Interesting Stats at Fox Sports' Site

I was at Fox Sports' website the other day, making sure I hadn't missed any Theo interviews. And I actually looked at a profile of him on there, and it had some interesting statistic charts.

Here are bar graphs showing his stats since 2002. You can click the GAA, %, or wins tab.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/player/jose-theodore/careerstats/66562

Then on his profile tab, it shows a goalie comparison for the league and where his stats fell. He's above average for all 3, and I think that's awesome, since he didn't have much of a chance to prove himself or get in a groove.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/player/jose-theodore/66562

I have always said though that stats don't tell the story of how great José is though. It's the intangibles that are the real story. His perseverance, his heart, his kindness, his work ethic, his personality, his goodness and how he supports his teammates. Those are the things that I find most telling about what type of player he is.

José's Appearances in Les Morissette

Thanks to Val for sending me this link quite a while ago. I wanted to wait until off-season to post it, then I needed to find where I'd stored it. ;o)

Anyway, for those that don't know, José's wife is Stephanie Cloutier. Stephanie's sister, Veronique, is a radio and TV personality in Montreal. Her husband (or boyfriend?), Louis Morissette, is a comedian and they had a reality-type show back when José still played in Montreal. And José and Stephanie made appearances in 2 of the episodes. It's all in French, so I can't understand it, but it's still neat to see, even if the quality isn't that great.

I'll supply the link, and they appear in Episodes 8 and 10. In #8 they are in the first minute of the episode. In #10 you'll want to fast forward about 2:00 to get to the José part.

http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/xnnsx_CamDo_les-morissette/1#videoId=x6tk6p

Val gave me this summary:
In #8, Louis is first asking Theo about his teammates' nicknames. Then Stephanie comes in holding Louis and Veronique's daughter and José says something that sounds like "Uncle José" and acts like he's going to hold her, but Louis steps in. He doesn't want him holding her, because he's afraid she'll make him sick, and he won't be able to play in the game against Toronto. ;o)

In #10 (fast forward to 2:00), José and Stephanie bring in a bag of his old clothes and try to give them to Louie. But he says he doesn't need their charity. ;o) He says something about taking the clothes to a shelter, but the one he mentions is for women's clothes, indicating that some of José's clothes are more suited for women. :p

Thanks, Val!

I'm just going to say...I love seeing José in jeans...and leave it at that. ;o)

José Mentioned in Article about UFA Goalies

Over at In Lou We Trust on SB Nation (a NJ Devils blog) John Fischer wrote an article about upcoming UFA goalies and why the Devils should try to resign Hedberg. But there was mention of José and a nice chart of UFA goalies' stats from this season. Here's the table (click to enlarge:)

I have to say though, that I don't see José signing with anyone as a back-up, unless it would be Minnesota again. I could very possibly be wrong. I don't know why I would assume to know what he would prefer. But if he's going to be a back-up, I would think he would either stay in MN or possibly sign with a team that might be more of a contender. New Jersey would not be that, I doubt. My thoughts are that he will either sign as a #1 somewhere, and if that's not a possiblity, then he'll resign with Minnesota. But only time will tell.

And here's where they mentioned José:

There are three guys below Hedberg on this chart who I also would not mind having as Devils next season. While they didn't perform as well as Moose at even strength save percentage, Jose Theodore, Alex Auld, and Mathieu Garon did decently enough last season and actually commanded lower cap hits than Hedberg. Theodore also has the added appeal of once being a starting goaltender in this league. Should the situation arise, there wouldn't be any need to panic if he has to step in between the pipes. Auld has the benefit of being even younger and possibly available for a little cheaper than Theodore. He's bounced around the league and has gotten significant minutes as a starter for a couple seasons. He didn't stick as a starter in Vancouver (understandable after his 2005-06 season) or Ottawa (not so understandable in 2007-08?). Garon's numbers are similar to Theodore's except for overall save percentage; and he would be a good option if Hedberg, Boucher, Theodore, and Auld all say no.

Using Big Huge Labs to Have Fun with Theo Photos

A friend pointed me toward a cool website the other night where you can do fun things with digital photos. So I've been playing. Here are a few things I've done. Oh, the site is http://bighugelabs.com/

You can mat photos:

Name badges:

Create crazy collages:

Mosaics

Captioned Posters

Make color photos black/white:

And pop art

There are others, but that's all I've done so far.

