HF Top 50

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rticinelli

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Feb 13, 2003
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I know this is a little late since the complete list has been out for at least a week, now, but I'm glad to see that HF didn't get caught up in all the "Fleury mania" that had captured soooo many board posters earlier in the season. Namely, that they kept Lehtonen over Fleury, and 1st overall. I agree completely with their final statement on him that he's the only player on the list worthy of a definite "franchise player" tag. I'm sure he won't be the only player to turn into a franchise player as many others have a very good shot at it (yes, Fleury, for instance), but he's definitely the cream of the crop!

One thing that did surprise me, though, was to see Zherdev slot in the 2nd spot. I never really put much stock in Nik, but with HF giving such a huge backing it made me take note. I've seen him play, and he's definitely skillfull with the stick . . . but do you see him as a potentially better hockey player overall than a Fleury, Suter, Phaneuf, Parise, etc etc?
 

roast

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Mar 3, 2004
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Personally i think he is just as good as all of them. Maybe he can surpass most of them! Being in Pittsburgh, i really enjoy seeing Fleury play, and i think he will be a top 5 Goalie eventually. I agree with the assesment Lehtonen. I saw one of his games with the Thrashers and was very impressed.
 

SmokeyClause

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Feb 27, 2002
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rticinelli said:
I know this is a little late since the complete list has been out for at least a week, now, but I'm glad to see that HF didn't get caught up in all the "Fleury mania" that had captured soooo many board posters earlier in the season. Namely, that they kept Lehtonen over Fleury, and 1st overall. I agree completely with their final statement on him that he's the only player on the list worthy of a definite "franchise player" tag. I'm sure he won't be the only player to turn into a franchise player as many others have a very good shot at it (yes, Fleury, for instance), but he's definitely the cream of the crop!

One thing that did surprise me, though, was to see Zherdev slot in the 2nd spot. I never really put much stock in Nik, but with HF giving such a huge backing it made me take note. I've seen him play, and he's definitely skillfull with the stick . . . but do you see him as a potentially better hockey player overall than a Fleury, Suter, Phaneuf, Parise, etc etc?

He certainly has the talent. I may get roasted here, but I think his numbers benefitted from being on a team that, towards the end of the season, didn't care about defense. I think he'd be much less effective on a team that was heading in to the playoffs. Oftentimes neither Zherdev nor Nash bothered to go 10 feet into their own zone. I'm not sure Gallant really put too much emphasis on anything other than 'have fun and showcase your skills'.

But defense schmeefense, he's got the skills that's for sure. He'll likley round out into a dynamite top Winger. He's got work to do, but what young kid doesn't? He's certainly got the talent, which is more than most could ever hope to say. He'll probably never be good at defense, but he doesn't have to be. Besides, getting him to focus on defense might take away from his offense. We in Predator land know all about that.
 

SmokeyClause

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Sir Ozzie X said:
That's been our motto for four years :cry:

No argument here, I just think it became more and more noticeable towards the latter part of this year. In other words, it went from 'we don't really care about defense' to 'we DON'T care about defense'.

That loose mantra certainly led to a few victories. I don't think they'd have beaten the Preds in Nashville had they not played so offensive. They gave the Preds so many chances, they didn't know what to do with it. Kind of like a basketball player who turns around and finds no one between him and the basket and panics. We didn't know what to do with all those chances so we squandered them.
 

Pachoo

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Feb 6, 2003
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Lehtonen is a maniac. Last night he got the shutout vs Grand Rapids in the AHL Playoffs, saving 37 of 37 shots on goals. :banana: :bow: :banana:
 

Amen evil king

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Apr 11, 2004
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Pachoo said:
Lehtonen is a maniac. Last night he got the shutout vs Grand Rapids in the AHL Playoffs, saving 37 of 37 shots on goals. :banana: :bow: :banana:

I'll sell you my username for $50.
 
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