- Status
Jacobv2 said:
What happened to Daigle doesn't happen very often. I don'tknow much about Daigles situation because i was too young. Lehtonen is like AO, basically a can't miss prospect. Sure there is a slight possiblity but it is very slight. Same possibility with AO yet no ones is questioning him.
clefty
Retrovertigo
J17ster said:
Just give up dude. You'd have to be a mad man to believe that there is no chance of Fleury becoming better than Lehtonen. I'm (obviously) a huge fan of Lehtonen too, but you can't let that blind all logic and reason. It's great that you're that confident in Lehtonen becoming an all-time great, but nothing is a sure thing.
Rowsdower
Registered User
Pepper said:
Quality posts continue to flow into this thread...
Actually he kinda was guy....keep in mind this was back when he was in the NHL winning rookie of the month. It seemed to be the consensus that Fleury was the best goalie prospect out there, just as it is fairly the same way with Lehtonen now. It was this year that the tide turned for Lehtonen. Last year, Fleury led his team to the WJC finals (winning the best goaltender award), went first overall in the draft, was being hailed as the most skilled goalie prospect since Roy, went straight from juniors into the NHL in the position hardest to do so in, and dominated several games, and until a complete team breakdown, put up very respectable numbers. I'm sure Lehtonen was doing fine in the AHL, but I would like to think that was enough for most people to give Fleury the edge. That's how I remember it.
I'm not going to argue that this year Lehtonen has passed Fleury, but last year many saw things differently.
Last edited:
Rowsdower
Registered User
J17ster said:
Let's clear the air about something here, because I've been rather curious about this myself....
How many times have you watched Lehtonen? Fleury?
Try and be honest.
Rowsdower said:
Never been honest before but in person never. I've gone on Stats, reports, hype, analysis of people who have very good hockey knowledge and my opinion. But i've never seen Ovechkin yet i do not doubt he is better than say Ladd. What do i have to go on, again Stata, reports, rankings, analysis of people with good hockey knowledge and my opinion.
Rowsdower
Registered User
J17ster said:
Well, you're certainly not the only one...but to obtain practical certainty of a player's dominance, I would at least think you would have to witness his play first hand a few times.
Also, the Ovechkin/Ladd comparison is a bit off base...these two are much closer than that. I'd say it's more like the gap between Ovechkin and Malkin...two great talents of fairly equal upside, the upper the safer choice, but also a year farther in development...
Jeff Goldblum
Registered User
They're both great prospects. I doubt their own general managers could honestly predict who's going to be better. I've seen Fleury play multiple times in the NHL, WJC and AHL especially. He's an absolute freak. Fastest legs I've ever seen. Lehtonen could very well be on par with Fleury but this kid is no slouch. He went #1 over guys like Eric Staal, Nathan Horton, Nikolai Zherdev, Thomas Vanek and Dion Phaneuf for a reason.
clefty
Retrovertigo
clefty said:
Yeah read the basically and i also commented "slight possibilty that he can miss".
Jeff Goldblum
Registered User
It's not Fleury's fault he was too young to be in the AHL...
Any goalie behind the horrid Pens' team would begin to decline, especially an 18 year old one. The fact that he put up those amazing stats at all behind this team is a testament to his skill. Fleury was strong for almost two months.
Any goalie behind the horrid Pens' team would begin to decline, especially an 18 year old one. The fact that he put up those amazing stats at all behind this team is a testament to his skill. Fleury was strong for almost two months.
Jacobv2 said:
Lehtonen was not in the NHL because he's part of a team that knows how to handle it's goaltending prospects. It really was a mistake to play Fleury in the NHL so soon, in my opinion.
Fleury was in the NHL only because the Pens had no goalies and decided they should mishandle their top prospect. It wasn't because of some perception that he was a better prospect than Lehtnonen. That is rubbish.
Lehtonen was in the AHL last year because the Thrashers had a pretty good goalie in Nurminen and wanted Lehtonen to get used to the North American rinks in a better atmosphere.
Look at their stats in the AHL this season so far. It is clearly evident who the better prospect is right now.
Lehtonen:
24 Games Played
2.10 Goals Against Average
.935 Save Percentage
Marc-Andre Fleury:
19 Games Played
2.52 Goals Against Average
.908 Save Percentage
MA has a ways to progress before he catches up to Lehtonen in skill level.
Lehtonen was in the AHL last year because the Thrashers had a pretty good goalie in Nurminen and wanted Lehtonen to get used to the North American rinks in a better atmosphere.
Look at their stats in the AHL this season so far. It is clearly evident who the better prospect is right now.
Lehtonen:
24 Games Played
2.10 Goals Against Average
.935 Save Percentage
Marc-Andre Fleury:
19 Games Played
2.52 Goals Against Average
.908 Save Percentage
MA has a ways to progress before he catches up to Lehtonen in skill level.
Rowsdower
Registered User
Taxman said:
We've been through this before. He's a year behind in development.
Even so, to say Fleury has ways to progress to catch up to Lehtonen using the evidence of 20 or so AHL games is ridiculous. I think it's high time we stop with people thinking they are NHL talent scouts just because they can copy and paste a row of numbers.
...and nobody is arguing who is better now.
Grave77digger
Registered User
Lehto is in his 2nd season on the AHL...
Fleury is in his 1st season in the AHL...
Lehtos rookie stats----------Fleurys rookie stats (so far)
2003/2004 Chicago----------2004/2005 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
39 GP-----------------------19 GP
2192:25---------------------1095:38
20 wins 14 losses 2 ties------11 wins 5 loses 2 ties
3 SO------------------------1 SO
2.41 GAA--------------------2.52 GAA
1101 saves------------------455 saves
0.926 sv%-------------------0.908 sv%
Say what you want but Lehtonens rookie stats arent earth shattering and are only marginally better. Of course this comparison is incomplete until Fleury finishes his rookie campaign.
Fleury is in his 1st season in the AHL...
Lehtos rookie stats----------Fleurys rookie stats (so far)
2003/2004 Chicago----------2004/2005 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
39 GP-----------------------19 GP
2192:25---------------------1095:38
20 wins 14 losses 2 ties------11 wins 5 loses 2 ties
3 SO------------------------1 SO
2.41 GAA--------------------2.52 GAA
1101 saves------------------455 saves
0.926 sv%-------------------0.908 sv%
Say what you want but Lehtonens rookie stats arent earth shattering and are only marginally better. Of course this comparison is incomplete until Fleury finishes his rookie campaign.
Well Lehtonen posted a .926 Save Percentage last year, at the same age Fleury is now. Let us see what Fleury's Save Percentage is to end the year (it is currently .908).
Jacob
as seen on TV
- Feb 27, 2002
- 49,473
- 25,067
You are wrong. Fleury wasn't sent to the Q until Late January, and it had much to do with the team being atrocious as him having bad outtings.Pepper said:
You can literally count the number of poor games he had in the NHL on one hand. But they were there and it was obvious that nothing was to be gained from keeping him in the NHL. His only option was to be sent back to the Q.
Games are played on the ice.
Pepper
Registered User
- Aug 30, 2004
- 14,693
- 269
Yes but the point remains that simply because Fleury was in the NHL last season while LEhtonen was in the AHL didn't make him better regarded, it was because of the ****-poor goaltending of the Pens why Fleury was there in the first place. Had Pens had a decent goalie he would have been playing in Q from the start.
- Status
