What's your Goaltending for next year?

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GameChanger

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I am a bit confused after checking out Vehvilainen's stats. He has been performing at a very high level but does the level of competition equate to the AHL here or a lesser NHL? Would he be brought in to challenge for an NHL spot off top or not?

All I can say is he's faced a lot of quality competition in Finland and been terrific. I've written about Vehviläinen several times in the Oilers area. I don't know if he'll need time to get accustomed to the NA game, but as a prospect he's pretty much as good as it gets.

There have been many great goalies in the FEL including Rinne, Bäckstrom, Saros, Kiprusoff, Thomas (non-Finn), Raanta, Lehtonen, and Rask and the quality of Finnish goalies and the goalkeeper coaches has been excellent. If you are a pretty young goalie with a promising background and you shine in the FEL, including some tough places in the playoffs, it's a very good sign.

Vehviläinen has a great, I guess you could say flawless, technique, and he's showed he can keep his head cool, too. It's hard to see a situation where he wouldn't be drafted, so you'd need to be ready to use a pick for him.

He's a goalie that really should've been drafted earlier, I still can't believe nobody chose him even during the lower rounds.
 

Dishface

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I am a bit confused after checking out Vehvilainen's stats. He has been performing at a very high level but does the level of competition equate to the AHL here or a lesser NHL? Would he be brought in to challenge for an NHL spot off top or not?
Depends on who he is challenging a spot with. If it's darling and ward, I'm sure a beer leaguer can make a case for our tandem, so yes.
 

tigerman67

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I am a bit confused after checking out Vehvilainen's stats. He has been performing at a very high level but does the level of competition equate to the AHL here or a lesser NHL? Would he be brought in to challenge for an NHL spot off top or not?
It's almost nonexistent that a young Euro goalie comes over and is immediately ready for NHL duty, almost everyone needs at least one or two years in AHL to adjust to the NA style of play, and at the most will see a few games year 1 in the big league (in case of injuries maybe up to 20 or so but usually much less).

The only guy I can think of right now that did this and is still active is Henrik Lundqvist. Vehvilainen might be good, but is he really THAT good? He's 21, undrafted, has played 3 seasons in the Liiga and still hasn't played one senior National Team game yet. To me, that doesn't translate to an NHL-ready goalie. Perhaps worth a pick and for sure then let him compete for a spot during camp, but you still need to have a proven combo on the roster.
 

MinJaBen

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It's almost nonexistent that a young Euro goalie comes over and is immediately ready for NHL duty, almost everyone needs at least one or two years in AHL to adjust to the NA style of play, and at the most will see a few games year 1 in the big league (in case of injuries maybe up to 20 or so but usually much less).

The only guy I can think of right now that did this and is still active is Henrik Lundqvist. Vehvilainen might be good, but is he really THAT good? He's 21, undrafted, has played 3 seasons in the Liiga and still hasn't played one senior National Team game yet. To me, that doesn't translate to an NHL-ready goalie. Perhaps worth a pick and for sure then let him compete for a spot during camp, but you still need to have a proven combo on the roster.
Well, Darling and Ward were a “proven combo”...
 

GameChanger

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It's almost nonexistent that a young Euro goalie comes over and is immediately ready for NHL duty, almost everyone needs at least one or two years in AHL to adjust to the NA style of play, and at the most will see a few games year 1 in the big league (in case of injuries maybe up to 20 or so but usually much less).

The only guy I can think of right now that did this and is still active is Henrik Lundqvist. Vehvilainen might be good, but is he really THAT good? He's 21, undrafted, has played 3 seasons in the Liiga and still hasn't played one senior National Team game yet. To me, that doesn't translate to an NHL-ready goalie. Perhaps worth a pick and for sure then let him compete for a spot during camp, but you still need to have a proven combo on the roster.

It's hard to say if he'd be ready, but I don't think it's impossible. First of all these exceptional youngsters are often doing exceptional things nowadays. Take Sebastian Aho for example.

I think it's also been a habit to keep a European goalie in the AHL for at a year or two before giving them a chance in the NHL, so it's possible some of them would've done fine from the beginning.

Some of the older goalies have got a chance immediately, and e.g. Niklas Bäckström and Tim Thomas did great. Antti Raanta did well, too, though the stats in the Blackhawks weren't anything special.

That being said, I think a year in the AHL may do good. But I don't think it's absolutely necessary especially if Vehviläinen stays one more year in Finland and keeps doing like he's done, getting some CHL and national team games, too.
 

Icejoker

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Before this season Vehviläinen was not able to take a spot on the worst team in liiga, but Kärpät take him as a backup.
With their good goaliecoach Vehviläinen take over and was the best goalie in the league. In the same team there is a goalie for the draft Annunen (kourniakos nr 155) with the Kärpät goaliecoach I think he is a better prospect than the goalie Buffalo take last year as 54.
 

GoldiFox

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Before this season Vehviläinen was not able to take a spot on the worst team in liiga, but Kärpät take him as a backup.
With their good goaliecoach Vehviläinen take over and was the best goalie in the league. In the same team there is a goalie for the draft Annunen (kourniakos nr 155) with the Kärpät goaliecoach I think he is a better prospect than the goalie Buffalo take last year as 54.

