This is why I love Janus and why he goes up...coincidentally Helenius stays exactly where he was last month:

TAMPA — Lightning goaltenders coach Cap Raeder moved his hand up to describe the improving game of minor-league G Jaroslav Janus. To describe Riku Helenius, Raeder's motion was flat.

"Helenius, he's working hard; there's nothing wrong with him," Raeder said. "But (Janus) is like this, so we have to take advantage of it."

That meant signing Janus, who was with Erie of the junior Ontario Hockey League, to a three-year, entry-level contract and assigning him to AHL Norfolk.

With Dustin Tokarksi the Admirals' No. 1, Helenius is the odd man out, a notable demotion given the Finn was drafted 15th overall in 2006.

It will be interesting to see where Helenius lands.

GM Brian Lawton said Tokarksi and Janus will get the bulk of the playing time for now. But he also said, "We want to keep all the guys playing," and a loan to an ECHL team was a possibility for one of the three. Lawton said a solution could come within 10 days.

Janus, with 27 saves Saturday in Norfolk's 3-2 loss to Adirondack, gets credit for creating the nice problem.

Drafted 162nd overall last year, he was 7-4-2 in 13 games for Erie with a 2.81 goals-against average and .918 save percentage. Lawton said Janus needs better competition to take the next step.

Raeder said he was convinced during a recent trip to Erie, where Janus used techniques taught at last summer's rookie camp and September's training camp.

The main lesson: Use positioning and technique to make saves instead of reactions.

"It's a hard thing to teach," Raeder said. "When I went to see him in Erie, all I expected was, 'How far has he reverted back?' That happens all the time. He's been away from us for two months. Did he revert back? He didn't revert back at all. It was, like, 'Whoa.' "

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Here you go everyone, as promised, updates through December (and a few through Jan 3)!

http://www.thegoalieguild.com/?page_id=2525

Since I had to run a tournament over the weekend, get this taken care of and do my mid-season guide for Dobber, I won't be posting a full-blown School of Block column today. Give me 30 lashes for missing just my third week in the last three years!!! ARGGGH!!!

BUT, have no fear, I will at least spend the rest of today (up to 7pm EST) answering questions and posting my reasons behind goalies going up and down in the rankings. So I guess call it a Prospects day.

I'll be sure to post some good thoughts on Martin Jones, Marc Cheverie, etc, here in a bit!

Thanks for everyone's patience =D Crazy tournaments are so fun to run but totally draining!

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Hey so the kings signed Quick to a pretty low contract I noticed and bernier has been playing like a god in the ahl .940 save% 2.02 GAA 16-9-3 with 4 shut outs. So by lomb signing quick to that kinda deal does this indicate he is just there until bernier takes over? and if so when do u think he will??

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10 Team Roto League; 20 Keepers;
Start 3C,3LW,3RW,1U,5D,2G

Stats: G,A,Pts,PPG,PPA,Pims,+/- W,Sv%,Sv
C: Tavares Thorton
LW: Moulson Clowe
RW: Hossa Gaborik Pomminville Pavelski Sharp Purcell Voracek Heatley
D: Letang Timonen Bieska Boyle Visnovsky
G: Smith Nabobov Bishop Lindback Ramo Luongo

12 teams 12 keepers
Points Only

F: St. Louis Giroux Semin Selanne Tanguay Havlat Ju. Williams Hornqvis
D: Goligoski Lidstrom Wisniewski Whitney Souray
G: Fluery Varlamov Brodeur
Farm: Josefson J. Campbell J. Moore Bartschi

Yes, you could say that Quick is a gap-filler until Bernier takes over for good. But the Kings have seemingly found a gem, so I think the reason you see Quick playing so many games is because they are going to ride him as much as possible in order to see what his full or long-term potential will be before next season.

I fully expect Bernier to make the Kings out of training camp next season and the Kings will go from there. Bernier will have to earn the starting role and will have to take it from Quick, who won't give it up easily. Ersberg will obviously be the odd man out and not sure if he will be traded for future assets or sent down to Manchester to play with Jeff Zatkoff.

