Chet at the heart of a goalie controversy?

Ass pat to Ms. Conduct for passing this link to me.

So - enter Chet Pickard? At the time of our first article, there was no other viable option for the Admirals, as Pickard had played only one game and got shelled at Abbotsford. That may no longer be the case.

His season numbers still look awful; a 3.64 GAA and .871 save percentage. But take out that horrible professional debut in Abbotsford - and Pick's got a 1.98 GAA and .925 save percentage. The difficulty in evaluating Pickard is still the small sample size; he only has three starts under his belt. But watch him play and you see the poise and the positioning that makes him a top prospect in the Predators system. As uncomfortable as Dekanich looks, Pickard is beginning to look like he belongs.

The big question here is: Can you really trust a 19 year old to be your primary goalie? Grand Rapids is the only AHL team giving regular playing time to a goalie so young. Thomas McCollum is actually younger than Pickard - by a week - and has started most of the griffin's games. However, he has also provided the types of peaks and valleys that can usually be expected with the youth. He surrendered only 1 goal three times this year; but he also gave up six goals in a game...and 7 goals in another game.