Some Kari Lehtonen highlights

[OneBigRed]

Any idea why Finland produces great goalies.

Is it that there is one (or a few) superior coaches? The best athletes are attracted to goal? Do the developmental leagues somehow promote goalies? Anomolous statistical chance? None of the above?

I agree that great goalies are coming out but I cannot understand why the country is pounding out so many good ones.

Tough one... There are couple of great coaches, most notably the one in TPS Turku, he has trained Niittymäki, Kiprusoff, and many others who have succeeded in the national league and so on. Lehtonen comes from Jokerit Helsinki, and he's kind of one off, they have'nt produced so much of goalie talent.

Maybe one thing is organised junior training, programs etc.

For one thing, the reason can't be tough games, because we hardly produce any good snipers.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Wow. Those saves are amazing. This kid can play. Atlanta is a very lucky team with their incredibly talented youth. In 5 years they ae going to be dangerous...

Heatley
Kovalchuk
Lehtonen
Coburn

Solid start...

They have their top line players, thier number 1 D (or at worst number 2) and a future star goalie. If they can assemble any kind of team around these kids they'll be a force

Kovalchuk is not very good defensive own.. Actually he don't even defense..
Lehtonen will be very good for atlanta..

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Kovalchuk is not very good defensive own.. Actually he don't even defense..
Lehtonen will be very good for atlanta..

You don't think he will get any better defensivly?

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

You don't think he will get any better defensivly?

I don't know yet..
Propably yes!
If Ilya can play both ends well! then Atlanta will be the top team!

 

[nomorekids]

all this talk of finnish goalies and no love for my man Teemu Lassila?

 

[f1nn]

all this talk of finnish goalies and no love for my man Teemu Lassila?

All hail Teemu Lassila I watched him in the SM-liiga playoffs and was pretty impressed.

 

[nomorekids]

All hail Teemu Lassila I watched him in the SM-liiga playoffs and was pretty impressed.

if you see him, tell him he's badly needed in north america

 

[Habfansincebirth]

What's the big deal with those saves on the highlight video? I think they are rather ordinary for Lehtonen.

I agree 100%. Those were not nearly as specatcular as the announcer was making them out to be. At the AHL level maybe, but those were just good NHL calibre saves.

 

[f1nn]

if you see him, tell him he's badly needed in north america

sure will, hehe

 

[Nuclear]

Niittymaki is an extremely promising goalie, and appears to be the future starter on the Flyers.

He may have been drafted in the 6th round, but after that I believe he won some championship in Finland, which made his stock skyrocket.

Also he has 3 amazing starts when Esche and Hackett were both down.

Washington 5-1
Atlanta 5-1
New Jersey 4-1

He has a 1.00 GAA and I believe a .964 SV%

He only came to America last year I believe, and ajusted to the North American style of play very well.

 

[Flyman]

Yea, Niittymäki is a top prospect between the pipes. He did really well during his 3 games presence in December last year. He showed a tremendous upside.
If Burke's contract is bought out, "Frank" (as Hitch has nicknamed him! lol) will be Esche's backup. And he will get a lot of experience.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

I had heard that other great goalies could do that for their clubs, but I've never closely followed a team with such a goalie to understand the phenomena. I hesitate to say this but here goes: Kari reminds me very much of Ken Dryden. His style, his efficiency, his size and his effect on a team--even the way he stands when he takes a rest.

Now if we can only find a Robinson, Lamaire and Mahovlich (a Lafleur we already have!).

It is a very bold statement. And as someone who has grown up during the Dryden era, those are tough skates to fill.

And yet, I can't help but understand and even agree in part with you. Yes, Lehtonen is the closest I have ever seen to Dryden and Roy as far as sheer presence in net. It's not just amazing talent. There is something more there, it seems.

It is of course awfully early and young goalies can go through stretch where they are unbelievable. The true test is consistency in excellence.

But so far, I think you have a case.

And if it so happened that Lehtonen can carry himself that way, he will be more important than Kovalchuk, more important than Heatley. He could be the most valuable player in the NHL.

I think this was the case with Roy. I think he was the most valuable player in this league. He was the best player for the Avs and the reason they won their cups (same with the Habs but that is common knowledge). All this talk about Sakic being a leader is pathetic and laughable. Sakic wouldn't even be able lead a group of boyscouts 20 meters in the woods to take a dump.

But of course, Lehtonen's value will reveal itself over time. I will be particularly curious to see his first awful performances in the NHL. Those are usually the key moments, it's how you bounce back from this that tells the story.

I'm not overly optimistic because Drydens and Roys don't grow on trees but it would be amazing if he could pull it off.

 

[dunwoody_joe]

Vlad, I too recognize the sheer absurd improbability of the comparison. I also cut my teeth on hockey in the Dryden era (I had my fill of him stoning my beloved Sabres).

However, the substrate for the comparisons are there--style, size, calmness, technique. But you are correct about the intangible. There is just something different, special about this kid. On the ice, he makes the players around him better. I don't know how but I am certain I have seen that already. Perhaps they are more confident, perhaps somebody told them to crank it up a notch, perhaps something else all together. I just don't know.

Off the ice, there is something different too. People just gravitate toward him. It is very bizarre. At the recent prospect camp several little kids (who clearly were bored and disinterested) suddenly lined up behind Kari during a drill and seemed hypnotized while watching him go through side-to-side drills. They were banging the glass and Kari would playfully tap his stick to acknowledge their presence--the kids would squeel with delight. When coming off the ice he was mobbed and smiled and engaged each fan with autographs, etc. Sure plenty of other players do this too, but this kid has a charisma and presence different than most.

