Best Goaltending Prospect-Poll #4

[TRask]

I dont seee how people can think that Oulette has more potential then Toivonen. They are both highly skilled theres no question bout that. But Toivonen has the advantage in the most importants aspects of the game in my opinion. Better size, positioning, agililty. When u have a netminder with the size of Sean Burke that is extreamily agile and fast, you have an extreamily high upside. If ya woulda looked at only skill and not age, Toivonen woulda made the B's outta camp as a 19 year old. Dont diss Hannu, hes gonna be something special, u just wait.

 

[EroCaps]

I dont seee how people can think that Oulette has more potential then Toivonen. They are both highly skilled theres no question bout that. But Toivonen has the advantage in the most importants aspects of the game in my opinion. Better size, positioning, agililty. When u have a netminder with the size of Sean Burke that is extreamily agile and fast, you have an extreamily high upside. If ya woulda looked at only skill and not age, Toivonen woulda made the B's outta camp as a 19 year old. Dont diss Hannu, hes gonna be something special, u just wait.

I'm not dissing Hannu, I like him over Miller. Tell me Toivonen is better at positioning, bigger, and quicker than Ouellet, and I say you haven't seen Max play, at all. They're both 6'2 goaltenders known for excellent positioning, and quickness. HF ranks Toivonen a 7.5, and Ouellet a 8.5. I'm bias though, right?

 

[TRask]

I'm not dissing Hannu, I like him over Miller. Tell me Toivonen is faster, bigger, and quicker than Ouellet, and I say you haven't seen Max play, at all. They're both 6'2 goaltenders known for excellent positioning, and quickness. HF ranks Toivonen a 7.5, and Ouellet a 8.5. I'm bias though, right?

Well im bias in my own opinion too, but i wouldnt take the HF ranks with alotta clout. Seeing as each team is done by their own fans. But i like to think that im really fair when rating prospects, i do admit i havent seen much of Oulette in the recent past during his professional career. But i just feel that there is something special about Hannu from watching his play, i mean hes still got a few things to work on like his puckhandeling and what not, but i feel that hes gonna be a top five goaltender in the league before all is said and done. Now i feel that Oulette will be the starter in Wash when Olaf leaves town...but he wont be a top five in the league, that will be Luango, Lehtonen, Fluerry, Toivonen, and someone else , that my very well end up being Oulette, but from the little that i seen of him in the recent past, he looks like a good prospect but hasnt really done anythign to catch my eye. I guess only time will tell , but im in no way trying to underrate Oulette, but my opinion of him is a lil somewhat scewed since ive seen very little of his pro career other then highlights

 

[HockeyGoddess]

I've seen Ouellet and Toivonen play numerous times over the past season (as well as last season in Max's case). Toivonen does very much deserve to be in the #3 slot. Ouellet was Mr. Shutout for Portland this past season, but compare Ouellet's rookie season with Toivonen's. Stats-wise, they favour Toivonen... 2.72, .911 for Ouellet (21 years old), 2.30, .921 for Toivonen (19 years old). Toivonen had the misfortune of having a team that had a difficult time putting the puck in the opposition's net for more than half the season. Portland generally didn't have those same woes.

 

[EroCaps]

Well im bias in my own opinion too, but i wouldnt take the HF ranks with alotta clout. Seeing as each team is done by their own fans. But i like to think that im really fair when rating prospects, i do admit i havent seen much of Oulette in the recent past during his professional career. But i just feel that there is something special about Hannu from watching his play, i mean hes still got a few things to work on like his puckhandeling and what not, but i feel that hes gonna be a top five goaltender in the league before all is said and done. Now i feel that Oulette will be the starter in Wash when Olaf leaves town...but he wont be a top five in the league, that will be Luango, Lehtonen, Fluerry, Toivonen, and someone else , that my very well end up being Oulette, but from the little that i seen of him in the recent past, he looks like a good prospect but hasnt really done anythign to catch my eye. I guess only time will tell , but im in no way trying to underrate Oulette, but my opinion of him is a lil somewhat scewed since ive seen very little of his pro career other then highlights

I've seen Toivonen and he reminds me of a lesser Lehtonen, which is why I'm higher on him than I am Miller, whose been erratic to say the least. When will he see time behind Raycroft, though? Ouellet plays a lot like Nabokov, and played well behind an awful defense this year for the Caps. He's a vacuum, and a lot like Belfour in that he doesn't show you much. He shut out Tampa this year behind Washington's defense.

Edit- Actually, he shut out Atlanta 5-0 and beat Tampa 2-1, with a 1.99 and .930 save % for Portland, if it makes a difference.

