Ranking the goalies in the East

How will the East be won? Probably with great goaltending. Here's how I think the East shakes out for the G position, but feel free to disagree or make comments. That's what it's all about.

1.Brodeur - until he shows that he's slowing down, how can anyone argue?
2.Lundqvist
3.Toskala
4.Vokoun
5.Miller
6.DiPietro
7.Fleury
8.Price
9.Thomas
10.Lehtonen
11.Theodore
12.Biron
13.Gerber
14.Ward
15.Smith

Personally, 1-3 are close, 4-6 are close, then it falls into the 'prove it' category. Fleury was one of the most inconsistent, crappy goalies I had ever seen before his magical 'transformation'. I had a hard time not putting him 12th. He has a lot to prove this season IMO.

DiPietro has mad skills, but I wonder if he'll put it all together? Ditto Miller, Lehtonen.

Also on the 'prove it' train: Carey Price. You're the next coming, are you? Let's see you then. Biron has one good year as a starter - let's see another and another...

Ward is a fluke IMO. Theodore sucked badly, then has a career rejuvination in Colorado? Prove it.

504Heater wrote:How will the East be won? Probably with great goaltending. Here's how I think the East shakes out for the G position, but feel free to disagree or make comments. That's what it's all about.

1.Brodeur - until he shows that he's slowing down, how can anyone argue?
2.Lundqvist
3.Toskala
4.Vokoun
5.Miller
6.DiPietro
7.Fleury
8.Price
9.Thomas
10.Lehtonen
11.Theodore
12.Biron
13.Gerber
14.Ward
15.Smith

Personally, 1-3 are close, 4-6 are close, then it falls into the 'prove it' category. Fleury was one of the most inconsistent, crappy goalies I had ever seen before his magical 'transformation'. I had a hard time not putting him 12th. He has a lot to prove this season IMO.

DiPietro has mad skills, but I wonder if he'll put it all together? Ditto Miller, Lehtonen.

Also on the 'prove it' train: Carey Price. You're the next coming, are you? Let's see you then. Biron has one good year as a starter - let's see another and another...

Ward is a fluke IMO. Theodore sucked badly, then has a career rejuvination in Colorado? Prove it.

1.Lundquist
2.Brodeur
3.Miller
4.Dipietro
5.Toskala
6.Vokoun
7.Thomas
8.Price
9.Fleury
10.Lehtonen
11.Biron
12.Ward
13.Theadore
14.Gerber
15.Smith/Romo

I like your list better Tukker. I don't know why, but it lines up very nicely and I have a feeling might be a litte more accurate.

504Heater wrote:I like your list better Tukker. I don't know why, but it lines up very nicely and I have a feeling might be a litte more accurate.

really? because after the first couple, it was who sucked less


west is soooooo much stronger

So essentially you are saying that Gerber is the worst goalie in the East, huh?\

Sorry, I have to disagree. Lehtonen has to show that he can play a season; Price hasn't even played a season; Sorry, not sold yet on Toskala or Vokoun; frankly, not even sold on Lundqvist. None of those goalies with the exception of Brodeur have won anything worth writing about to their loved ones back home. Theodore had one fantastic season; DiPietro's main claim to fame is the lenght of his contract; Thomas and Biron have to show they're not one-hit-wonders; Ward, pretty much in the same boat.

There are way too many huge question marks out there to hang Gerber out last.

504Heater wrote:

1.Brodeur - until he shows that he's slowing down, how can anyone argue?
2.Lundqvist
3.Toskala
4.Vokoun
5.Miller
6.DiPietro
7.Fleury
8.Price
9.Thomas
10.Lehtonen
11.Theodore
12.Biron
13.Gerber
14.Ward
15.Smith

This is so hard to do. I mean, some teams suck and so their goalies look worse than they are; other teams are great, making their goalies look better than they are. Some guys are young and have loads of potential; some guys are getting old and time is running out. In terms of the kinds of stats goalies put up, they're so closely tied to the quality of the teams that they play for that it doesn't seem like a fair basis for comparison. If I were to do a 'who's the best goalie right now', it'd probably just be a replica of how I think the eastern conference will pan out.

