Is Tuukka Rask a TOP 10 goalie in this league?

Will Hunting

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I respected him EXTREMELY LOT before this season. The thing is that we might be getting a better idea about him now, when Bruins´ D is not dominant anymore (Boychuk is not there, Chara & Seids are declining). Rask is suddenly having his share of problems.

I had a discussion with my hockey friends and we were really torn on this one. The question is very simple. Do you think that he´s a TOP10 goalie in the NHL?

Personally, I still respect him a lot, but I´m starting to have some doubts.. Even Svedberg looks competitive to him right now.
 

Peen

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Oct 6, 2013
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One poor run of form does not make a goalie.

I don't think people would disagree that the top five goalies in the NHL in whatever order contain Rinne, Price, Quick, Rask, and Lundqvisk.
 

Plural

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He has been a top-10 goalie in the past. In my books he still is a one.
 

ohheyhemsky

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He's top five, if not arguably top 3 IMO. I'm not HF though. New shiny toys and 30 games to analyze don't sway my opinion as heavily as most.

Haha, I remember when Toivonen was better "now and in the future, AINEC," when compared to Price and Rask.
 

Will Hunting

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I´m not saying he´s definitely not a TOP10, it´s just a question because I have some doubts and I just had a discussion about this yesterday. In my opinion, he´s still a TOP10 calibre, even though things might look more interesting now on this front. The real fact is that he has never played behind a not dominant defense before.

Maybe the TOP5 (or TOP7) would be the better question, but I feel like the goalies are very balanced now around the league.
 

FinRuutu

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HFBoards is is all about "what have you done to me lately?"

Guy is having tough time but can surely bounce back.

This is the same thing as when people were writing Rinne off after his injury.
 

nmbr_24

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He has been inconsistent this year just like most of the Bruins have been this season, but I would still say he is a top goaltender.
 

Will Hunting

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HFBoards is is all about "what have you done to me lately?"

Guy is having tough time but can surely bounce back.

This is the same thing as when people were writing Rinne off after his injury.

Coming from a guy who´s just writing off 17-years old Kasperi Kapanen after 3 bad games in his avatar?! Again, it´s just a question, I´m not writing Rask off and I actually still respect him a lot. If the answer is yes, then everything is fine. I´m not claiming the otherwise.

Thinking about it, Rinne, Quick, Lundqvist and Price are all arguably better. Then we have guys like Bobrovsky, Varlamov, Bishop. Luongo and Fleury are having a wonderful seasons but they need to keep this level some more. Then there is Crawford who might be very underrated around here. Still small sample size and I agree that "TOP7" would be a better question.
 
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FinRuutu

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Coming from a guy who´s just writing off 17-years old Kasperi Kapanen after 3 bad games in his avatar?! Again, it´s just a question, I´m not writing Rask off and I actually still respect him a lot. If the answer is yes, then everything is fine. I´m not claiming the otherwise.

Yeah, the avatar is a joke after people were telling me I'm jinxing him and I should change it. But other than that, you're right coming from me.
 

Will Hunting

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From the regular starters, only Scrivens, Kuemper, Enroth & Lehtonen have worse save-percentages this year. He was considered "elite" until this season and rightfully so. It´s just a matter of opinion of how relevant is Rask´s play this season, though. Sure, it´s only 30 games but you can´t ignore a correlation between his suddenly regressed numbers and Bruins´ suddenly regressed defensive corps. Seems like a general opinion is still unchanged here and I got my answer.
 

nmbr_24

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I think defensive systems play a much larger role than HF likes to admit most of the time. I'd still say that Rask is a top 10 goalie though.

He hasn't played as well as he has in the past. It isn't the system alone, he has let in shots that he would not have let in the majority of the time. I have seen him go through this before but the defense was able to cover it up, now with the loss of Boychuk and all of the injuries the defense has sustained along with the decline of Seidenberg's play, they just can't cover up his slump.
 

habsfanatics*

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Proof that the team in front is more important than the goaltender in most cases. The team struggles, so does Rask. Imagine that. He's in a group of the best goalies, but I don't think he can carry a weak team like some other goalies are capable of.
 

Will Hunting

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Also, not enough respect for Jonathan Bernier.. It´s a guy who is consistently over .920 on a team that dresses Jake Gardiner, Cody Franson and company. Would Rask be able to do that? I mean, I don´t know, but current group of goalies is VERY BALANCED and it´s much closer than most people think here.
 

nmbr_24

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Also, not enough respect for Jonathan Bernier.. It´s a guy who is consistently over .920 on a team that dresses Jake Gardiner, Cody Franson and company. Would Rask be able to do that? I mean, I don´t know, but current group of goalies is VERY BALANCED and it´s much closer than most people think here.

Bernier at his best is as good as Rask at his worst, I have no doubt about that but Rask has not played very many games at his best this season. I think he will most likely have a better remainder of the season than he did at the start.
 

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