Is Tuukka Rask a TOP 10 goalie in this league?

[Habsrule]

This is coming from a Habs fan who really does not like the Bruins. Plus the Habs really have the Bruins number.


I still have Rask in my top five. I think that the top five currently is pretty set in stone.

Rinne/Price
Quick/Lundqvist/Rask


You can take any goalie and just look at a stretch of games and say that he is not that good. Just as you can take a look at a stretch of games from a goalie and you can make them out to be better than they actually are.

Rask has proven over the last five years that he is a legit #1 goalie. The best way to judge would be to ask each fan base if they would rather have Rask or their current goalie in net for their team. I bet you only a handful of teams would choose their current goalie.

 

[Daishi]

This is coming from a Habs fan who really does not like the Bruins. Plus the Habs really have the Bruins number.


I still have Rask in my top five. I think that the top five currently is pretty set in stone.

Rinne/Price
Quick/Lundqvist/Rask

What you posted is pretty traditional wisdom. Those 5 are the goalies most often labeled as elite at message board discussions.

Naturally though, if we look at results from this year, neither Rask, Quick, or Hank belong in that discussion. All of those are in the top 5 purely based on past results and reputation. That's not even arguable.

The up to date top 5 is Rinne at number one and Price at number two, and then in no particular order followed by guys like Fleury, Luongo and Howard. Rinne will take the Vezina this year and next year everything can be different again.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

The real fact is that he has never played behind a not dominant defense before.

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.

Example Lundqvist has never played behind a not dominant defense before either. Rangers has always blocked huge amount of pucks and has been very defensive-minded team. His stats this year .913 and 2.39 GAA not playing behind so dominant defense aren´t so far away from Rask´s stats.

So **** happens some times.

 

[syc]

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.

I will never forget that hf poll and he won that poll with something like 96% of the votes. Hf had egg on the face that day.

 

[Shawarma*]

He's still good and prone to the same occasional softies that all the other elite goalies are.

But his defense isn't what it used to be and he is getting mediocre goal support.

 

[Helistin]

Yes.Next.

 

[The Sweetness]

What you posted is pretty traditional wisdom. Those 5 are the goalies most often labeled as elite at message board discussions.

Naturally though, if we look at results from this year, neither Rask, Quick, or Hank belong in that discussion. All of those are in the top 5 purely based on past results and reputation. That's not even arguable.

The up to date top 5 is Rinne at number one and Price at number two, and then in no particular order followed by guys like Fleury, Luongo and Howard. Rinne will take the Vezina this year and next year everything can be different again.

There are lots of people, myself included, who do not feel a poor 1/2 of season are more important than elite play from a longer period of time.

There is a difference between having a great season and establishing who the elite players are. It's the same thing as rating Voracek is a top-5 player in the league. It's easy just to look at stats from this year and pick a new top-5 but it's much harder to maintain excellent play over a few years including in the Stanley Cup finals and the Olympics that to post good regular season numbers for half a season.

The flavor of the month change constantly. It's the ability to maintain elite play and in particular deliver when it counts that helps establish who the top players are.

 

[JFG]

Example Lundqvist has never played behind a not dominant defense before either. Rangers has always blocked huge amount of pucks and has been very defensive-minded team. His stats this year .913 and 2.39 GAA not playing behind so dominant defense aren´t so far away from Rask´s stats.

So **** happens some times.

When did you start watching hockey?

 

[Flaming Satan]

Yes, he is easily in. Probably top 5.

 

[Lshap]

There are lots of people, myself included, who do not feel a poor 1/2 of season are more important than elite play from a longer period of time.

There is a difference between having a great season and establishing who the elite players are. It's the same thing as rating Voracek is a top-5 player in the league. It's easy just to look at stats from this year and pick a new top-5 but it's much harder to maintain excellent play over a few years including in the Stanley Cup finals and the Olympics that to post good regular season numbers for half a season.

The flavor of the month change constantly. It's the ability to maintain elite play and in particular deliver when it counts that helps establish who the top players are.

I agree that sustained excellence is what makes an elite goalie. I'd put Lundqvist in that category, as well as Quick, for his sustained play throughout two successful Cup runs.

Rask isn't there yet. He's played one and a half full seasons as a starter (plus the strike-shortened year) and had three playoff runs with widely varied results. He's risen to elite-level play, but that doesn't define him as elite, anymore than this season defines him as mediocre. His reputation is still being built.

 

[BruinLVGA]

What you posted is pretty traditional wisdom. Those 5 are the goalies most often labeled as elite at message board discussions.

Naturally though, if we look at results from this year, neither Rask, Quick, or Hank belong in that discussion. All of those are in the top 5 purely based on past results and reputation. That's not even arguable.

