G - Petteri Rimpinen - Kiekko-Espoo U20 (2024 NHL Draft)

Fixed to Ruin

Come wit it now!
Feb 28, 2007
25,104
29,843
Grande Prairie, AB
Well, he is actualli 1G in Liiga and play against men with a .916 in 24 games this year. Actually been one of the best goalies there too. On a team no-one expect to succeed.

Well there are young goalies in the AHL/NCAA that have a very high pedigree.

Rimpinen looking good at the world jrs is fantastic. But it doesn't make him the best young goalie in the world.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pavel Buchnevich

jonlin

Registered User
Nov 11, 2011
6,114
6,020
Well there are young goalies in the AHL/NCAA that have a very high pedigree.

Rimpinen looking good at the world jrs is fantastic. But it doesn't make him the best young goalie in the world.
I would never say a young goalie looks like the best jr. in the world. He has been getting better each year though and could very well pan out to be an ok NHL-goalie in the future. He has the speed, positioning, stickhandling and awareness for it. Reminds me of a young Saros. He is smallish, but not too small and his abilities make up for some of the size.
Thats why said he could very well be drafted 2-5th rounds this year. A surefire best jr. would be in the 1st. Goalies are hard to evaluate though as they usually become starters at 22-24yr olds earliest
 

ijuka

Registered User
May 14, 2016
23,436
16,829
Probably has been the best goalie in Liiga, leading in goals saved above expected despite playing for a not-so-amazing Kiekko-Espoo team. Also an extraordinarily strong WJC-u20 tournament where he pretty much willed Finland to the gold medal game overtime all by himself. Finland was clearly worse vs each of Slovakia, Sweden, and USA, yet Rimpinen outplayed the opposing goalie in all of these games.

Also, there's something refreshing about his style in that he's not just a big body who covers the net, but he actually seems to have an active mind and reads the game in a very mature way considering his age.


He has to be going high in the 2025 draft, right? First round?
 

Masch78

Registered User
Oct 5, 2017
2,551
1,714
Probably has been the best goalie in Liiga, leading in goals saved above expected despite playing for a not-so-amazing Kiekko-Espoo team. Also an extraordinarily strong WJC-u20 tournament where he pretty much willed Finland to the gold medal game overtime all by himself. Finland was clearly worse vs each of Slovakia, Sweden, and USA, yet Rimpinen outplayed the opposing goalie in all of these games.

Also, there's something refreshing about his style in that he's not just a big body who covers the net, but he actually seems to have an active mind and reads the game in a very mature way considering his age.


He has to be going high in the 2025 draft, right? First round?
3rd imho. Size is still a questionmark. Btw he reminds me so much of Dostal.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
60,828
27,894
New York
He had a great tournament. I don’t want to take anything away from him, but I feel some are overdoing the praise.

Canada: 37/40 saves (.925 SV%)
USA Game 1: 30/33 saves (.909 SV%)
Slovakia: 33/36 saves (.917 SV%)
Sweden: 43/46 saves (.935 SV%)
USA Game 2: 36/40 saves (.900 SV%)

Only two of the five big games he hit a .920 SV%. He allowed 3 or more in all of the big games.

Of course, SV% isn’t an end all be all stat and the Finnish defense wasn’t very good. They needed him to be their best player to get as close as they did to winning the tournament.

He performed better than all these highly regarded drafted goaltenders like Augustine, Hrabal, and George.

Beyond the stats, I think that was shown. There were a few saves he made that single-handedly extended the GMG longer than it should’ve went. One save in the shot column wouldn’t do some of these saves justice.

And he’s had a very good season in Liiga. I think that alone would’ve put him on the radar for the draft.

At the same time, I don’t think you can say he was dominant or unbeatable. As the stats show, he was beatable. He didn’t even have the best SV% at the tournament. And when it comes to the draft, his size will be an impediment for some teams, as will the re-draft status.

I think you set the bar at Nabakov, and go from there. The situations seem comparable, even if there are a few differences (Nabakov an inch taller and more proven in a better league, while Rimpinen two years younger at the time and had a very good WJC that we never saw from Nabakov). Nabakov went 38. That seems like the starting point with Rimpinen.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad