GDT: G7: Kings at Wild - 7pm CT (FSN)
- Thread starter Wabit
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It seems like a segment of Wild fans go out of their way to criticize rookies for not being 27 year olds in their prime. People thought Ek was a bust until he wasn't, Dumba as well. People thought Kuemper was garbage here, Kahkonen is probably next.
Rookies require time to grow, and all goalies let in soft goals sometimes, it is lunacy to expect Kahkonen to be an elite goalie a half dozen games into his NHL career.
Rookies require time to grow, and all goalies let in soft goals sometimes, it is lunacy to expect Kahkonen to be an elite goalie a half dozen games into his NHL career.
Dee Oh Cee
Registered User
He has made a ton of saves that were more difficult than some of the goals he's let in. I'm looking at it more as a positive, that he's getting the fluky/bad goals out of the way, not an indicator that he's prone to giving them up all the time. We'll see if it continues to be a problem though.
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Minnewildsota
He who laughs last thinks slowest
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I distinctly remember one goal from last game where he got his right pad on it. It jumped over and either hit his arm and went in, or just went in. The shot placement was really in no-man's land. Too low to really go blocker, but was too high for the pad.
If that's a weak/soft goal...few goalies will be saved from this insane amount of criticism.
FFS the Sharks had like 6 break aways and not a single goal was scored from them.
If that's a weak/soft goal...few goalies will be saved from this insane amount of criticism.
FFS the Sharks had like 6 break aways and not a single goal was scored from them.
(a) I was a big fan of Eriksson-Ek, and thought he should get more time
(b) Dumba is 26 years old and we're still 'waiting'. He was starting to break out and an injury happened, but he's still pretty inconsistent.
(c) Kuemper was garbage here. People also thought that Dubnyk was garbage here the last few seasons. Kuemper's problem wasn't his abilities, it was his head.
Kahkonen's problems have been fairly consistent since his days in the Finnish League. Read up on his profile and they continually mention his lack of concentration and letting in one or two fluky goals as well as just inconsistent play. Seems like that has been spot on.
No one is expecting that, but he needs to tighten up his mental game considerably. He isn't some fresh-faced 20 year old goalie. He's 24, which is normally when goalies start separating themselves from being AHL starters to NHL starters.
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Kahk hadn't played since March 2020 and wasn't even supposed to be in the NHL this season. Despite these circumstances, Kahk has .921 SV% and 2.27 GA, which is more or less the same as Talbot's statline.
How high were your expectations, if you're disappointed with what he has shown so far?
GuerinUp
Registered User
(a) You answered your question right there. He wasn't even supposed to be in the NHL this season. Why? He's already had 2 seasons in the AHL, is 24 years old - is he ready or isn't he?
My expectations was that Kahkonen and Talbot would platoon as (1a) and (1b) goaltenders and that Kahkonen would cut down on his mental mistakes and his soft play - and instead of giving up a soft goal every game to cut down on them.
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Those are stats lines that could be any goalie in the league, every 4 or 5 games they lay an egg.
I noticed that, though they usually have a better spread than every third/fourth game.
Every 4-6 games is pretty common. It might not be their fault or it might be.
It's why Dub's season when MN traded for him was so impressive.
Dubnyk had some pretty impressive runs early on for Minnesota. He laid a few eggs here and there, but he had like a 10-20 game stretch where he posted above .905%
My biggest concern with Kahkonen seems to be his glove and his mental. It's both good and bad that Stalock and Talbot got injured.
The difference between a .900 and a .914 on 3GA is 5 shots. Sv% is an outdated stat (all shots are equal for this stat), the adv stats for goalies give a much better picture of how a goalie compares to other goalies. These are the stats that showed Dub declining before his sv% fell off a cliff (for instance).
Do you look at goals saved above expected (GSAA) and xSV%? Another is GSAx, but Kahkonen didn't do well there last year.
Nope. A few games cup of coffee for a goalie playing his first NHL games doesn't mean much to me. Until he gets more games it's way too soon to say he's not a NHL quality goalie.
He hasn't looked outclassed (think the Backy/Kemps season) yet; that's what I care about with him right now. Get a nice 20 start sample and then I'll care more about his stats other than if the team won or lost with him in net.
GordieGallant
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DeagleJenkins
Registered User
because bonino bjugstand and rask are gonna have more trade value as Cs at the TDL and we dont plan to trade Sturm so he can play wing much better than they can obviously.
He's still new to the NHL. I don't mind him on the wing for now as he gets more comfortable in the NHL. Rask is so slow that he can't do a good counter attack or get back to play in the d-zone unless he's playing the center high (Koivu) position.
Bjugstad and Hartman are both RHS so that could be part of the reason Strum was the LW when they were all on a line together.
DeagleJenkins
Registered User
Lol current. Nobody wants rask as a wing, if he can look someone ok at 4c then maybe we can get a 7th?
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