I Promise There Will Be Posts...Soon

I wanted to let you all know I'm not abandoning the blog just because there is no new Theo news. I've just been really busy, and I haven't had time to go digging through my old files/folders for older stuff that I haven't posted before. I promise I will try to make at least one or two posts a week though.

FYI, I'm pretty sure José is back in Montreal. There was a tweet on Monday from a girl who said she saw him at a restaurant in Montreal, so I'd say he's back home for the off-season.

I found these photos the other day from the Detroit game. They show how crowded his crease can get sometimes.

Photos from 2008 Pee Wee Practice

On the Avs' official website I found a set of photos from a Pee Wee Practice that José partipated in back in Feb 2008. The adorableness of kids in goalie gear and Theo together is almost too much for me to stand. :o)

It's Sad When Theo's Season is Over

I've been trying to adjust this week to not having Theo to watch for months. It's a sad feeling. I'm sure I'm not as disappointed as he is though.

There probably won't be much happening in the way of Theo news for a while, so I'm going to work my way through old articles and videos that I might not have posted. If anyone has anything they'd like me to consider, just shoot me a message.

Just gonna start with these two photos from the CapsCare Casino Night and Auction from January 2010. He was playing drums in the Rock Band station. In the 2nd photo you can see Stephanie in the dark blue dress, and it looks like she's holding the rock star's suit jacket. ;o)

From Russo after Sunday's Game

I forgot to blog this earlier, so I'll do it now. In Mike Russo's Wild Notebook he wrote about Theo's friendships with Ribeiro and Robidas.

Theodore has one guy's back, but not three

Article by: MICHAEL RUSSO , Star Tribune

Updated: April 10, 2011 - 11:55 PM

The defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks owe the Wild a big piece of their playoff revenue.

All eyes in the NHL, especially in Chicago, were on Minnesota on Sunday night as the Wild, one way or another, would determine the final playoff spot in the West.

Thanks to the Blackhawks losing to Detroit earlier in the day, a Wild regulation or overtime loss to Dallas would send the Stars to the playoffs. A Wild victory would send Chicago.

Who'd the Wild help?

"I've never been more excited after a hockey game in my life that I didn't participate in," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "I was acting like a 2-year-old ... celebrating his birthday."

The Wild won 5-3, in large part because Jose Theodore, who played for Quenneville in Colorado, made 26 saves and ruined the day of two of his best friends, Stars players Stephane Robidas and Mike Ribeiro.


"Coach Q in Chicago, he knows I have his back," Theodore said.


And what about Robidas and Ribeiro?


"Warmups, they were trying to bribe me and everything, offering me money," Theodore said. "During the game, Ribeiro kept telling me he needed one, he only had 19 goals. Every time I was making a save, especially at the end against [Brenden] Morrow, I just looked at Ribeiro.


"I'll bug those guys in the summer."

Brad Staubitz, Jared Spurgeon, Colton Gillies and Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored for the Wild, and in perhaps his final game with the Wild, free-agent-to-be and former Stars winger Antti Miettinen broke a 3-3 tie with the eventual winning goal against his old team.

Coach Todd Richards said the Wild was motivated by the drama, but as Andrew Brunette said after possibly his final game with Minnesota, "It never feels good to be a spoiler. Trust me, you'd rather be in [the playoffs]."

Theodore to weigh options

Theodore won his 15th game and the former Hart Trophy winner hopes he'll be a No. 1 somewhere next season.


"I think I did everything I had to do to have some options for next year," said Theodore. "I had a great time here."


If he can't find a No. 1 job, Theodore said, "For me, the door is still open [to return]. I'll see my options."

José Had to Decline Invitation to Worlds Due to Small Injury

Thanks to Val for sending me the tweet she saw about this. My internet was down most of the night last night, so I was out of the loop for a while.

renhockey (reporter for rds):
Team Canada ask #wild José Théodore to be their #1 goaltender at the World in Slovakia. He had to say no because of a small injury.
 
I wonder if the small injury is the leg issue he had a bit ago, when he missed a practice. It would've been nice to see him play in the Worlds.

Theo Made an "Appearance" in Going Five-Hole

Check out "Dishy Goalie Monday--José Theodore"

http://goingfive-hole.blogspot.com/2011/04/dishy-goalie-monday-jose-theodore.html

I love when our guy is recognized for all of his "attributes" elsewhere online. :o)

From Mike Russo After the Game

In Mike Russo's Rants after the game:

José Theodore made 26 saves in what may have been his last game with the Wild. He had some funny stuff to say to me after the game, so check out the paper. He also said he feels he’s done everything he can do to prove he warrants being a No. 1 in this league, and I wholeheartedly agree.

Selfishly, I’d love to see him back because the dude is a class act and I thoroughly enjoyed getting a chance to cover him. But he deserves and should be a No. 1.

What I think he should do and the Wild should do is this: There’s going to be lots of goalies available this summer to back up Niklas Backstrom. The Wild could still get a quality backup even if it waits until mid to late July. Give Theodore a window to look for a No. 1 job. If he can’t find one, leave that spot open for Theodore. He said in his mind, the door is still open and he’d like to return because he loved it here. But he feels he owes it to himself to check his options first.

Last Gameday, Wild vs. Stars, W 5-3 (Theo in Goal)

I couldn't see this game on Gamecenter, because of a blackout. I assume because it was being shown on NHL Network, which I don't have. So I was bummed about that, but I should be able to see the Gamecenter feed in 48 hours to get some wonderful shots of goalie love! The Wild won!!!
I did find a feed, but it wasn't as nice as the Gamecenter one, because I couldn't pause, rewind, etc. I will have lots of fun screen capturing in 48 hours.

José stopped 26 of 29 shots and the Wild won!! And that knocked the Stars out of the playoffs...that was an extra bonus. ;o) Haha, Ott! José looked great in the game, and it was such an awesome way for him to end the season.

This was an awesome shot after José made a great save on Ott, then there was a mad scramble around the net, and then he took a well-deserved rest on the goal post. ;o)

Nice Sentiment From a Wild Fan

I ran across a blog today called Hitting the Post.

The author had a nice bit about José while talking about last night's game:

"If that ends up being Theodore's last game as a Wild player, I thank him. He came in and did a great job this season in what had to be a major pride-swallowing situation. I hope he finds a situation where he can be a #1 next year."

So thanks to the author (byline was NiNY) for that very nice sentiment. That seems to be a trend with wherever José finds himself playing. He always leaves a favorable impression with many of the fans. Even if they didn't know of him before or weren't sure how he would fit in with their team, he definitely wins a large portion of the fans over.

And I love that other people find out what we've known for a long time, José is one of the best in the NHL, on and off the ice.

José deinitely lives up to the "Stay classy" line. A truly class act.

More Photos from the Wild's Outdoor Practice

I originally posted about the Wild's outdoor practice here and here. But today I received a comment from Dan of Dan Reed Photography. He was kind enough to share the link to this photo album from that practice. He had a lot of great photos, so please check it out. If you go to his site, just click on the "Minnesota Wild" link at the top of the page, and that takes you there. For some reason, my computer was having trouble scrolling through the whole album, but when I clicked on one photo, then used the "next" buttons, they loaded much quicker. You might try that if you have slow-down issues the other way.

Anyway, check out his site for photos of the whole team, but I'll post my faves here. Thanks again, Dan!

And a couple of Baby Spurge. ;o)

Wild vs. Oilers, W, 3-1 (Theo in Goal)

This could very possibly be José's last start for the season, as the only other game is the season finale on Sunday, and I have a feeling Backs will start that one.

So send all your positive vibes to Theo for a great game, a great victory, and lots of goalie love!!!!

After the 1st period, the Wild lead 1-0. José faced 8 shots. Unfortunately much of the period was taken up with fighting. Not very pleasant. Hopefully they got all their animosity out of the way and we can watch hockey this period.

100 penalty minutes.

Action picked up in the 2nd (less fighting, in fact I think there were no fights) and José faced 15 shots and stopped 14. The score is now 2-1.

If this is Theo's last game as a Wild, it was at least a good one. He saved 28 of 29 shots and even got into a bit of a scrape after Cogliano ended up in his net.

This was José realizing Cogliano was talking crap to him.

And then him saying, "Oh, you wanna go? Let's go!"

And then the ref getting in between. José could've taken him!