Confirmed with Link: Leland Irving to Helsingin Jokerit

[Kentti]

Irving played yesterday against Lukko. Jokerit lost 1 - 2. 18 saves on 20 shots, SVS% 90%.

Highlights from the game: http://www.nelonenpro.fi/videot/media/579023

Today it was a game against HIFK that Jokerit won 3 - 0. 28 saves, a shutout.

Highlights from the game: http://www.nelonenpro.fi/videot/media/579192

Also, Jokerit owner has stated that Jokerit are going to make a proper contract with Irving for the rest of the season. He has been on a month-long tryout contract at the moment.

 

[Mike Jones]

Irving played yesterday against Lukko. Jokerit lost 1 - 2. 18 saves on 20 shots, SVS% 90%.

Highlights from the game: http://www.nelonenpro.fi/videot/media/579023

Today it was a game against HIFK that Jokerit won 3 - 0. 28 saves, a shutout.

Highlights from the game: http://www.nelonenpro.fi/videot/media/579192

Also, Jokerit owner has stated that Jokerit are going to make a proper contract with Irving for the rest of the season. He has been on a month-long tryout contract at the moment.

Nice work - Good for him. And good for Jokerit for giving Irving a proper chance.

Maybe the Jokerit staff should be running the Flames' rebuild.

 

[Trae]

Watch Ramo/Berra/Ortio fail and Irving sign with the Flames next season lol

 

[King In The North]

Watch Ramo/Berra/Ortio fail and Irving sign with the Flames next season lol

I always cite Gio with cases like this. Going to Euro can be a great way to re-enter the NHL (albeit different contract situations).

I really hope Calgary gives him another chance. Kind of bittersweet seeing him with the Calgary helmet still on.

 

[tyflames]

I always cite Gio with cases like this. Going to Euro can be a great way to re-enter the NHL (albeit different contract situations).

I really hope Calgary gives him another chance. Kind of bittersweet seeing him with the Calgary helmet still on.

He wouldn't. The organization basically said he wasn't an NHL caliber goalie by not resigning him with our goaltending being wide open. If he comes back it will be with a different team.

 

[Volica]

Good for Leland finding a job.

Guys, don't be pointing fingers at the Flames too hard. 29 other NHL teams didn't think that he was worth throwing a contract at either.
Maybe he can go to Finland, rip it up for 2-3 years and come back to the NHL a seasoned veteran. We don't know. It might help Jokerit always seems to have a relatively strong team.

 

[Anglesmith]

Also, let's not forget that even one of the Finnish guys here said that the Finnish league wasn't at the same level. The Flames didn't let Leland go because they didn't think he could succeed in the Finnish league. They let him go because they didn't think he could succeed in the NHL. His performance here doesn't make them wrong. Doesn't necessarily make them right, but it doesn't make them wrong.

 

[Skobel24]

Unless he comes back to the NHL to become a proven starter, I don't care that Calgary let him go. As far as I'm concerned, he showed VERY LITTLE hope for becoming anything more than a european/ahl goalie.

 

[Noori]

There's a difference between Irving and Gio situations. Gio was an RFA who could only sign with the Flames, and Sutter wasn't ponying up enough money. With Irving, he was free to sign with any NHL team but all the other teams likely shared the Flames' opinion - that Irving is not an NHL caliber goalie.

 

[WhereIsIt]

I don't care how well he plays in Europe, he showed little promise in the NHL and consistently crumbled when the pressure was on.

Best of luck to him though.

 

[Kentti]

Couple of games for Irving. 2 - 1 S/O loss against Pelicans on Saturday, 30 saves out of 31 shots. Yesterday a 2 - 3 S/O loss against Kärpät, 19 saves on 21 shots.

Suffice to say that Irving is doing good. He's no longer a member of the Flames so I don't think there's need to report his progress in the Finnish Elite League. Tim Thomas played for Jokerit in 2004-05 season, maybe Europe is a stepping stone for Irving. You never know.

 

[tmurfin]

Irving, IMO, just needed a fair shake. He desperately needed the staff and management to sit him down and say "hey, here's a clean slate, lets see you get out there and build some confidence". But he never got it, can you imagine how pissed we would be if Hartley decided to play someone like Street over Sven for a couple months just because he had a rough couple of games? We had our top prospect goalie, who had played stellar in the bigs during his first taste, sitting in the press box while AHL mainstays like Taylor and Brust got all the opportunity in the world. People seem to forget that Leland was one of the few bright spots on a bad Heat team for the first little while in Abby, hell, Troy Ward tossed that out the window as soon as he hit a speed bump. That's why I'm not convinced Ward is the guy to develop our kids, maybe with Conny now focusing almost strictly on Abby, that will change. I can only hope.

I'm happy for Irving, I really hope he can take that next step and be something in the NHL (in the East preferably ), just to rub it in Ward and Feasters faces.

 

[Finnpin]

1-on-1 situations (breakaways/shootouts) he looks shaky and has weird style.