The up to date top 5 is Rinne at number one and Price at number two, and then in no particular order followed by guys like Fleury, Luongo and Howard. Rinne will take the Vezina this year and next year everything can be different again.

So, how many games did you see Rask play this year? For example, what do you think of his performance last night? 21 shots or so, 3 goals, must have been a horrible performance, right?

 

[Peter Puck]

Probably he is top 10. But now we are seeing how good he really is. Julien still is a defence first coach but the Bruins no longer have one of the league's better defence corps. I think we'll see this level of play from Rask for the next few years.

He's probably in the 8-10 range.

 

[Era of Sanity]

Yes. And he hasn't always had great d in front of him. The Bruins d wasn't great last year either when he won the Vezina, especially with Seidenberg hurt, there was lots of inexperience and miscues. This year he has been a bit off but he is still top 5.

 

[TT1]

we went from a Carey Price is overrated thread to a is Tuukka Rask a top 10 goalie in the NHL thread.. HF always needs a whipping boy.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Rask is good. But not as good as Price.

 

[SirPaste]

Is this thread serious? He is top 5 and a slump isnt going to change that

 

[dubey]

Bernier at his best is as good as Rask at his worst,

loled big time thanks

 

[The Sweetness]

I agree that sustained excellence is what makes an elite goalie. I'd put Lundqvist in that category, as well as Quick, for his sustained play throughout two successful Cup runs.

Rask isn't there yet. He's played one and a half full seasons as a starter (plus the strike-shortened year) and had three playoff runs with widely varied results. He's risen to elite-level play, but that doesn't define him as elite, anymore than this season defines him as mediocre. His reputation is still being built.

I agree with your main point that Rask hasn't had the same level of sustained play as Lundqvist. However, I think the way you summarise Rask's career is a bit disingenuous.

Rask has simply been excellent since he entered the league. I'm also not sure why you did not include the 2009-10 season when he played more games than Thomas. His career playoff save percentage is .930 so if you are looking this body of work he's been elite in the playoffs as well. Summarising his playoff play as "widely varied results" doesn't sound fair to me for a guy with a career playoff save percentage that would be a career year for most goaltenders in the league. His play in the olympics was brilliant as well so he's checked all the boxes.

Over the past five years Rask has been one of the top goaltenders in the world though his one drawback is that he hasn't played as many games as someone like Lundqvist.

But the main point I'm trying to make is one I think you agree with that it's ridiculous for posters to claim the goalies like Luongo or Howard are ahead of Rask because they've been better for 30 games this season.

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

Top 3-5 definitely.

 

[Kamiccolo]

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.

They finished the season with close stats last year. .7 % less Sv% for Bernier. Rask has the best defense in the east in front of him, leafs allowed the most shots in team history.

But keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better..

This year their stats are very very close.

 

[ottawa]

What's with people always gassing up Bernier. The guy is overrated and far from you 5, let's leave it at that and never revisit that discussion. As for Rask, he is still a top 5 in my books, despite the habs dominating him everytime

 

[JackTheTulip]

Well let's just say that like for most Bruins this year, the fear factor has definitely faded and a match-up against the Bruins it seems is much less of a real test.
As a Habs fan, I actually hope the Bruins make the playoffs over the Leafs and Panthers and look forward to seeing Rask start.

 

[Nalkanpuru]

Based on success & stats for the last 5 years, I'd consider the top 5 to be:

1) Rask
2) Lundqvist
3) Rinne
4) Bobrovsky
5) Schneider

I'd place the traditional choices of Quick right outside the top 5 and Price just barely in top 10.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Based on success & stats for the last 5 years, I'd consider the top 5 to be:

1) Rask
2) Lundqvist
3) Rinne
4) Bobrovsky
5) Schneider

I'd place the traditional choices of Quick right outside the top 5 and Price just barely in top 10.

What? He is TERRIBLE. Go look at every devils GDT this season, he just sucks. Looks good one game then terrible the next two.

He has decent stats but the devils are a good defensive team, just a poor offensive one. His stats are very average and there are other goalies who are much much better.

 

[TT1]

Based on success & stats for the last 5 years, I'd consider the top 5 to be:

1) Rask
2) Lundqvist
3) Rinne
4) Bobrovsky
5) Schneider

I'd place the traditional choices of Quick right outside the top 5 and Price just barely in top 10.

including this season Price has 3 .920%+ seasons under his belt in the last 5 years, 2 of them being .925%+. He was also by far the best goalie in the Olympics and won a gold medal.. just barely a top 10 goalie tho
hes also doing all of this at an age where most of those guys just started being notable NHL goalies.

up until last season Schneider wasnt even a #1 goalie for his team..