So what? Who knows, I'm just reporting. However, I love what I see so far.

One last thing, I was standing within earshot of Hartley, Waddell and Marr at the prospect camp in July. I was yammering with my young daughter when I heard Hartley (with his thick French-Canadian accent) say to Waddell, "Look there!" I glanced toward the goal and noticed Kari, mask up, taking a swig of water while resting himself upon his stick. I explained the pose to my daughter and drew the parallel to Dreyden (loud enough so they could hear that at least one southern yahoo understood) and looked back to see Hartley wink.

http://www.chfans.com/histoire/images/Dryden Ken/Ken-Dryden1.jpg

 

[Puckhead]

Niittymaki is an extremely promising goalie, and appears to be the future starter on the Flyers.

He may have been drafted in the 6th round, but after that I believe he won some championship in Finland, which made his stock skyrocket.

Also he has 3 amazing starts when Esche and Hackett were both down.

Washington 5-1
Atlanta 5-1
New Jersey 4-1

He has a 1.00 GAA and I believe a .964 SV%

He only came to America last year I believe, and ajusted to the North American style of play very well.

He is a very good goaltender. Unfortunately, Clarke will probably trade him. He must maintain his track record of finding the wrong guy to be his goalie.

 

[pei fan]

I agree 100%. Those were not nearly as specatcular as the announcer was making them out to be. At the AHL level maybe, but those were just good NHL calibre saves.

I think the announcers might have slightly overreacted on some especially the first.
However the saves on the 2 on 0 breakaway were every bit as good as the best
saves that Hasek makes.You'd have to be blind not to see that.

 

[gib]

It is of course awfully early and young goalies can go through stretch where they are unbelievable. The true test is consistency in excellence.

And if it so happened that Lehtonen can carry himself that way, he will be more important than Kovalchuk, more important than Heatley. He could be the most valuable player in the NHL.

But of course, Lehtonen's value will reveal itself over time. I will be particularly curious to see his first awful performances in the NHL. Those are usually the key moments, it's how you bounce back from this that tells the story.

I'm not overly optimistic because Drydens and Roys don't grow on trees but it would be amazing if he could pull it off.

Speaking about consistency in exellence, that is exactly where Kari is on his best. He has already in age of 20 proved that he is extremely reliable and his play is steady as it can be. I think he has been like that since he first time put on goalie equipments. His game was steady already in juniors. He played some unbelievable games in juniors and rest of the games were excellence. When he started to play with men in SM-liiga, he continued to play same way as in juniors, consistency in excellence and some unbelievable games. Of course all the goalies have bad days, but Kari have had very few of them.

Bouncing back from bad games, haven`t been problem for Kari earlier so I don`t think it will be problem even in the future. He haven`t have bad games on NHL level yet and it may be more difficult to recover mentally because of the pressure that NHL goalies do have. Still I don`t see it will be problem for Kari, cause he is mentally so strong and calm. There are plenty of goalies playing in NHL who aren`t mentally as strong as Kari and they also bounce back after bad game. Kari is young and bad games can "hurt" more than it would hurt very experienced goalie, but he will bouce back.
Living in Finland it has been little difficult to follow Kari`s games, but what I have read he had some "not so good" games in AHL. But he came over those and when the important games started, he was again able to to lift his game to another level. That is one thing what makes Kari special, his game is continally excellence and still when needed he can raise the level of his game.

You never know how it will eventually be, but at least Kari has shown in two years in SM-liiga and one year in AHL and in juniors before those, be able to play consistency in excellence. Three years with men has taugh a lot to him. The most difficult part in his hockey career, playing in NHL is still ahead. Still I am confident that he will make hell of a career.

 

[PhoPhan]

Antero Niitymaki has been severely overrated in Philadelphia. He had a very good stretch of games, but Flyers fans especially should be weary of a goalie having a small stretch of good games (read: Boucher). In those 3 games, he looked solid but unspectacular. However, much like a young pitcher in baseball, his biggest asset was unfamiliarity. The players who were playing against him did not really know how to play against him. They will soon learn, if Antero ever gets extened playing time, that he forces the glove save, even when it is far more convenient to make an easy save with another body part. This is part of the reason why many people thought he looked so outstanding. He does have a very good glove hand, but the rest of his skills seem to be mediocre, so he makes up for it by using his glove at all opportunities, and at other times.

 

[Shane]

FInland is the new Quebec.

 

[Vlad The Impaler]

FInland is the new Quebec.

Indeed, it seems to be a paradise of goaltending. There's been a slight slowdown in Quebec.

It is absolutely unbelievable the effect Patrick Roy had here. He literally lifted the status of goaltending to another level around here. After his departure to Colorado the effect gradually disappeared and now that he is retired it will probably get back to a lesser level. Not to say there won't be great goalies. I think it's now a tradition and should remain around here, but it will slow down.

You couple that with Euro-emergence (particularly Finland) and there should be less Quebec goalies in the league in the coming years.

 

[Reilly311]

Toskala and Kiprusoff are two excellent goalies right now. They're almost 30 though. Anyone know the 3 Finish goalies off hand for the world cup?

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

Toskala and Kiprusoff are two excellent goalies right now. They're almost 30 though. Anyone know the 3 Finish goalies off hand for the world cup?

kiprusoff, toskala and lehtonen