Will Niittymaki be considered the real deal?

If niitty continues to do well, will he finally be considered better than lehtonen (he also outplayed lehtonen in the calder cup finals last year)? maybe closer in status to kipper? or will people just assume lethonen and kipprusoff would have done better if they played, and niitty only played because they were hurt.

He didn't really have too much to do today, though he acquitted himself as well as he had to. Let's wait until we get a bit further into the tournament before we call him better than Lehtonen or Toivonen. It still worries me how far back in the net he sometimes plays, considering he's not the biggest goalie around.

Still, I'm pulling for him!

I know people were just predicting the Swiss would score just because Niitty isn't good enough to shut them out. Wrong.

He didn't really have too much to do today, though he acquitted himself as well as he had to. Let's wait until we get a bit further into the tournament before we call him better than Lehtonen or Toivonen. It still worries me how far back in the net he sometimes plays, considering he's not the biggest goalie around.

Still, I'm pulling for him!
but im saying, say he has a really good if not spectacular run. would people take him seriously then? i feel like hes really unheralded outside of philadelphia

Nitty is the next Roman Chechmanik

i dont like that one bit.
but seriously though i really dont see the similarities.
cechmanek was a great goalie, but a total headcase and not a teamplayer. niittymaki is quiet and a teamplayer. i dont see that happening again.

Do you guys think he will replace Esche as the full time starter in Philly? It just seems like his talent is squandered if they use him as a backup.

Nitty is the next Kipper

Philadelphia has a curse of churning out excellent flash in the pan goalies. :dunno:


Cechmanek, Boucher, Esche......

Philadelphia has a curse of churning out excellent flash in the pan goalies. :dunno:


Cechmanek, Boucher, Esche......
But none of them are Finns. :D

I see Niittymaki as a #1 goaltender, but not in the same class as guys like Lehtonen, Toivonen, Lundqvist, Miller, or Fleury.

As mentioned, for Niittymäki to be good enough to be a star goalie, he needs to stop thinking he can play butterfly and take a solid stand up role. He has the skill and heart to do the convertion...

Nitty is the next Roman ChechmanikI'm not sure he's a Vezina trophy candidate.

But none of them are Finns. :D


and none of them had real resounding success in another league before coming here

and none of them had real resounding success in another league before coming here

Wasn't Chokey a superstar tender before he came over?

Nitty has aquitted himself well in the NHL, but he has had more pro level experience than Lehtonen. I'd wait about 3 years before making a comparison between these two. Plus, Nitty plays for a better defensive team too, which helps him out.

Did Nittymaki wear his Flyers mask yesterday, or did he wear one painted with a Finnish theme?

Did Nittymaki wear his Flyers mask yesterday, or did he wear one painted with a Finnish theme?
Flyers mask.

Thank you.

I thought he had another SO today until I realized the goalies had been rotated.

Not that he couldn't have done the same thing himself, though.

Yay for Niitty.

Yay for Philly, only team with two goalies in the Olympics.

Whoo for me! I'm a massive homer.

Yay for Philly, only team with two goalies in the Olympics.


Slightly ironic, that if not for the two injuries that lead to Nitty making the team in the first place, two other teams could have had two goalies *selected* to the olympics - Atl, Cgy (even though Boudaj has since been traded).

Doesn't Colorado have two with Aebischer and Budaj?

Doesn't Colorado have two with Aebischer and Budaj?

Yes, they do.

wasn't Budaj traded to Calgary, then Phoenix?

EDIT: Sorry, I got my former Hershey Bears (AHL) goalies confused - I was thinking Philippe Sauve.

Colorado doesn't have two goalies in the Olympics, they have THREE. Their #3 guy is Vitaly Kolesnik the 'tender for Kazakhstan.

Nitty has aquitted himself well in the NHL, but he has had more pro level experience than Lehtonen. I'd wait about 3 years before making a comparison between these two. Plus, Nitty plays for a better defensive team too, which helps him out.Nittymaki is 25 years old, over three years older than Lehtonen. Here are their numbers in the NHL this year:

Nittymaki, Flyers
GP 34
W 18
L 10
OT 6
SO 2
GAA 2.95
SV% 89.6

Lehtonen, Thrashers
GP 20
W 9
L 9
OT 0
SO 1
GAA 2.85
SV% .902

On this statistics you see that they are nearly as good but you must say that Lehtonen plays in a bad team while Nitty plays for a good one.

On this statistics you see that they are nearly as good but you must say that Lehtonen plays in a bad team while Nitty plays for a good one.
Niittymäki posted pretty good numbers in December while the Flyers were missing their best palyers in injuries, including Forsberg, Pitkänen and Desjardins. So I wouldn't say it was that much better than the Thrashers.

i agree. niitty has been playing infront of a irregular squad. the team infront of him has been mainly AHLers. flyers lead the league in man games lost.

i didnt get to watch the game, but it sounds like niittymaki played a good game against the czech. 37 saves 2.00GAA.

i didnt get to watch the game, but it sounds like niittymaki played a good game against the czech. 37 saves 2.00GAA.
Didn't make any highlight-reel saves but was very solid and stood on his head. One might say the first goal was his fault but I wouldn't put the blame on him.

I think Nitty has been playing great. He clearly outplayed Vokoun tonight and and was overall very, very solid with a lot of key saves. Considering his performance in the AHL and NHL my excpectations were quite high for him coming to the Team Finland and IMO he has certainly delivered so far. He has won my confidence with his play, absolutely.

IMO Nitty seems to be pretty much carved out of the same wood as Kipper.

I would say Niittymäki was very good at stopping the puck, but I am still scared. He seems to stop pucks well but leaves horrible rebounds and sometimes just totally over-commits. With teams like Canada, you can't let that many rebounds.

i saw him overcommit a few times sliding out of position. but shutting out canada is not too shabby, even if they are snakebitten right now. :clap:

i saw him overcommit a few times sliding out of position. but shutting out canada is not too shabby, even if they are snakebitten right now. :clap:
:clap: