Lundqvist, Miller, Toivonen, Niitymaki

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Rez

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Oct 5, 2005
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Lundqvist is currently the best, and has a good chance of remaining the best. The only one of the aforementioned goalies that have a shot at becoming better than Lundqvist is Toivonen.
 

hifk88

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Hudsey said:
Lundqvist, Miller, Toivonen, Niitymaki which goalie will become the better goalie?
(final) Lundqvist Vs. Toivonen (Lundqvist wins the gold and Hannu takes the silver)
(bronze) Niittymäki Vs. Miller (It's too hard to choose! Nitty or Miller? hmmm... It's a tie!)

Final ranking
1. Lundqvist
2. Toivonen
3. Niittymäki & Miller
 
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KRM

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Jun 9, 2005
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1. Lundqvist
2. Toivonen

3. I havn't seen enough of Miller so I can't say Nittymäki > Miller or Miller > Nittymäki.
 

boredmale

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nomoment said:
Lundqvist is currently the best, and has a good chance of remaining the best. The only one of the aforementioned goalies that have a shot at becoming better than Lundqvist is Toivonen.

Then he could always turn out to be Raycroft as well.:P
 

Levitate

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Jul 29, 2004
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Then he could always turn out to be Raycroft as well.:P

So could Miller, so could Nitty, and maybe Toivonen never even makes it as a starter :dunno:

If we want to play the "could" game, then there ya go, you can say it about any one of them.

Lundqvist has proven this year that he's a #1 star goalie, so has Miller. Toivonen and Nitty haven't quite managed that yet (though Toivonen has had injuries)

With some Rangers bias I'd go:

Lundqvist
Miller
Toivonen
Niitymaki

and Lundqvist just slightly over Miller...I think they'll both be great goalies for years
 

boredmale

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Levitate said:
So could Miller, so could Nitty, and maybe Toivonen never even makes it as a starter

true, i was just making a point that we really don't know what will happy in the future of any goalie when a guy said that maybe only Toivonen can be better then Lundquist. Goalies are hard to predict unless they somebody who consistently is good.

And making the comparison with Toivonen and the other three not that good an idea because he is 22 while the others are roughly 25, which could make a world of difference. On the negative side he plays in Boston which has a history of eating it's goalies alive.
 

Roger's Pancreas*

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Personally I think Toivonen has the most potential out of all of them. Lundqvist's play this year totally came out of left field, I mean if you mentioned that his named would be mentioned for Calder consideration you probably would have been mocked to no end. So I guess, If I had to put them in a numbered pair it would look something like

1. Toivonen
2. Lundqvist
3. Frank
3. Miller
 

Roger's Pancreas*

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hifk88 said:
Don't worry! That won't never happend to Hannu!

You can count on to the finnish goalies!

No kidding, the Finns could dress a defense consisting of nothing but goalies at this rate.
 

hifk88

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Panasonic Youth said:
Personally I think Toivonen has the most potential out of all of them.
Yeah, that might be the trueth?

Toivonen (1984 born) has still 2 years to catch Lundqvist's (1982 born) lead! :handclap:
 
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Levitate

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Panasonic Youth said:
Personally I think Toivonen has the most potential out of all of them. Lundqvist's play this year totally came out of left field, I mean if you mentioned that his named would be mentioned for Calder consideration you probably would have been mocked to no end. So I guess, If I had to put them in a numbered pair it would look something like

1. Toivonen
2. Lundqvist
3. Frank
3. Miller

Well not totally out of left field...most Rangers fans thought he would be the starting goalie by the midpoint of the season and anyone who followed his career knew he was really damn good. But he did exceed expectations this year.

And yeah, Toivonen might have more physical skills than Lundqvist, but those don't always translate into better goaltending ;)

Really though, assuming all these guys keep it up (well, and assuming Toivonen develops into the goalie people think he will be) they should all be pretty close. Lundqvist right now is at the top of the league, so being better than him means a goalie is either going to be just barely better, or basically the most amazing goalie this league has seen in years and years (and I don't think that's going to happen...)

