Amerks8796

Aside from the last week, UPL has been one on the worst goalies in the AHL over the last 3 years. Calling him up would be a terrible idea.

I’ve been hard on him, but haven’t really changed my opinion on him. He absolutely had a great week, and earned the award. But I need to see more out of him consistently, and longer term. Happy to be wrong on him.

As I posted the other day, I don’t get this team. Tons of talent, but they actually kind of stink Their record is a bit of an illusion. Appert needs to get it figured out, because they should look much better then they do based on their roster.

On a relative basis, yes. But even the worst NHL teams would smoke AHL teams with ease.

Davidson and Schuldt are both hurt. Edit: Davidson didn’t dress, but Schuldt left the game, so he may be getting extra ice time.

I’ve noticed a bit of a regression with this offense. Not as explosive, not finishing. They are fast, and they’ll produce chances on the rush, but they’re always getting dominated when it comes to puck possession. Strange team, they have a lot of talent, but don’t seem to really play to the level of their talent.

We’ve seen it, sadly. They get blown out. UPL barely gives them a chance to win.

Dell is an all star level AHL goalie. You just can’t keep him on the bench too much. He needs to be the starter. Excited to see what this team can be with him in goal, and Murray and Jankowski back in the lineup. I assume the Eichel trade will push someone down from Buffalo, too, and maybe a prospect on top of that.

Very few AHL teams have color analysts on the road. Pretty unheard of. I can’t remember the Amerks really ever doing it aside from some big playoff games.

Laval skated circles around them that period, Amerks lucky to be up. Dell misplayed a puck behind the net and Laval missed a wide open net, but he was good other than that. Felt like Laval had the puck the entire period.

Laval looks to be perhaps the best team in the division. It’ll be a tough game. I’d obviously like to see Dell play tonight, and Jankowski return to the lineup.

The ECHL is a better league than you’re giving it credit for. There’s zero harm in sending him down. Nothing bad happens. Either he gains confidence, plays well and comes back up to Rochester, or he struggles and the organization realizes they have a problem and address it from there. Right now he’s not even giving the Amerks a chance to win. How does that impact the game script? How does that impact how Quinn and Peterka play? I’d give him a couple more starts, and if there’s little to no improvement, the decision is easy. The only reason they wouldn’t do it is out of stubbornness.

I’m struggling to see the issue with sending him down to the ECHL. Do NHL players not get sent down to the AHL after previously succeeding in that league? Your point makes no sense. It’s not like he’s just playing so-so, he’s a couple saves away from having a save percentage in the 700s. That’s unheard of for professional goalies. And let’s tone down the excuse that he’s basically a rookie. He’s played over 50 professional games across 3 seasons. No, it hasn’t been normal, but it hasn’t been normal for anyone. It’s not an excuse. He’s regressing, and continuing to start him behind a suspect defense, when he’s already struggling, doesn’t seem like a great idea.

Let’s get one thing clear. I don’t need a lecture on what the Amerks are or what they’re around for. I’m not having that debate, and you might as well forget it. And even attempting to stick your nose down down on me for that aspect is ridiculous. Second, even if you’re going about this from a purely developmental aspect, absolutely nothing about a 5 GAA, and an .800 save percentage is ”development”. This is a goalie who clearly has no confidence, and is in over his head at this level of play. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going down to the ECHL to regain confidence. He has no business playing in the AHL right now, let alone as a teams starter.

He needs to to to the ECHL. You have this affiliation for a reason, and Houser can come up. Let UPL work on his game in Cincinnati for awhile until his game and confidence is back up. This is stupid. He’s started 3 games and has a 5.01 GAA and an .805 save percentage. What are we doing here? You can’t possibly tell me any of this is “development “.

Amerks started battling back to make it 4-2 and UPL let’s in another one. This is exhausting already. He needs to go to the ECHL.

Yes, but even worse is that’s over 3 starts. Not just tonight.

UPL currently has a .796 save percentage.

UPL actually made some big saves tonight, a definite improvement. I didn’t like the second goal against, though. He was in alone, but it was weak. Very weak goal against. But overall much better. Amerks really need to tighten things up. Couldn’t believe how casual they were with the puck. The game could’ve easily gone the other way if it weren’t for a couple posts.

I’d put their away blues up against anything. Love those uniforms. Even their various 3rd jerseys have been great. It’s one thing the Amerks have always excelled at lately.

Yeah I think he’ll eventually have a career as a decent goalie in the Finnish league.

He’s not even an AHL backup. His career AHL save percentage is .881. The worst qualified goalie in the AHL in 2019-2020 was at .898. He’s been that bad.

No. Ullmark was a far better goalie in the AHL compared to UPL. Ullmark was good pretty much from the drop of the puck. He had some minor issues like letting in soft goals, but he made a lot of saves. He never had a save percentage below .900 and it improved each season. UPL, on the other hand, has been truly awful since he turned pro, with the ECHL as the exception. He looks bad, let’s in bad goals in bunches, and his numbers are ghastly.

He’s been bad for the entirety of his professional career. No, he’s not 28 years old, but he’s shown absolutely nothing in Rochester and he’s been a liability almost every time he’s been on the ice.

UPL has an .882 save percentage in 26 AHL games. Those are 80’s numbers. Bad ones. He’s legitimately one of the worst goalies in the AHL.