Next Great Goalie Final!!!!!!!!

[Jani8]

Lehtonen. And it's not even close with these two IMO.

 

[Ola]

People can complain all that want on Lundqvist but he is a great goaltender. I've seen enough of him to be ceratin that he is gooing to be a great goaltender in the NHL. If he is gooing to be "the next one" is too early to tell though. Lethonen have great attributes but I haven't seen enough of him lately to tell who's better between him and Lundqvist...

People needs to remember that Lundqvist is compared to Martin Brodeur and co. while playing infront of this defense...
Niklas Kronwall-Christian Bäckman
Sanny Lindström-Mattias Norström
Ronnie Sundin-Magnus Johansson
Kenny Jonsson

...while playing against guys like
Gagne, Thornton, Nash, Marleau, Doan, Heatly, Ryan Smyth, Modano, Weight, Parrish and Knuble.

Its not the easiest job on the planet if you ask me. For thoose of us who have seen him for a couple of years there is no doubt that he is among the top 5-6 prospects in the world. No doubt. If he is better then Lethonen is another question...

 

[BobMarleyNYR]

Lundqvist has a much more impressive resume than Lehtonen?

Lehtonen's resume seriously craps all over Lundqvist's. I have no idea where you got the idea that Lundqvist has anywhere near the resume Lehtonen has.

BTW, Lehtonen is in the AHL playoffs again right now and again is proving himself to be a ****ing big time big game goalie. He has been the best goalie of the entire AHL playoff tournament so far.

Keep laughing, 'cause the SEL is 10x more competitive than the AHL right now. Yeah, looking at the timeline, Lundqvist has outshined Lehtonen as far as honors go.

 

[august]

Lethonen.

 

[Tawnos]

why then did the Rangers choose Montoya?

That was actually a question I asked myself when it happened. The truth is, the Rangers chose the best guy they thought was still available. And there is nothing wrong with doing that. At the moment, the Rangers have 4 potential NHL starters in their system (Lundqvist, Montoya, Labarbera and Blackburn)... say what you will about Blackburn's chances, he still has the talent if he can overcome the handicap. Labarbera probably won't be an NHL goalie, but he deserves the shot. A lot of goalies don't turn out to fill their potential. Having 4 goaltenders gives you a greater chance of hitting at least one. If you hit 2 or 3, you have massive trade bait to improve your club down the road. If you believe that goaltending is where you start when building a winning team, Montoya was just as good of a choice for the Rangers at number 6 as Tukonen, Stafford, or Olesz.

 

[Tawnos]

This is kind of strange, Lehtonen has dominated the SM-Liiga, World Juniors, the AHL and hasnt lost in the NHL.

Let's see if I can pick out the fallacies in your arguement here in comparison to Lundqvist.

"Lehtonen has dominated the SM-Liiga"
Lundqvist has dominated the SEL

"World Juniors"
Last year, you can make the case that Lundqvist dominated most of the World Championships.

"the AHL"
The only thing Lehtonen has over Lundqvist is that he's played over in NA.

"and hasnt lost in the NHL."
Again, Patrick Lalime didn't lose in his first 16 games in the NHL. Doesn't mean anything in terms of the "next great goalie"

"Lehtonen was the goaltender/player of the year, and the playoff MVP in the SM-Liiga at around age 18."

Age actually doesn't mean a damn thing. Players develop along different tracks. Does it matter that Robitaille was successful in the NHL by age 20 and Brett Hull wasn't successful until age 23?

"And he also played very well in the World Cup pre-season..... I think its a given that Lehtonen should take this, he's dominated everywhere he's gone."

The rest I've addressed, but he hasn't dominated everywhere he's gone obviously, otherwise you would've said "he also dominated in the World Cup pre-season" He also did not dominate his first AHL season.

 

[BobMarleyNYR]

I think, however, it's a moot point. I'll give it to Lehtonen on sheer skill, but who knows which one will turn out better. At the end of the day, Lehtonen is better right now, IMO. But the people doubting Lundqvist are not very smart hockey fans. He might be top 3 in all NHL goalie prospects.

 

[Sonny Lamateena]

Its difficult to compare players who play in different leagues, who play under different rules, who play on different size ice, but i'm assuming the question is who is going to be the next great NHL goalie, and since Lehtonen has already made the transition to the North American game and has maintained his exceptional play, i would say while both might be great, Lehtonen is next.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

Brilliant thread. If you choose Lundqvist, it's Ranger homerism. But if you choose Lehtonens it's a fact (or at the very least, just an opinion).

IMO Lehtonen will be as good as advertised and Lundqvist is going turn a lot of heads. And as a Ranger fan, I'm quite happy with Lundqvist.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Jesus! The Rangers homerism is really coming out. Remember Blackburn?

Yeah, I remember how he had an absolute freak injury.

What in the world does that have to do with it? Way to throw out some stupid left field **** into an otherwise interesting read.

I'm a Rangers fan, but I'd take Lehtonen 2 times outta 3 right now. I can't take Lundqvist over him till he's on NA ice.

