I don't think that stats are a good reference to evaluate goalies.
.
Examples: Luongo took 1/2 season in AHL, with a 2.93 and .908
Brodeur took 1 season in AHL, with 4.03 and .884
Lehtonen took 1 season in AHL. ( lockout)
Fleury will need 1 or 2. ( to be seen, but they throw him straight in. )
Theodore took 3 years in the AHL.
Giguère took 4 years between AHL and NHL.
Khabibulin at 21, 3.87 and .874 in the AHL. ( rookie year. )
Turco spent 3 years in the AHL.
I took only some young goalies who are actually 1st goalie. I did not check for the 30 teams, but some of you can complete it.
Lehtonen is a pretty damn good goalie. Fleury is too: he was amazing when he
returns to his Junior team, last year. Good or bad in the NHL, he brought something
that very 18-19 yrs. old can have as hockey player: Experience.
The best scenario is the one that Fleury is playing now in the AHL for 1 or 2 years, after that, sharing or fighting for the #1 spot.
In those who experiment so young: Barrasso and Thibault. They spent very bad years before reaching the expectations, also if they were playing in NHL.
Also, it will be wrong to say good goalies take less time to reach NHL.
A last example:Ouellet spent 4 years in AHL. ( 4th for lockout)
In his first year: 2.72 and .911 as a 20 yrs. old.
Why? He has a star goalie ahead and the team simply decided
to give him time and develop him into the next #1 for the
future.
This is not the case in Pittsburgh. They need a real #1 goalie and Fleury has the
tools and the talent to reach the objectives.