Ha, well maybe that's not the only thing you're wrong about. The better question would be "how many 22 year olds have started in the NHL in the last 5-7 years?" That's not quite as time relative. You'll find more, obviously. Vas and Gibson are really unfair comparisons because, if they weren't behind legitimate #1 goaltenders, perhaps they would be starting. That's not the case here in Buffalo and its fair to say that they would both start for the Sabres next season. We are talking about next season and although you've admittedly detracted a statement from a couple months ago(?) and fundamentally changed your hypothesis from which I had originally argued (it's not impossible but unlikely enough/I don't get how anyone could see an NHL goalie in our system...), I'll play your game.
Vasilevski is better than Bishop right now, no question. I don't think you'll find anyone who disagrees. Vasilevski is the best goalie prospect since Carey Price. Bishop had a very good last year but hasn't repeated it. He's no guaranteed starter going forward. Gibson is being kept out by a 25 year-old Andersen. Andersen had three strong seasons in Denmark before having an insanely good season in the SHL. Where do you think he went next? The AHL, like everyone else. After that he was in the NHL. Andersen is at worst the same level of goalie prospect as Ullmark.
I don't really know what the rest of your paragraph is saying. I said I don't know how anyone could see an NHL goalie next year in our system. I don't know how anyone could see Ullmark in the NHL next season. That doesn't mean I think it's impossible, it means I don't know why anyone would see it as likely enough to consider it an option in a conversation about what the Sabres are going to do at goalie next season. My second comment elaborated on what I said rather than contradicted it. If you want to have some silly semantic throw-down over phraseology to pretend I fundamentally altered my argument from one comment to the next, knock yourself out.
Ullmark, if he were up with Sabres obviously would be the #1 or at least one of a tandem. A goaltender doesn't need to be 24 to start in the NHL, generally, they need to have successive, successful (I didn't mean to do that) season's playing in an elite league. Wherever you rank the SHL (seemingly dependent on the argument) it is an elite men's league and for the second straight season, Ullmark is an elite goalie in that league.
Of course a goalie doesn't need to be 24 to start in the NHL. They tend to be 24 when they start out in the NHL, though, because of what's necessary to become a starter: experience to develop one's game, proving oneself, and a circumstance conducive to winning the job. Two of those three things depend on the goalie himself and almost always take a good amount of time except for with the most elite goalie prospects, a group to which Ullmark doesn't belong. The third is out of the goalie's control. The only way it's a favorable circumstance is if we go into the season without an NHL goalie. If you assume that's likely then you can argue Ullmark has a reasonable shot, but it's a pretty ridiculous assumption.
Ullmark is having an elite season? He's rebounded, but no one would say he's having an elite season. He certainly wasn't playing elite in spite of his team earlier in the year, he was playing poorly behind a poor team. He then rebounded to playing fairly good behind a poor team. I haven't seen a full game in a while. By the numbers it looks like he may be playing at a very high level behind a poor team, but that certainly doesn't equate to an elite season.
I did not change my opinion on the SHL based on the argument. I reassessed where I rank the leagues after a good conversation with some Swedish posters a while ago, after which I put into focus what I already knew about the decline of talent in the league. How I relate the leagues doesn't imply some massive change in my view of the league itself. I didn't bring up the quality of the league. My view of play in the SHL or AHL translating to the NHL or showing NHL-readiness is the same. My view is that Ullmark will be in the AHL in 2014-2015. If Ullmark improved on last season this year, then I would consider it more likely he could win an NHL job under the right circumstances, but he didn't.
Your opinion on him is your opinion but if that is your basis, maybe reassess.
If what is my basis? The quality of the SHL relative to other leagues? That's the basis of your argument. It's pretty irrelevant to mine. I only said anything in response to what you said, because I disagreed with it. The basis of my opinion on him is having watched a lot of MODO the past two seasons. The basis of my opinion that he won't be the Sabres' starter next season is a combination of that and an understanding of the process of becoming a starting goalie in the NHL. Going through the AHL is an established path for non-elite prospects -- including those from European men's leagues, especially goalies -- one which allows goalies to accustom themselves to the NA game and get lots of action while the team evaluates the prospect.
