Finnish Goalies Aiming for World Domination!
October 09, 2006
By
James Meyerriecks
Over the past two NHL seasons, it's been abundantly clear who is currently the top goaltender in the world. While Martin Brodeur and Dominik Hasek still remain the most accomplished goaltenders in the league and are each coming off of fine seasons, neither can even dream of challenging Finnish sensation Miikka Kiprusoff's recent production for the Calgary Flames. Kipper's road to NHL stardom wasn't always paved with success, though.
Selected in the fifth round of the 1995 draft by the San Jose Sharks, Kipper did nothing but achieve at every other level, but never seemed to get the credit he deserved. A year after being drafted, Kiprusoff was dominant for TPS Turku in the Finnish Elite League, winning 26 of 39 starts while posting a 1.86 GAA. After coming to the states, he had two fine seasons with Kentucky of the AHL, eventually earning a job as the backup for one of the better goaltenders in the NHL, Evgeni Nabokov in 2001.
However, he would never surpass Nabokov in his two full seasons as the primary backup in San Jose, and would actually battle quite a bit of adversity just prior to his breakout campaign. Kipper would endure his worst season as a professional in 2002-03, finishing the year 5-14-0 with a 3.25 GAA and a woeful .879 Save Percentage. This led to him falling out of favor with the Sharks, as fellow Finn Vesa Toskala would take the reins as Nabokov's primary backup in 2003-04 and Kiprusoff was expected to fade into obscurity.
In November of 2003, however, everything would change. The Calgary Flames, desperate to find someone (anyone) more consistent than Roman Turek, took a chance on Kiprusoff, trading San Jose a second-round pick for the Sharks' middling third goaltender. Given a chance in Calgary, Kiprusoff didn't let his window slip by. He would go on to dominate after wresting the starting duties away from Turek, winning 24 of his 38 starts in 2003-04 while finishing with a ridiculous 1.69 GAA and .933 Save Percentage. After leading the Flames within a game of the Cup in the season before the lockout, he was on the fast track to establishing himself as one of the elite goaltenders in the NHL.
What did he do for an encore, you ask? Kiprusoff dominated the league again, finishing second in wins (42), third in Save Percentage (.923), and leading the league in GAA (2.02) and shutouts (10). While the old guard did manage to prevent him from winning the Vezina unanimously (he was voted first on 25 of 30 ballots), they couldn't prevent him from winning the award as the league's best goaltender.
Guess what? Kipper's back in 2006-07 and backstopping what figures to be one of the top teams in the west in Calgary. And, yes, he brought some more Finnish friends with him......
Second year Thrashers starter Kari Lehtonen made a big impact in his first full season in Atlanta last season, but the best is yet to come. Lehtonen, widely considered the best goaltending prospect in hockey, went 20-15 with a 2.94 GAA and .906 Save Percentage as a rookie last season for a perennial doormat down south. However, bouts with groin and ankle injuries kept him (and the Thrashers) from realizing his full potential.
If his hot start is any indication, look out North America! Lehtonen allowed two goals in regulation in a season-opening loss to Tampa Bay, but has since posted back to back shutouts against the Panthers and Lightning. The latter came in a breathtaking 1-0 victory in Tampa Bay, where he stopped 34 shots and showed poise beyond his years. Lehtonen turned away seventeen shots and killed a full-scale two minute 5-on-3 Power Play in the second, while he dealt with a scrum of five players in his crease in the dying seconds and never looked rattled. Lehtonen is the future of Finnish goaltending, and he's already here.
Bruins' rookie and fellow Finn Hannu Toivonen also looked fantastic in his first start of the year (ironically, against Tampa Bay). The Bruins' goalie of the future (and present) stopped 29 of 31 shots just one night after his #1A goalie, Tim Thomas, was lit up by the Florida Panthers. A big beneficiary of the lockout, Toivonen showed what he could do in the minors in 2004-05, going 29-18-3 with a 2.05 GAA and .932 Save Percentage for Providence in the AHL. Toivonen got his first chance to shine at the NHL level last season, but missed over half the year with an ankle injury. When healthy, he performed well, and finished 9-5-4 with a 2.63 GAA and .914 Save Percentage.
On the bright side, the Bruins think highly enough of Toivonen that they dealt 2003-04 Calder winner Andrew Raycroft to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a draft-day deal. Though his competition (Thomas) is coming off a career year and a monster preseason, Toivonen is without question the primary Bruins' goaltender worth grabbing in fantasy leagues. The scary part is that, to acquire Raycroft, the Leafs gave up another big Finnish goaltending prospect, 19-year-old Tuukka Rask, who went 12-8-7 with a 2.06 GAA and .926 Save Percentage for Ilves Tampere in Finland last year.
Thinking back to Kipper, it's hard to simply erase the job that Vesa Toskala has done over the past year from memory. Toskala was fantastic (23-7-0, 2.56, .901) last year in wresting at least a full-time split with Evgeni Nabokov in San Jose, and was the starter for the Sharks in the playoffs last season. He enters this season in a full platoon for playing time with Nabokov in a system that's expected to keep both goaltenders fresh throughout the year. On Monday, Toskala bested Kiprusoff in Calgary, leading the Sharks to a 4-1 win and moving to 2-0 on the year.
Does anyone remember who started six of the games (three of which were wins) for the Oilers in the Finals last year? If you guessed Jussi Markkanen, give yourself a gold star. Markkanen doesn't boast nearly the upside of anyone else on this list, but he has worked himself into a nice little career as an above average backup goaltender. When Dwayne Roloson (36) retires, Markkanen may still have a few years left to take over the starting job in Edmonton.
And then, of course, how can you ever forget Flyers' #1A goalie Antero Niittymaki, who went 23-15-6 with a 2.97 GAA and .895 Save Percentage as a rookie last season. Though Niittymaki clearly isn't 100%, he opted to forego surgery and instead took a cortisone shot that he hopes will deal with his ailing hip. Niittymaki has had tremendous success in the minors, and should see at least a 50/50 split with Robert Esche this season for the Flyers. Expect him to improve on his modest GAA and Save Percentage totals as he gains experience at the NHL level.
So is the NHL going to start being dominated by the Finns? Hardly, but they certainly have a good start at a key position!
For the time being, this is a temporary preview of something we may be running on the front page at FIC three or four days a week throughout the NHL season. If you want your daily hockey fix now, I'll also be running this as an off-site blog for the time being. The following is just a taste of what you can find at Neutral Zone Trap! If you would like to see NZT on the front-page at FIC all year, please vote here!
James Meyerriecks has been actively involved at FIC since its inception in 2001, and has been writing The Hook throughout the MLB season since 2002. This season, he'll be tackling a weekly hockey column, The Blue Line, as well as a semi-weekly blog called Neutral Zone Trap. He's also represented FIC in a handful of Experts Leagues over the past three seasons and is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.
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Two other things. The Flames really got a steal with that, but the Sharks used the draft pick to nab defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic who many feel is playing well beyond his age right now. I don't know if any of you guys have seen him out there but I think I know why people are high on him. The other thing is that I can't complain about the goalie situation here right now - it seems they are basically just alternating back and forth between Toskola and Nabokov until one really slips up, and so far it has worked out very well as both goalies have turned out fine performances.
EDIT: I never realized that Finland produced so many fine goaltenders, pretty interesting.
EDIT EDIT: And by fine I mean good.