 

[EroCaps]

I've seen Ouellet and Toivonen play numerous times over the past season (as well as last season in Max's case). Toivonen does very much deserve to be in the #3 slot. Ouellet was Mr. Shutout for Portland this past season, but compare Ouellet's rookie season with Toivonen's. Stats-wise, they favour Toivonen... 2.72, .911 for Ouellet (21 years old), 2.30, .921 for Toivonen (19 years old). Toivonen had the misfortune of having a team that had a difficult time putting the puck in the opposition's net for more than half the season. Portland generally didn't have those same woes.

I hate to contradict you so flatly, but Toivonen played behind a much better team in Boston, and Portland had one of the poorest, if not the worst offense in the AHL last year. I believe Max won 14 games, and 10 were shutouts.

Edit- yeah, he won 15, and 10 were shutouts. As for Portland, they had the worst offense in the AHL, averaging under two goals a game.

 

[HockeyGoddess]

I hate to contradict you so flatly, but Toivonen played behind a much better team in Boston, and Portland had one of the poorest, if not the worst offense in the AHL last year. I believe Max won 14 games, and 10 were shutouts.

Edit- yeah, he won 15, and 10 were shutouts. As for Portland, they had the worst offense in the AHL, averaging under two goals a game.

You are correct that Portland had the worst offense in the AHL, however, they certainly didn't seem to have any issues putting the puck in the net in the games I saw them. Admittedly, I didn't see the entire season, but in the dozen or so games I saw of Portland, they weren't struggling with offensive woes, hence why I said what I did.

Toivonen, however, played in Providence, not Boston, and while on paper, Providence may have had a much better team, they certainly didn't play like a much better team. In fact, they scored only 14 more goals overall than Portland did, placing them 3rd worst overall in the AHL behind Portland and Utah.

 

[Vic Rattlehead*]

Toivonen will be awesome.

 

[Bluenote13]

Lundqvist gets no respect. Arguably the best goalie in Sweden, arguably the best goalie at the World Championships. He should have more votes.

 

[Jacob]

I hate to contradict you so flatly, but Toivonen played behind a much better team in Boston, and Portland had one of the poorest, if not the worst offense in the AHL last year. I believe Max won 14 games, and 10 were shutouts.

Edit- yeah, he won 15, and 10 were shutouts. As for Portland, they had the worst offense in the AHL, averaging under two goals a game.

But they're one of, if not the best defensive team, isn't that right?

I think what's-his-face plays the centerman as a 3rd defenseman in the offensive zone.

 

[canucksfan]

Miller

 

[DaveG]

Miller

the omission of Cam Ward from this list suprises me.

 

[Alfie#11]

But they're one of, if not the best defensive team, isn't that right?

I think what's-his-face plays the centerman as a 3rd defenseman in the offensive zone.

Portland was the 3rd best defensive team.

The goals for total is probably reflective of the fact the team didn't care to try on offence. Ottawa dealt Brooks Laich to Washington and he scored 33 points in 44 games with the Baby Sens. In 22 games with Portland, he scored 4 points. It's not as if Portland was totally devoid of talent. They just didn't use it.

Also worthy of note is that all 3 goalies that saw more than one game of action with Portland sported the same low numbers:

Ouellet 52GP 1.99 GAA .930 Sv%
Stana 24GP 1.68 GAA .941 Sv%
Yeats 7GP 2.17 GAA .928 Sv%

Ouellet is a good prospect but he does benefit from stat inflation. The defence first (defence only?) approach in Portland helps.

 

[Kafka]

Where is Ilja Bryzgalov?

 

[thrashers=cup05]

I am willing to bet money Lehtonen couldn't get a winning record in Albany. They are by far the worst AHL team in the league in terms of offense/defense.

Might not be able to win there but he went 4-0 in atlanta with 1 SO and a 1.5 GAA and a .947 Sav% i believe the Save % and GAA are correct. People this kid is the real deal and he will be a number 1 2006 season. Plus he was also voted as the number one prospect not in the NHL 2 years in a row.

 

[Rahan]

Tons of goaltenders should be on that poll instead of Deslaurier..

 

[thestonedkoala]

Where did Harding go?

 

[Hitman*]

Where did Harding go?

That's a good question. I'd take him over half the goalies on the list. Maybe even more.

 

[Vanucks]

Gee, Im really glad I put Auld on there. With all the requests I got on the last poll I'd expect hed get way more votes.

Well, did you really think he'd be the 4th best prospect? I guess its a homer pick, but I think he is.....however there will still be a few guys who finish ahead of him.

What I suggest you do is (and you might be doing this already for all I know) is add one more person each round, to substitute in for the person who is deemed the next best. Put in the person who gets the most requests....in this case, that person was Auld.