My point being that the difference between these guys could end up being almost negligable in the overall scheme of things. Maybe playoff performance will shake things out
 

Beukeboom Fan

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Panasonic Youth said:
Personally I think Toivonen has the most potential out of all of them. Lundqvist's play this year totally came out of left field, I mean if you mentioned that his named would be mentioned for Calder consideration you probably would have been mocked to no end. So I guess, If I had to put them in a numbered pair it would look something like

1. Toivonen
2. Lundqvist
3. Frank
3. Miller

What planet are you from? Can you get over your man-crush of Pitkanen and maybe follow the NHL besides the Flyers?

Lundquist was VERY highly thought of coming into this year. He DOMINATED the SEL last year against a large amount of NHL competition. He was probably considered the 2nd highest rated rookie goalie this year behind Lehtonen. He probably would have gotten more hype than KL if he had been a top 4 pick in the NHL draft as well?

My list:

1) Lundquist
2) Toivonen
3) Miller
4) Niitymaki

And that's no slight on Niitymaki - I think all of these guys are going to be upper tier #1 goalies over the next 10 years.
 

goalieman40

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Feb 27, 2006
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yeah, he was. but he also came back and dominated and helped providence get to the eastern final. i wouldnt call him injury prone though. i dont remember the instance for last year's injury, but this year's wasnt really his fault.

lundqvist i belive was already a good goalie in europe, so i wouldnt expect him to have the sophomore jinx like raycroft.

nitty's struggled a little bit this season, but that was probably due to being over worked, as esche was injured.

i think it's tough to compare unless they're all in more similar situations, i.e. play significant amount of games, no injuries, no goalie dilemas such as in buffalo...
 

Panopticon

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John Flyers Fan said:
I believe he was also injured last year while playing for Providence.


Yeah, but from the post it seemed you think he's the Tuomo Ruutu of goalies... He doesn't seem that injury prone to me.
 

John Flyers Fan

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goalieman40 said:
yeah, he was. but he also came back and dominated and helped providence get to the eastern final. i wouldnt call him injury prone though. i dont remember the instance for last year's injury, but this year's wasnt really his fault.

Two years, two injuries. Whether they're his fault ot not, it could be the beginning of a pattern. He was then outplayed by Niittymaki in the Eastern Final.
 

Complaining Customer

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Aug 23, 2005
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Krm500 said:
1. Lundqvist
2. Toivonen

3. I havn't seen enough of Miller so I can't say Nittymäki > Miller or Miller > Nittymäki.

But still you can say Lundqvist and Toivonen are better than Miller without having seen enough of him? :dunno:

As for the question, I don't know, they're all looking very good. I've got Frank in my pool so I'd love to say he'll be the best, but I'm afraid he's last on that list (tho the Olympics kind of made me believe). I think that if I had to bet on one middle-term, I'd choose Miller.
 

007

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Feb 11, 2004
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With Lundqvist, it's pretty much a story of what you see is what you get at this point. He's already a very accomplished goalie who relies on his brains and positioning more than his excelent physical talent to make his saves. He also has great reflexes and extremely quick legs that allow him to make close-in saves that most other goalies would not be ashamed to miss. Although you could say that he doesn't have much improvement left in him, you just have to look at what he has acheived over the last few years to see that he doesn't need to improve much more, either.

Toivonen is younger and probably does have more room to grow. He's got incredible athletic ability and good brains. But if the question is does he have the kind of vision that Lundqvist does? Lundqvist's positioning is almost always spot-on, whereas Hannu has the flexibility and speed to catch up when his isn't. Toivonen is a much more spectacular player, and will probably be near-unbeatable at times in his career, but with all young players who still need a little more experience, the question is open as to how far he can go to reach his potential.

Miller, I don't know too much about, except that I think that he is very, very solid and will continue to quietly get better. He really needs more muscle, though, to have a good long career.

As for Niittymäki, even though I'm a TPS fan, I have always thought that he looks too small in net. I never like goalies who sit back in the goal. I never thought he looked like a top starter. But he never stops proving me wrong. I don't think he'll ever win a Vezina, but worse, as a Rangers fan, he looks like a money goaltender who wins playoff series.
 

Sunny Leone*

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1)Lundqvist
2)Miller
3)Niitymaki
4)Tiovonen

Lundqvist has been solid all year, without injury Miller would be up there with him. Only weakness on miller is as a butterfly goalie tends to give up most goals up high. Nitty Has shown flashes of brilliance should be phily's #1 goalie, Olympics he was unbelievable. Tiovonen has potential to be all-star.
 
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