I don't think 35 years old is considered "in his prime".
As a Canuck's fan who had to wade through 200 threads of Luongo trades I can definitely tell you that at 33 years of age you are over the hill.
In all seriousness though 35 is not what I would call prime.
For me it's all about the starters, they play the strong majority of regular season games, and more importantly they generally play all the playoff games. So I basically view this question as "who will be the best starter in 3-5 years?" Tough to say, could be any of Lundqvist, Quick, Rinne, Price, Rask or Schneider, with guys like Fleury, Ward, Varlamov, Hiller and Markstrom having outside chances. I guess I'd put my money on Quick, but I'm far, far from certain.
You are comparing 2 goalies that have the same amount of years in the NHL.
One goalie has only 102 NHL games played with a cup as a backup.
The other goalie has 249 games played and won a cup and a Conn Smythe trophy.
Also if it wasn't for Jonathan Quick the Kings wouldn't have even made the playoffs this year.
First off- Not comparing Rask and Quick.
The consensus is Rask<Price<Quick
TD thought it was laughable to say Price was closer to Rask than Quick. Something certainly debatable considering Quick's season and Conn Smyth and Rask's elite play in few games.
Quote:
Originally Posted by topdog
The reaching for straws is funny.Truth is most know it's not even debatable.
TD thought it was laughable to say Price was closer to Rask than Quick. Something certainly debatable considering Quick's season and Conn Smyth and Rask's elite play in few games.
Good argument
Exactly. I have no idea how someone began to compare Quick and Rask after my post...
I never even said that Rask would be better than Price. All I said that if you want to put these goalies in groups, Price has nothing to do in the same group with Quick. All three are excellent goalies and right now I rank them Quick>Price>Rask as well. My point was that the gap between Quick and Price is larger than the gap between Price and Rask. Quick right now is in a group of his own but at the same time he has been given the best environment out of these three.
Price has the worst system in front of him, the least pressure from his back-up and probably most off-ice pressure from the media but at the same time least on-ice pressure / pressure from the organization. If Kings or Bruins fail to make playoffs next season, part of the critic will be on Rask or Quick. If Habs fail to make playoffs there most likely won't be as much critic towards Price.
Rask has been in a situation where he's been forced to be back-up because of competing with probably the best goalie in the world for the last few years. When he's been given a chance his been excellent for most of the time. Next season will be his time to prove himself.
Rask's higher career SV% says it is as least debatable.
Schneider posts nearly identical stats as Rask and better numbers than him in the playoffs. Before the argument of sample size comes up, Rask has played less than half of the games Quick has where as Schneider has over half the game Rask has. He is in the same tier as Cory and Bernier, not price and quick.
Who knows who will be the best goalie. How about Tim Thomas, who won the Conn Smythe, Vezina, playing for a SC winning team in the same year he wasn't the starting goaltender(Rask.)
Schneider posts nearly identical stats as Rask and better numbers than him in the playoffs. Before the argument of sample size comes up, Rask has played less than half of the games Quick has where as Schneider has over half the game Rask has. He is in the same tier as Cory and Bernier, not price and quick.
Schneider posts nearly identical stats as Rask and better numbers than him in the playoffs. Before the argument of sample size comes up, Rask has played less than half of the games Quick has where as Schneider has over half the game Rask has. He is in the same tier as Cory and Bernier, not price and quick.
There is certainly an argument to be made that Rask and Price are in the same tier.
Ignoring the Tuuka/Price comparison, which is irrelevant for projecting 5 years down the road when both goalies have a big enough sample size, Tuuka has a .926% and a 2.20 GAA with a 102 game sample size. Wouldnt u say a 25 year old with a 102 game sample size with those great numbers has the potential to be one of the best goalies in the league? I certainly think so. Same with Corey...he has nearly identical stats to Tuuka with a decent sample size as well.
When the question of "who will have the best goaltending in 5 years" comes up, you need to have some basis for projecting, and Tuukas stat line/age thus far in his career suggests he coudl be one of the best goalies in the league.
At this point I do think Price/Quick are above Tuuka, but with both Tuukas/Coreys stats and age you could certainly make an argument that theyd be on the same level as soon as next year. Look at Quick in 2010-2011, very good year, but Rask blew him out of the water in 2009-2010 albeit with some less games.
It is my opinion that if a goalie has had success with a large enough sample size, you could feasibly make any argument you want. An argument based largely on personal preference, but again, how many people thought Quick was going to be the best goalie in the league before last year began? I'd guess he was likely the "lower tier behind Price" as well, right?
With my opinion as it is, I would also like to say projecting any goalie that far in the future isn't worth it. This from a huge Raycroft supporter back in the day . I also recognize its a lockout, and my seemingly endless post is a perfect example of the current state of these boards.
Who knows who will be the best goalie. How about Tim Thomas, who won the Conn Smythe, Vezina, playing for a SC winning team in the same year he wasn't the starting goaltender(Rask.)
Tim Thomas was the Vezina Trophy winner two years ago, now hes gone bat **** crazy in a bunker in Colorado preparing for the end of the world.
Rask's career max games played at the NHL level is 45. That was two years ago. He's got a lot to prove before he can be compared to an NHL starter like Price.
Rask's career max games played at the NHL level is 45. That was two years ago. He's got a lot to prove before he can be compared to an NHL starter like Price.
Just means his is unproven. Not his fault though, same would have been for Price if he was in Rask's position. Also those 45 games he was the best goalie in the NHL. Not saying he is in Price's tier, but it can be said he is not very far behind.
Rask's career max games played at the NHL level is 45. That was two years ago. He's got a lot to prove before he can be compared to an NHL starter like Price.
"Compared" and "projected" are two different things. Rask has great numbers with a pretty large sample size. Its not his fault that Timmy was the best goalie in the NHL during the Cup run.
Saying Rask will be one of the best goalies in the league is a perfectly valid opinion, through the games hes played hes proven to be extremely talented. Citing examples like Andrew Raycroft is a way of disproving his theory...projecting that far is mostly an opinion of personal preference.
Like I said above, I think if you play enough games with a certain measure of success like Tuuka theres a threshold where you can logically form an opinion about a goalies projection. Saying Boston because "Malcom looks nasty" is misguided in my opinion, because SO many highly drafted goalies havent lived up to the hype. Tuuka has at least proven to be a very talented goalie with a good amount of games under his belt.
Right now i think Quick > Price > Rask, but if Price/Quick have "good" not "great" seasons and Rask kills it, Rask will certainly be #1 in my book, because he has a large enough sample size.
Wow Minnesota is quite underrated here. In 5 years, Kuemper, Gustafsson, or Hackett will be in the NHL and people will be wondering how they missed picking them.
Being under the radar isn't such a bad thing. However, this poll is about goaltending at the NHL level in 3-5 years, so teams with young goalies like Schneider, Rask, Price, etc. have more reason to be chosen than us. If this poll were about just goaltending prospects though, we'd definitely be in the discussion.
Colorado. They got a young developing goalie in Varlamov, and they have an aging but still good reilable back-up (Giguere). Not to mention their goalie prospects Pickard and Aittokallio are amazing.
Not a chance.
. I also recognize its a lockout, and my seemingly endless post is a perfect example of the current state of these boards.
