Empoleon8771
Registered User
One argument is that every step of the way, Blomqvist has been ahead of him comparatively.
D-3 - Blomqvist is in Finland's U18 league rather than the U16, and has a .912 save% in 35 games.
D-2 - Blomqvist is splitting time between U18 and U20, with a .935 in U18 and .938 in U20. Incidentally, I think Finland's clubs have two teams at most age group levels, with the Akatemia being the lesser, and Lindberg was in the Akatemia, so he's still a step behind.
D-1 - Blomqvist is playing in the U20 league, where he has .931 in 38 games, and also makes his Liiga debut.
D+1 (so up to 17-18) - Blomqvist is mainly in the Mestis, where he has a .907 in 16 games, which is 5th among goalies playing 10 or more games (only a few played 20). He also won both his Liiga starts with a .914.
D+1 Blomqvist is a more experienced, higher performing goalie than D+1 Lindberg. Development is a tricky curve but the idea that Blomqvist has a higher ceiling doesn't seem outrageous.
I also think the fact that Lindberg was lagging behind the development curve of a top goalie prospect every step of the way poses a question as to whether he simply had a massive step forward around D+1/D+2, or whether the lighter schedule is making him look better than he is.
Yeah this is all good things to point out. I wasn't aware that Blomqvist's .907 in the Mestis was as strong as it was. Or maybe that just means the goalies in the Mestis aren't that good
From the looks of it to me, the Penguins have 3 very good goalie prospects regardless of how you want to debate where they belong.