Tuuka Rask

[Charge_Seven]

How good is he?

I'm in fantasy hockey leagues, and managed to pull deals to grab up 6 (yes...six) first round picks. One of my picks should be top four and I'm likely going for Crosby, Johnson, Brule, Zagrapan or Pouliott. Is Tuuka Rask worthy of a top ten selection and if I manage to pick one up, would he be worth taking?

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[Pepper]

Well he has been simply stunning in Finland's A-junior play-offs so far, he has been head & shoulders above all other goalies and looks very mature.

 

[misfit]

Rask will go in the top 10 for sure, IMO. If your prospect depth is thin in net, I'd say take him for sure.

 

[Form and Substance]

I think he's cutting ahead of the pack at the moment. He has a clear advantage over the Q goalies and maybe a slight one over Price.

 

[fedorov_jr]

how would some of you that know of Rask compare him to the top goalies taken last year? how does he stack up against the likes of Montoya, Schwarz, and Dubnyk? higher potential? similar style to anyone?

thanx

 

[Charge_Seven]

Rask will go in the top 10 for sure, IMO. If your prospect depth is thin in net, I'd say take him for sure.

Marc Denis
Pascal Leclaire
Jeff Glass

Not exactly weak...lol

(My RW has Zherdev, Steve Bernier, Alex Radulov, LW has Nash, Perezhogin, and C has Fritsche. D is looking decent, with Woywitka, Klesla, Tolleffsen, Erhoff)

 

[Blue Bullet]

Goalies are always high risk, high reward picks. I would hestitate on taking him in the top 10 but since you have a lot of picks it could be a worthwhile gamble. Rask has the most upside out of the goalies in the draft while Price is the safest IMO.

 

[Karma_]

He has truly been quite stunning statistically at the A-junior playoffs,
with 6 games, 4 shutouts, and "nice" save percentage of 98,12(!).

 

[Nielson81]

Holy smokes, those numbers are outstanding!!!

 

[FINNtastic]

Holy smokes, those numbers are outstanding!!!

His regular season stats from Jr. A are not bad either:
26gp 1517.41min 47ga 679saves 2so 17wins 4ties 3losses 1,86gaa 93,53sv%

 

[FINNtastic]

Tuukka Rask keeps on rocking!

Rask's team Ilves won the first final 1-0 (ot.) against TPS in the Jr. A finals. Rask made 48 saves!!! His playoffs stats after 7 games: 7gp, 5 shutouts, 0,55 GAA, 98,47sv%!!! Stunning...

 

[Epsilon]

Rask's team Ilves won the first final 1-0 (ot.) against TPS in the Jr. A finals. Rask made 48 saves!!! His playoffs stats after 7 games: 7gp, 5 shutouts, 0,55 GAA, 98,47sv%!!! Stunning...

McKeen's has Rask up to 4th overall in their rankings so he's not going unnoticed.

 

[s7ark]

Rask's team Ilves won the first final 1-0 (ot.) against TPS in the Jr. A finals. Rask made 48 saves!!! His playoffs stats after 7 games: 7gp, 5 shutouts, 0,55 GAA, 98,47sv%!!! Stunning...

God I want the Oilers to grab this kid. He has shades of Lehtonen. Finish goalies rock!!!!

 

[Doomsday Device]

God I want the Oilers to grab this kid. He has shades of Lehtonen. Finish goalies rock!!!!

The difference is, Rask is doing this in Jr. A, while Lehtonen won the SM-Liiga championship his draft year.

 

[s7ark]

The difference is, Rask is doing this in Jr. A, while Lehtonen won the SM-Liiga championship his draft year.

A very good point. But Task is a victim of the lockout. I think he would be playing in the SM-Liiga if the NHL were on. Also since other players were affected by this that should mean more good young players were in Juniour this year. Doesn't quite balance out with Lehtonen, but Rask is still putting up suberb numbers.

 

[bruins4777*]

Rask isn't near where lehtonen has been anyways. Even with the lockout. Prior to that in leht's draft year he was a starter in the finnish league dominating and won numerous awards in the playoffs and in regular season, which he continued on to the next season. Rask wasn't near the dominanting beast that lehts was at the WJC was.

Rask is apparently supposed to be one of the best prospects goaltending wise out of finland recently and there have been lehtonen comparisons, but in terms of year by year comparison lehtonen blows rask out of the water. And so do many other guys like toivenen or ahonen for that matter.

But rask's potential is there. I like the guy and i want to see him suceed.

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

There's a difference. Lehtonen was a man at 17-18 years, Rask still is a kid. I'm talking in terms fo body and stamina and all.

If Rask had Kari's body, he'd probably be on the bench (Toskala's been incredible), so even so, playing in Junior A is better for his development.

 

[IkeaMonkey*]

The difference is, Rask is doing this in Jr. A, while Lehtonen won the SM-Liiga championship his draft year.

Kovalchuk didnt play too much RSL in his draft year and he panned out rather nicely...

 

[Jovavic]

Kovalchuk didnt play too much RSL in his draft year and he panned out rather nicely...

That's different, Kovalchuk's team was in the High League, not a junior league, he still played against men, they just weren't as good as the Super League.

 

[Doomsday Device]

Kovalchuk didnt play too much RSL in his draft year and he panned out rather nicely...

Yes, and did I say Rask was not going to turn out nicely? I was just putting what he's accomplished in context.

 

[FINNtastic]

Another shutout to Rask!

Tuukka Rask made 21 saves as his team Ilves won the Finnish Jr.A Championship today. Ilves beat TPS 1-0 in the last game and won the series 3-1. The shutout was Rask's sixth in this year's playoffs, in 10 games I might add .
His playoffs stats are impressive: 10 gp, 9 wins, 1 loss, 9 goals allowed, 324 saves, 6 shutouts, 0,90 GAA and 97,30 sv%

If he plays at his normal level at the U-18 World Championships in Plzen, he should be a surefire Top-10 pick at the next draft, maybe even a Top-5 pick.