D) $5, Leighton(G) $5

IR- Burish $17, Lupul $66, Hemsky, Bieksa

Cap hit $927

actually this doesn't really influence me at all. there are too many weird variables in preseason... the rosters of the two teams might not match well, your team could be trying a new system, you could have some real green rookies playing that contribute to those goals, the goalies themselves might be focusing on a particular aspect of their game as directed by the goaltending coach, etc etc.

unless i'm really familiar with the situation and watched all the games, i just throw out preseason statistics.

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@matsthomassen

WTH! LOL. You guys do know that link to the article I wrote on Ellis/Rinne was School of Block like 4 weeks ago?????

Yes, Ellis is a total sleeper. He is a very good, underrated goalie. The only reason he looked so "bad" last year was because Rinne was so freaking good.

There's a huge difference between losing the starting job (BUDAJ) vs. having it stolen by a wonderboy (Rinne).

Good to see my articles are making sense to everyone =)

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Meh - If I would put pre-season down to anything, it would be goalie form and only mildly.

I can see that guys like Nabokov and Kipper and some guys don't really give a crap, but really it is a good chance for a goalie to get up some rhythm before the season.

It's hardly the be all and end all. But I think that Nashville give Ellis a few more starts at the beginning of the season than everyone expects them too.

It will be interesting to see who starts the first game actually. My money is on Ellis. And he paves the way from there...

I think a lot of folks are of the mentality that Rinne is too good to lose the starting job now.

But Nashville is different from a lot of other NHL teams in that they have never been that way. They don't mind a good goalie controversy and they ride the hot hand.