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Evidently Lalime forgot to pack his confidence when he moved to St. Louis.
Lalime will be placed on waivers Monday and the Blues will call up former Dallas first round pick, Goaltender Jason Bacashihua, from Peoria where he has cooled off as of late after getting off to a torrid start.
Lalime has puzzled the entire organization. He had proven to be a more than capable goaltender in the past.
What happened in St. Louis?
Lalime looked shaky from the very beginning. Teammates are getting sick of using excuses to defend his awful play. Head Coach Mike Kitchen couldn't hold back any longer following Saturday nights overtime loss to the New York Rangers. Kitchen blamed Lalime for four of the five goals scored against.
It became almost comical watching Lalime play goal. You could always feel when the Blues were about to get scored on. The constant scrambling, out of control, out of position play, always fighting the puck was driving Blues fans absolutely mad.
There were times Lalime looked flat out lost out there.
There is no question Lalime has been a complete bust for the St. Louis Blues. The team got off to a horrible start, Lalime got off to an atrocious start with them.
The shady play never won the fans or his teammates over. The Lalime Blues fans have watched is not the same goalie they thought they were getting. There is no question Lalime did not come as advertised. He never stole a game, you would think a goalie would get hot at least once every ten games or so.
Never happened.
In my opinion Lalime can still be a very good goalie. He never seemed to really like playing in St. Louis. I had several conversations with Lalime following losses this year where he didn't know what to say. Being put on waivers by the Blues will likely bring a huge sigh of relief to Lalime.
I am really having a hard time understanding why he played so bad though. You can't turn into Swiss cheese over night.
Was it the equipment change?
Maybe playing in front of such a solid defensive group in Ottowa covered up some of Lalimes weaknesses?
I have never seen a goalie give away so many games the way Lalime has this season. How many ugly goals was he going to allow in?
Finally Mike Kitchen said enough is enough!
It got to the point where it isn't fair to the rest of the team and the fans for Kitchen to continue to throw Lalime out there.
The bottom line is that you can't expect to play the way he did night in and night out and play in this league.
Call me crazy, but I don't think Lalime is a bad goaltender and I wouldn't be surprised if a team takes a shot and claims him. His price tag is a little hefty at slightly more than two million dollars. Lalime will be a free agent at the end of the season.
I think Colorado would be a perfect fit; they have a French-speaking General Manager who could help Lalime along. Atlanta and Pittsburgh are also possibilities. If given the right situation I wouldn't be shocked to see Lalime succeed somewhere else.
Theoretically a trade is still possible. Needless to say, Lalime doesn't have much value right now.
This guy is not a stiff.
He is just playing like one.
Blues prospect Chris Beckford-Tseu has been shredding the East Coast league in Alaska and is a likely candidate to be promoted to Peoria.
The most overrated Blues stat you can look at this season is plus/minus rating. How would you like to be a player that gets a minus because Lalime allows a puck to bounce off the glass then off his butt and lands behind the goal line?
I could have chosen several other examples.
There's an old goaltender joke where the goalie is so depressed that he jumps out in the street hoping to get hit by a bus, but somehow the bus sneaks through his five hole and right past him.
You could say that applies here.
In reality Lalime may be the nicest player I have ever covered and I hope he lands on his feet.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
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St Louis Blues Blogger •1380 ESPN •