Edit. Irving lands 1 year contract with Jokerit

 

[Kentti]

Yup, confirmed with link, Irving got a 1 year contract with Jokerit.

http://www.jokerit.com/uutiset/?nid=2575

 

[Mike Jones]

Irving, IMO, just needed a fair shake. He desperately needed the staff and management to sit him down and say "hey, here's a clean slate, lets see you get out there and build some confidence". But he never got it, can you imagine how pissed we would be if Hartley decided to play someone like Street over Sven for a couple months just because he had a rough couple of games? We had our top prospect goalie, who had played stellar in the bigs during his first taste, sitting in the press box while AHL mainstays like Taylor and Brust got all the opportunity in the world. People seem to forget that Leland was one of the few bright spots on a bad Heat team for the first little while in Abby, hell, Troy Ward tossed that out the window as soon as he hit a speed bump. That's why I'm not convinced Ward is the guy to develop our kids, maybe with Conny now focusing almost strictly on Abby, that will change. I can only hope.

I'm happy for Irving, I really hope he can take that next step and be something in the NHL (in the East preferably ), just to rub it in Ward and Feasters faces.

I totally agree with everything you say here. I cringe whenever I hear that a prospect has been assigned to Abby. I really wonder what will happen to decent prospects like Brossoit.

But as someone has said, that's another thread.

 

[Mike Jones]

Yup, confirmed with link, Irving got a 1 year contract with Jokerit.

http://www.jokerit.com/uutiset/?nid=2575

Good for him. And good for the Jokerit management and coaching staff for giving him the chance he needed.

News of his contract seems to be a good note to end this thread on.

 

[Lunatik]

Good for Irv! I hope he excels in Jokerit

 

[TheHudlinator]

Good for Irv! I hope he excels in Jokerit

Same not surprised he is doing so well. Anyone that says he never showed potential never say him in Abbs.

 

[SmellOfVictory]

Irving, IMO, just needed a fair shake. He desperately needed the staff and management to sit him down and say "hey, here's a clean slate, lets see you get out there and build some confidence". But he never got it, can you imagine how pissed we would be if Hartley decided to play someone like Street over Sven for a couple months just because he had a rough couple of games? We had our top prospect goalie, who had played stellar in the bigs during his first taste, sitting in the press box while AHL mainstays like Taylor and Brust got all the opportunity in the world. People seem to forget that Leland was one of the few bright spots on a bad Heat team for the first little while in Abby, hell, Troy Ward tossed that out the window as soon as he hit a speed bump. That's why I'm not convinced Ward is the guy to develop our kids, maybe with Conny now focusing almost strictly on Abby, that will change. I can only hope.

I'm happy for Irving, I really hope he can take that next step and be something in the NHL (in the East preferably ), just to rub it in Ward and Feasters faces.

I don't know - he played 182 games over four seasons in the AHL before his NHL call-up. That sounds like a pretty decent 'chance' to me. And he was never great, even for an AHL goalie.

 

[Lunatik]

I don't know - he played 182 games over four seasons in the AHL before his NHL call-up. That sounds like a pretty decent 'chance' to me. And he was never great, even for an AHL goalie.

How many of Irving's AHL games did you actually watch to form this expert opinion?

 

[Trae]

I don't know - he played 182 games over four seasons in the AHL before his NHL call-up. That sounds like a pretty decent 'chance' to me. And he was never great, even for an AHL goalie.

That's like looking at Kiprusoff's numbers the years before last season and saying he was never great, but in both situations the numbers were more a reflection of a bad team, not a bad goalie.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Irving, IMO, just needed a fair shake. He desperately needed the staff and management to sit him down and say "hey, here's a clean slate, lets see you get out there and build some confidence". But he never got it, can you imagine how pissed we would be if Hartley decided to play someone like Street over Sven for a couple months just because he had a rough couple of games? We had our top prospect goalie, who had played stellar in the bigs during his first taste, sitting in the press box while AHL mainstays like Taylor and Brust got all the opportunity in the world. People seem to forget that Leland was one of the few bright spots on a bad Heat team for the first little while in Abby, hell, Troy Ward tossed that out the window as soon as he hit a speed bump. That's why I'm not convinced Ward is the guy to develop our kids, maybe with Conny now focusing almost strictly on Abby, that will change. I can only hope.

I'm happy for Irving, I really hope he can take that next step and be something in the NHL (in the East preferably ), just to rub it in Ward and Feasters faces.

I agree with you, we totally just gave up on him and cast him aside. We put him in a situation here last season that he wasn't ready for, I didn't like how management handled him at all. Best of luck to him.

 

[tmurfin]

I don't know - he played 182 games over four seasons in the AHL before his NHL call-up. That sounds like a pretty decent 'chance' to me. And he was never great, even for an AHL goalie.

He was the only thing holding our AHL team together for those years, than the moment he hit a speed bump (after already impressing in the bigs I remind you), he got put in the box so Taylor and Brust could get game time. The guy was apparently on the shortest leash you could find.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Ward was coaching at first to win games ahead of developing our players properly. While winning is important our key prospects need to be put in roles that are going to further development. Then it's up to our guys to either sink or swim.

 

[Turning Mangiapanese]

The lockout came at an unfortunate time for Irving because he was pencilled in to be Kipper's backup and the Heat already were going forward with Taylor and Brust. In hindsight he probably should have signed in some European league and played starter minutes during the lockout. But ultimately it was his own play last year that did him in, he really should have been head and shoulders above Taylor and Brust if he was to step into a full time NHL role this year.