Here's my list, however, of the goalies in the east I would want to acquire for my team if I were a GM, in order:

1. Lundqvist (tops Brodeur because he's so much younger)
2. Broudeur (is now 36, has 3-4 years of good hockey left max)
3. Vokoun
4. Price
5. Miller
6. Fleury
7. Lehtonen (I think he's the real deal)
8. Toskala (and this is as high as I can go with him)
9. DiPietro
10. Biron
11. Smith (the kid has some moxy)
12-15. Thomas, Gerber, Theodore, Ward. If I were a GM today, I probably would avoid these guys altogether. I couldn't trust any of them long-term.

wprager wrote:So essentially you are saying that Gerber is the worst goalie in the East, huh?\

Sorry, I have to disagree. Lehtonen has to show that he can play a season; Price hasn't even played a season; Sorry, not sold yet on Toskala or Vokoun; frankly, not even sold on Lundqvist. None of those goalies with the exception of Brodeur have won anything worth writing about to their loved ones back home. Theodore had one fantastic season; DiPietro's main claim to fame is the lenght of his contract; Thomas and Biron have to show they're not one-hit-wonders; Ward, pretty much in the same boat.

There are way too many huge question marks out there to hang Gerber out last.

He's okay...like Ward and the rest of the okay goalies. There's the game stealers, the 2nd tier guys, then Gerber and company. At least he has some company down there though.

I'm waiting patiently for Fleury to suck this year. I would say with Gerber and Auld we've got...compitent goaltending. They'll get the job done...sometimes.

rooneypoo wrote:
Here's my list, however, of the goalies in the east I would want to acquire for my team if I were a GM, in order:

1. Lundqvist (tops Brodeur because he's so much younger)
2. Broudeur (is now 36, has 3-4 years of good hockey left max)
3. Vokoun
4. Price
5. Miller
6. Fleury
7. Lehtonen (I think he's the real deal)
8. Toskala (and this is as high as I can go with him)
9. DiPietro
10. Biron
11. Smith (the kid has some moxy)
12-15. Thomas, Gerber, Theodore, Ward. If I were a GM today, I probably would avoid these guys altogether. I couldn't trust any of them long-term.

Bu...what? Toskala is unreal IMO. Ranking Fleury and Price above him makes my eyes burn. I better put some shades on. 8)

However, do I ever hope you're right on that one. Crashing and burning + the Leafs = one happy Heater.

504Heater wrote:
Bu...what? Toskala is unreal IMO. Ranking Fleury and Price above him makes my eyes burn. I better put some shades on. 8)

However, do I ever hope you're right on that one. Crashing and burning + the Leafs = one happy Heater.

Has Toskala ever *EVER* done anything other than play well when the pressure was off? In order for me to place him in the Brodeur-led (sorry, Lundqvist hasn't shown anything yet either) top-five I would have expected him to grab the starting role by the horns out of training camp. Maurice was not an incompetent coach, and they brought Toskala in *because* they were not sold on Raycroft. Why didn't Toskala become the #1 sooner? Calling him unreal is the same as calling Gerber unreal. Remember tha one game, the blocker-hand throw? That was unreal. But not on a consistent, 60+ game basis.

To me, Gerber is every bit as good (potentially) as Ward, Theodore, Toskala, and pretty much the rest of them. Brodeur still is the class of the East. DiPietro and Lehtonen are injury prone; Lundqvist has done well in the regular season behind a fairly impressive team (let's see what his stats will be with Redden's deadly poke-check, and no Jagr to score some game winners).

504Heater wrote:

Bu...what? Toskala is unreal IMO. Ranking Fleury and Price above him makes my eyes burn. I better put some shades on. 8)

However, do I ever hope you're right on that one. Crashing and burning + the Leafs = one happy Heater.

Again, I was speaking from the perspective of a GM looking long-term (and perhaps a bit from the perspective of a fanstasy pool GM, which is never far away from my mind).

I'm willing to bet that, if you're calculating in long-term potential, Lundqvist, Price, and Fleury would be at the top of just about every GM's list.

I think Toskala is a fine goalie, but I don't think he's a future franchise goalie -- and that's were Price and Fleury have the advantage on him. Remember that Fleury, as inconsistent as he can be at times, is still VERY young.

I will eat my hat if his stats aren't far superior to Fleury and Price's, but that's why they play the games.

I love the comment about Lundqvist having to deal with the fear Redden 'poke check'. That's so true.

If it all comes down to it, I guess I was way more impressed with Toskala putting up with all the crap that came down in TO and still post amazing stats. Without this guy, they'd have Stamkos right now (which is more bad than good from their POV).

As far as Fleury and Price go...well one of their teams, if not both, are due for a massive crash back down to earth. My money's on Fleury sucking this year, but, it's gonna be interesting none the less!