Rumor: Toronto among others interested in KHL record breaking goalie

[ViD]

Ak Bars Kazan’s Timur Bilyalov, who was never drafted into the NHL, has lit it up in Russia this season, posting an eye-popping .957 save percentage, six shutouts and a 1.10 goals-against average — league bests, all.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/maple-leafs-interested-record-breaking-khl-goalie-timur-bilyalov/

Click to read more...

 

[Frank Drebin]

Sounds like the product of a strong team. IDK

 

[I am Canadian]

5'10 - as a Leaf goalie you need all the extra length you can get as the defense ain't helping you for nothing. He's going to get screened so bad.

 

[koyvoo]

 

[A1LeafNation]

He's too nice, I would have snapped that stick.

 

[jetsforever]

No surprise that teams are interested in this guy, whether or not he'd be good in the NHL

 

[GetFocht]

5 foot 10 goalie would make him the shortest goalie in the league.

 

[qqaz]

I mean this in a very literal sense: He can't get here soon enough.

His current contract expires April 30th. It isn't like he can be in the Leafs net next week. Hope he signs in Toronto and makes a career here. But this isn't an answer for the current backup problem, as far as I can tell.

Unless I am misunderstanding something, he can't play for the Leafs this season. Someone please let me know if that's not the case.

 

[Kamiccolo]

I don't think anyone is suggesting the Leafs want to sign and bring him over this season. More like for next season it's a cheap backup with potential. Seems to be a few confused posters here.

And that's assuming the Leafs even get him, there are multiple teams interested.

 

[McClelland]

They should sign a sumo wrestler instead, he will cover the goal! #Breaking News

 

[Hockey Stick]

With record breaking numbers, he might be out of their price range

 

[Empoleon8771]

Watching the clips of his saves below makes me seriously question if he'll work in the NHL. I honestly don't know if you can have success in the NHL if you play a super acrobatic style and are only 5'10".

 

[Mrfenn92]

Worth a try. To expect to be a NHL backup right away might be a bit to much to ask. Might have to let him get comfortable in the ahl.

 

[themelkman]

This seems like a sharks move in the offseason

 

[TK]

5 foot 10 goalie would make him the shortest goalie in the league.

Saros is listed at 5'11" on nhl.com, but having stood right next to him, I can promise you he isn't.

 

[TrufleShufle]

Saros is listed at 5'11" on nhl.com, but having stood right next to him, I can promise you he isn't.

So what do you think, like 5'12"?

 

[BruinLVGA]

If you look at this guy's stats, he's faced 346 shots in 16 games, with 331 saves. Besides this being a ridiculously short sample, in any case this guy faced less than 22 shots per game on average. Seems like he's got a good defense...

There's another goalie, Alexander Samonov, who also played 16 games, has a similar sv% (95.3%, vs Bilyalov @ 95.7%) but faced 516 shots or more than 32 a game on average. This looks more impressive to me.

There's yet another goalie, Vasily Koshechkin, who has played way more games (32 = double the games) than these two, still retains an impressive 94.2 sv%, while facing 29 shots per game on average.

Furthermore, it seems like goalies in the KHL seem to have an inflated save%: 2 are above 95%, 4 are above 94%, 10 are above 93%, 15 are above 92%.
There's 14 goalies in the KHL below 2.00 GA, in the NHL there's 2 (and the top one would be tied for 12th in the KHL).

I mean, this guy might be something special or might simply be the product of this league. I would put money on the latter, if I had to.

 

[Stephen]

Wish they were interested in drafting Askarov out of the KHL.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

5'10" is certainly small... But I'd say he would be a solid guy to target for teams desperate for goaltending help.


A few teams now have found some goaltending success picking from the carcass of the KHL

Colorado in particular I believe has found a gem in Pavel Francouz. He put up similar numbers to Bilyalov his last 2 years in the league and now he's putting up some damn impressive numbers in the NHL this year, making a case to be a starter somewhere if not Colorado with Grubauer here(Personally I think he might take the starters spot from Grubauer by seasons end giving the Avs a real difficult decision in the off-season).

Francouz isn't a big goalie either playing at just 6'0", and he's a southpaw guy.

 

[TK]

So what do you think, like 5'12"?

He's probably 5'9"

 

[sxvnert]

The KHL can keep its 5'10 goaltender

 

[Jozay]

Damn, this guy is way better than Hutchinson

 

[Neutral Hockey Fan]

Wish they were interested in drafting Askarov out of the KHL.

Carolina might

 

[Esq]

I still have a hard time taking KHL success seriously when Nigel Dawes continues to light it up over there.

 

[sheed36]

5 foot 10 goalie would make him the shortest goalie in the league.

Would be good news for the Habs since he would be a goalie the tiny Habs can stand in front of and would almost be able to screen for once.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

I still have a hard time taking KHL success seriously when Nigel Dawes continues to light it up over there.

Pavel Francouz excelled in the KHL and is killing it in the NHL. They have some good goalies over there.