Philadelphia Flyers: Mason Gets No Respect
Sometimes I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. Like most Flyers fans, I watch Steve Mason have fantastic games night after night, but no one outside of Philadelphia seems to take him seriously.
I try really hard not to be overpowered by the orange-tinted glasses. Personally I think Philadelphia Flyers fans may get a little carried away at times about solid and like-able contributors like Wayne Simmonds, and have unrealistic expectations for Shayne Gostisbehere. Regarding Steve Mason, however, I just see outstanding goaltending from my seat on the bandwagon.
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I expected that he’d have earned some respect with his performance the last two seasons. While the Flyers have generally been playing a lot of mediocre hockey, Mason stands out to the naked eye and the stat sheet. By any tangible measure, this respect has not materialized.
When goalie rankings do pop up, Mason usually ends up in the 15-20 range. Last month, yahoo sports pegged him at #17, one spot behind unproven Jake Allen. EA Sports appears to be on the same page, putting Mason in about the same spot of NHL ’16 player ratings.
Exactly what is the evidence against Steve Mason? Many observers appear to see him as Jim Carey-esque player. Mason had a spectacular rookie year, winning 33 games, leading the Blue Jackets to their first ever playoff appearance, and winning the Calder trophy in 2009. After that season, 3 mediocre seasons followed for both Mason and the Jackets. The flaws in his game loomed ever larger, and he might never excel in the NHL again, they said.
Apr 5, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Flyers goalie Steve Mason (35) makes a save against Pittsburgh Penguins center Brandon Sutter (16) during the first period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Moving to the Philadelphia Flyers has been a huge lifeline for Mason. The proverbial “change of scenery” rarely pays large dividends, but it is hard to make any other conclusion for Steve Mason. In Mason’s final 3.5 seasons in Columbus, he limped along with an .899 save percentage and 3.13 goals against average.
He has looked like a different goalie in Philadelphia. As a Flyer, Mason has a .923 save percentage and a 2.36 GAA. Mason has been a Philadelphia Flyer for 2+ seasons and 100+ games, so that performance is getting increasingly hard to shrug off as a fluke.
To be more specific, since the date of his trade to the Flyers on April 3, 2013, Mason is #5 in save percentage across the whole league at .923. That is better than big names such as Henrik Lundqvist, as shown below.
If we further refine that data and limit it to 5v5 play, Mason rises up even higher, up to #3 behind only Rask and Price.
Mason appeared to be gaining some respect as he finished 7th in Vezina voting for the 2013-14 season. Last season he “slumped” to an 18-18-11 record behind a mediocre team, but to my eye he actually was playing better. Statistically, he WAS better, improving both his goals against and save percentage from 2013-14.
With a .928 save percentage, he was third in the NHL behind Price and Dubnyk for the 2014-15 season. In case you need reminding, Price won the Vezina and Hart, while Dubnyk was a Vezina finalist for those efforts. If we again limit this to 5v5 situations (thus excluding the Flyers atrocious PK as a limiting factor), Mason’s .944 save percentage last season was #1 in the league.
I don’t get the sense that Mason or anyone around the Flyers is terribly worried about this disregard for Mason’s play. I suppose this is one of those areas upon which us fans spend more time dwelling than the players themselves.
If Mason puts up another season of this caliber between the crease, while notching 30+ wins for a rebounding Philadelphia Flyers teams, the case against Steve Mason will no longer be tenable. He will have excelled in Philadelphia for just as long as he struggled in Columbus, and he should rightfully be viewed as a top-10 NHL goalie that is hitting his stride in his late-20s.
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