 

[freakazoid]

I think, however, it's a moot point. I'll give it to Lehtonen on sheer skill, but who knows which one will turn out better. At the end of the day, Lehtonen is better right now, IMO. But the people doubting Lundqvist are not very smart hockey fans. He might be top 3 in all NHL goalie prospects.

Cam Ward is arguably the 2nd best goaltending prospect out there. Say all you want about Toivonen/Miller/Lunqvist, Ward is simply sensational and vastly underrated. The guy dominates everywhere he plays, and had a sensational season in the AHL, his first, with better stats than Lehtonen and Toivonen (except for wins). Kari's and Hannu's stats in their first seasons have nothing on Ward. IMO the most important stat for a keeper is save %, and Ward is #1 in the AHL. He is also currently leading his team in the playoffs. Not bad for a first year, even though he has Krahn as #2, a good one himself. As for Lunqvist, people might disagree, but the N.A. rink and game type is a big difference, because if not Huselius would lead the NHL in scoring like he did the SEL b4 getting canned. Lunqvist is behind Lehtonen/Ward/Toivonen/Miller right now, and maybe a couple more because we can't really judge him. About NHL players in SEL, a guy like Joe making 6M in NHL comes over to play for 0.5, I don't think he rought his 100% over with him. In the AHL, toothless warriors whack away at the puck in front of the net, not so much seen in the SEL, to earn a chance at the NHL, while SEL players know they are at the top in the country, and go Jagr most of the time. The same can be roughly applied to the WC, where the game is just different because of the size of the ice. Getting used to N.A. play is much more difficult than most think. Guys full of skill tank in the NHL (besides the Kovalchuks), but guys playing N.A. hockey such as Tootoo make the team and belong..

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Something I was wondering as well.

Assurance. They had another first round pick and realized it might be good to takea nother potential #1 goalie. If Lundqvist comes over and plays great, Montoya is a solid trade chip.

 

[BobMarleyNYR]

I still wouldn't even count Blackburn out of the picture.

 

[ChrisKreider20]

Well i'm gonna close it and declare the obvious the winner
Lundqvist

 

[thestonedkoala]

Yeah, I remember how he had an absolute freak injury.

What in the world does that have to do with it? Way to throw out some stupid left field **** into an otherwise interesting read.

I'm a Rangers fan, but I'd take Lehtonen 2 times outta 3 right now. I can't take Lundqvist over him till he's on NA ice.

Exactly my point, Reveille. He could end up having a freak accident over in Sweden. Lehtonen could have a freak accident over here but the point is, is that at least Lehtonen is proving himself in America. Lundqvist could never come over to the US.

 

[PanthersRule96]

Lehtonen>>>Lundqvist. Lehtonen is THE PREMIER goaltending prospect in the world right now. Lundqvist may turn out to be an excellent goalie, but there is no way can be touted as better than Lehtonen or a better goalie in the NHL at this point.

 

[Levitate]

Lundqvist could never come over to the US.

it's extremely likely he'll be over next year. he wants to come over, he wants to play in the NHL, he's willing to play in the AHL first so that's not an issue, and the rangers really want him over. he's not under contract at the moment...basically the ONLY thing keeping him from coming over at the moment is the lack of a CBA.

as for the whole debate, honestly i think lehtonen is the better goalie prospect...but jesus people he's not god, calm down a little about him.

 

[Diaboli]

Well i'm gonna close it and declare the obvious the winner
Lundqvist

I thought it went to LaBarbera

 

[Naoned]

Kari Lehtonen.

 

[thestonedkoala]

it's extremely likely he'll be over next year. he wants to come over, he wants to play in the NHL, he's willing to play in the AHL first so that's not an issue, and the rangers really want him over. he's not under contract at the moment...basically the ONLY thing keeping him from coming over at the moment is the lack of a CBA.

as for the whole debate, honestly i think lehtonen is the better goalie prospect...but jesus people he's not god, calm down a little about him.

Sucks to be Montoya doesn't it? Or LeBarabara...or whatever his name is...

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Sucks to be Montoya doesn't it? Or LeBarabara...or whatever his name is...

Labarbra was never in the Rangers plans as a goaltending prospect. He's a solid AHLer but would only be an NHL backup at the MOST at this point. His latteral movement is too sub-par for him to ever be an NHL starter.

Doesn't really suck to be Montoya as he will be a starter somewhere, most likely. But who knows if it will be with the Rangers? Having Lundqvist there offers solid competition to Montoya and vice versa. That is only a good thing in the long run.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Lehtonen>>>Lundqvist. Lehtonen is THE PREMIER goaltending prospect in the world right now. Lundqvist may turn out to be an excellent goalie, but there is no way can be touted as better than Lehtonen or a better goalie in the NHL at this point.

I'd say overall he's better than Lehtonen right now, but doesn't have the potential that Lehtonen does.

I'd say Lundqvist's potential is that of an All-Star starting goalie, while Lehtonen's potential is that of a sure-fire HOF, legendary goaltender. Both are just my view's of their POTENTIALS, but that's the way I see it.

Lundqvist is developing in a higher league playing against NHLers right now and putting up eye-popping numbers. I'd take him to start right away over Lehtonen, but I seriously doubt his high end potential will ever be close to Lehtonen's.