Justus Annunen - 6’4” Karpat Goalie. Good name potential there.

Justus Annunen at eliteprospects.com
 

GoldiFox

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Anybody else find it very odd that we're linked to a player who is still draft eligible? How did this get out?

I don’t know why I think this and I can’t find any supporting material (either affirmative or negative) but I think Vehvilainen can still be signed before the Draft (despite being eligible). Maybe is Phillipe Myers a good comparable? I think he signed with Philly in his D+1 after going undrafted. Could be a time component I’m missing there (ie: Can only sign Draft eligible forwards July-September).

If the Canes were offering him a legit starting chance then I could see why he’s want to sign with us rather than be drafted by some team with a starter.

Canes were linked-ish to Janne Kuokkanen from Karpat and ended up taking him.
 
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Boom Boom Apathy

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I don’t know why I think this and I can’t find any supporting material (either affirmative or negative) but I think Vehvilainen can still be signed before the Draft (despite being eligible). Maybe is Phillipe Myers a good comparable? I think he signed with Philly in his D+1 after going undrafted. Could be a time component I’m missing there (ie: Can only sign Draft eligible forwards July-September).

If the Canes were offering him a legit starting chance then I could see why he’s want to sign with us rather than be drafted by some team with a starter.

Canes were linked-ish to Janne Kuokkanen from Karpat and ended up taking him.

IIRC, the rules for a player that played in North America are different than one who played over seas. I think the NA player an become a UFA at a younger age, but don't quote me on that.

In terms of us being "linked" to him, it might just be a media person speculating because of all of our links to Karpat already and Joni being there.
 

tigerman67

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It's hard to say if he'd be ready, but I don't think it's impossible. First of all these exceptional youngsters are often doing exceptional things nowadays. Take Sebastian Aho for example.

I think it's also been a habit to keep a European goalie in the AHL for at a year or two before giving them a chance in the NHL, so it's possible some of them would've done fine from the beginning.

Some of the older goalies have got a chance immediately, and e.g. Niklas Bäckström and Tim Thomas did great. Antti Raanta did well, too, though the stats in the Blackhawks weren't anything special.

That being said, I think a year in the AHL may do good. But I don't think it's absolutely necessary especially if Vehviläinen stays one more year in Finland and keeps doing like he's done, getting some CHL and national team games, too.
Backstrom and Thomas are way different cases, Backstrom was 28 when he headed over to NHL, including the lockout season and WC play, and Thomas is US schooled and had already played in AHL before he got over to Europe. There's no question about if he's a good prospect or not, but I just say that as a GM I would never place my bets on Vehvilainen as one of two to start the season in the big club, without having a solid backup plan.

Apart from that, if they'd go for him I'd definitely put him with Checkers rather than having him play one more year in Karpat. For example, look at how Sens are dealing with their Swedish prospect Filip Gustavsson (3rd goalie for Sweden in WC), getting him over right after SHL season end to play the final stretch in AHL, giving him a great base to build from during summer and also an assessment over his capacity and potential flaws that needs to be adressed. There's no way he'd benefit any more from playing one more year in Europe, unless there's a serious lack of goalie coach support in the AHL team.
 

GameChanger

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Backstrom and Thomas are way different cases, Backstrom was 28 when he headed over to NHL, including the lockout season and WC play, and Thomas is US schooled and had already played in AHL before he got over to Europe. There's no question about if he's a good prospect or not, but I just say that as a GM I would never place my bets on Vehvilainen as one of two to start the season in the big club, without having a solid backup plan.

Apart from that, if they'd go for him I'd definitely put him with Checkers rather than having him play one more year in Karpat. For example, look at how Sens are dealing with their Swedish prospect Filip Gustavsson (3rd goalie for Sweden in WC), getting him over right after SHL season end to play the final stretch in AHL, giving him a great base to build from during summer and also an assessment over his capacity and potential flaws that needs to be adressed. There's no way he'd benefit any more from playing one more year in Europe, unless there's a serious lack of goalie coach support in the AHL team.

I see your point and you're probably right. Of course I'd love to have Vehviläinen in my FEL team for one more year, so I'm partial in that regard. On the other hand there are some good examples of goalies staying in Finland for one extra year.

But as for the names I mentioned, I didn't mean they all have even slightly similar situations with Vehviläinen. I just mentioned the names as some examples of the goalkeepers that have played and developed in the FEL.

There have been dozens of goalies who've made it or even shined in the NHL and each year there are a few goalies with a possible NHL career ahead or behind, and some others pretty close to that level. You have to be good to be the best goalkeeper in the FEL.

The competition between the goalies is tough in Finland, and that along with the quality of goalkeeper coaching are some big reasons why so many Finnish goalies have made it in the NHL (I actually left dozens of goalies out of my list). I'd actually think the typical Finnish mentality may help with keeping one's head cool, too, though it must be a much smaller issue.
 

Cane mutiny

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I asked Canes Prospects and he said Vehvilainen is eligible for the 18 draft so he has to go through the draft before we can sign him. So either we draft him, someone else drafts him, or we'll sign him if he isn't drafted.
Maybe we can pick up another 2nd in one of the trades for Skinner, Fault, or Rask, etc. to grab him early. If they really want him, I'm sure they've thought of that and have a plan.
 
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