Don't get me wrong, Miikka Kiprusoff was the best goalie Calgary had for who knows how long. Also being able to play so many 70+ seasons consecutively is no feat and it's understandable why one's stats would suffer from playing that many games. Still, many pegged him as an elite goaltender, yet when you factor quality of shots and all, Kiprusoff is a negative in every season since they started tracking them (2007-2008). He did have two elite seasons with the Flames in 2003-2004 and especially 2005-2006 (Starter's workload with excellent stats in a high scoring season). From 2007-2008 to the 2012-2013 (When Kipper officially retired), he had a GSAA of -54.91 5on5 and -76.44 in all situations...
7 straight seasons of 70+ games is pretty impressive
Yet despite all this, Kiprussoff has save percentage finishes of 1, 3, 9, 9, 10.Don't get me wrong, Miikka Kiprusoff was the best goalie Calgary had for who knows how long. Also being able to play so many 70+ seasons consecutively is no feat and it's understandable why one's stats would suffer from playing that many games. Still, many pegged him as an elite goaltender, yet when you factor quality of shots and all, Kiprusoff is a negative in every season since they started tracking them (2007-2008). He did have two elite seasons with the Flames in 2003-2004 and especially 2005-2006 (Starter's workload with excellent stats in a high scoring season). From 2007-2008 to the 2012-2013 (When Kipper officially retired), he had a GSAA of -54.91 5on5 and -76.44 in all situations. He played far below what was expected of him and none of his danger zone save percentages were good. In fact all below average. What was noticeable was his poor medium save percentage and high danger save percentage. It also wasn't like Kiprusoff was some elite puck handler who are known to suppress quality chances and chances in general more often. He was an excellent rebound controller though so that did help suppress chances. Still having a DSv% of -0.70 from 2007 to the year he retired is definitely nowhere near elite territory. Heck, I'd argue he was a below average starter during this period. Yes he did have to play with an insane workload, but he simply just wasn't good enough, not as good as a lot of Flames fans peg him as.
He faced 12.32 low danger shots per 60 5on5 during this time period.
He faced 11.84 medium danger shots per 60 5on5 during this time period.
He faced 4.07 high danger shots per 60 5on5 during this time period.
For comparison, Dubnyk who faced the least amount of high danger shots 5on5 per 60 of all starter goalies in 2017-2018 faced 3.97, so barely less than Kiprusoff.
Lundqvist during Kiprusoff's time period on a Rangers team that was pegged as elite defensively still faced 5.75 high danger shots per 60.
Even Rinne who played on a Trotz coached team with prime Weber and Suter barely faced less high danger shots than Kiprusoff. Rinne is arguably the best rebound controller since Brodeur along with excellent puck handling skills, so he suppresses chances better than Kiprusoff by far.
I'm not suggesting that even strength sv% is the end-all-be-all, but I'm curious why that's a non-starter for you?and that's where I stopped reading.
Not going to comment on Kipper, but it's pretty disappointing to see HOH posters dismiss and ridicule a seemingly honest question. I'd expect a lot more discussion beyond "of course he was great, you're an idiot".
This was a main board thread for like 85% of it right?
Kipper had great technique, great glove depth, strong rebound control...a real good director of rebounds like other Strelow guys...great anticipation too...the most important thing for any player...
This was a main board thread for like 85% of it right?
What's great glove depth?
To be fair. I think this thread was almost to it's third page in the mainboard before it was moved here.Not going to comment on Kipper, but it's pretty disappointing to see HOH posters dismiss and ridicule a seemingly honest question. I'd expect a lot more discussion beyond "of course he was great, you're an idiot".
Many Finns and some Americans hold their glove ahead of the plane of their body and catch pucks fingers up. Instead some Canadian goalies that hold it as basically another blocker, fingers out, on the body plane without looking pucks into it. Kipper was strong in that aspect...part of his rebound control package...
I have yet to see a goalie after him with his penchant for amazing stick saves. Some goalies only get 1 or 2 highlight reel stick saves in their NHL career. Kipper had so many
It's unfortunate that Youtube was in its infancy when he was in his prime. There's a lot of good saves of his that are impossible to find
I feel not enough people bring up his 04/05 season... dude let in no NHL goals the whole season... in fact all the goalies were on fire
It’s shame we lost a year of Prime kipper and other players to the lockout.
But Kipper was great, I would take him over most if not all active goalies today... But then he is my man crush lol.
In short Kipper great... really really great.
I'm not suggesting that even strength sv% is the end-all-be-all, but I'm curious why that's a non-starter for you?
7 straight seasons of 70+ games is pretty impressive
I love numbers and stats. I think they’re an excellent tool in aiding with player valuations. But often, if looking at these numbers without the visuals to put them into context, they can be deceiving and even useless.
Kiprusoff undoubtedly was elite at his best.
300+ wins and top 10 all time in win %. You're seriously trying to argue he wasn't a great goalie!?
Away with you.
The biggest problem with advanced stats--people start with the conclusion rather than a hypothesis then select stats that match. And instead of having honest dialogue, they use this conclusion to disagree with any evidence or opinions to the contrary. It's bad faith conversation, ugh.