But yes, you could say that Quick is just in place as a way-better-than-expected filler. Quick had zero expectations on him when he was signed by the Kings and it has worked out extremely well so far. Just goes to show what happens when you actually roll the dice a little and take a chance with a prospect that has any kind of potential.

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How come Niemi isn't ranked higher than he is? Is it just the Hawks defensive game being so good that Niemi looks better that he actually is?

I would have expected him to be higher than guys like Tokarski, Murphy and Irving.

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Keeper League w/cap, points only
goalies are wins(2)/shutouts(5)
(G)Rinne, Roloson, Elliot
(F), Bolland, Flieshman, Frolik, Malkin, Tangradi, Langenbruner, Hossa, Voracek, Giroux, Lieno, Downie
(D)Zidlicky, Babchuk, Boychuk, Franson, Giordano
(R)Lehner, Carlson, Peters

Niemi has been awesome this season, but for long-term keeper status, it remains to be seen how he handles starter-like minutes. He is mentally tough, which is a major step in the right direction, but until he plays more, he needs to have a realistic ranking.

Also, his style is really, really raw. It is not very refined or very efficient for the NHL. He can get by with this style on a strong defensive club in limited action, but if he were to take over the starting role, he would probably have to fix a lot of aspects of his game.

When you look at goalies like Mike Murphy, Dustin Tokarski, etc, they not only have a much more efficient and effective butterfly style for today's NHL game, but they know how to handle a heavy workload. It's not to say that Niemi isn't capable, it's just that he hasn't proven it to me yet.

But the good news is that he continues to rise and he is making me a believer. I have been very impressed at his mental toughness and his ability to win games when facing very few shots ... and regardless of the score, when a big save is needed, he's capable of making it. So one massive step into him turning into one of the best long-term fantasy keepers has been taken.

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When do you think Markstrom will take over as the Florida #1? 2010? 2011?

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Go Avs!

14 Tm H2H Y! Dynasty
G, A, PIM, +/-, PPP, SOG, BLK
W, GAA, SV%, SHO
2C, 2LW, 2RW, 2F, 4D, 2G, 3Bn, 5IR

C: Giroux
LW: Parise, Hall
RW: Eberle
D: E.Karlsson
G: Lundqvist, Bobrovsky
IR:

Farm (17): Players < 164gp | Goalies < 82gp
Galchenyuk, Landeskog, Tarasenko, Kuznetsov, Silfverberg, Schultz, Vasilevsky

Goldman, do you think Lehner will be the Sens back-up next year or will we still have a Leclaire-Elliot tandem. Also, do you think he has the potential to have a better career than his Swedish counterpart Markstrom?

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Great job, aside from no JDD again haha. Where do you think you'd place him since he probably won't be eligible next update?

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10 team H2H Dynasty Year 4
G A +/- PIM PPP SHP SOG FW
W GAA Sv% SHO
3C - Crosby, Krejci, Berglund, Desharnais, Henrique
3LW - Burrows, Tanguay, Ennis(C), Datsyuk(C), Ott (C)
3RW - Giroux(C), St.Louis, Franzen(LW), Selanne, Bartschi
4D - Myers, Subban, Visnovsky, Hedman
2G - Rinne, Lehtonen, Neuvirth



Farm:
F(<164gp): Nyquist, Stepan, Morin, Schwartz, Toffoli, Grigorenko, Rattie, Conacher
D(<164gp): Rundblad, Gormley
G(<100gp): Holtby, Lack

I don't think Markstrom is going to be rushed at all into North American hockey. There is a growing sentiment (I'm thinking Dakkster can back this up for me) that most Swedish-native goalies like to stay in Sweden as long as possible. I would say 2011 is more realistic year, but for "taking over" the starting role, don't be surprised if 2012 is when he really starts to soak up some NHL minutes.

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