Jarmo Myllys, Worst Goalie in Recent Memory?
- Thread starter markymarc1215
- Start date
Michael Farkas
Celebrate 68
Brian Hayward, on that same team: 25 GP 3-18-1, 5.39 GAA, .849 save pct. 1991-1993.
Yutaka Fukufuji was one of the worst I've ever seen, got a few games with the Kings 15 years ago.
You can watch Myllys here if you want...
Yutaka Fukufuji was one of the worst I've ever seen, got a few games with the Kings 15 years ago.
You can watch Myllys here if you want...
Hobnobs
Pinko
- Nov 29, 2011
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Goalies are hard to compare and stats alone is an awful way to gauge.
There are however worse goalies than Myllys if you watched them play. Norm Maracle, Justin Pogge, Craig Billington, hell, Tim Cheveldae might be worse than Myllys. Or at least in the same ballpark.
There are however worse goalies than Myllys if you watched them play. Norm Maracle, Justin Pogge, Craig Billington, hell, Tim Cheveldae might be worse than Myllys. Or at least in the same ballpark.
Funny thing is, in Finland Myllys is often considered to be among the best, if not the best, Finnish goalie of all time (this excludes the current era when Finland suddenly started producing some of the best goalies in the NHL, Kipper, Rinne, Rask etc.)
He played 188 games in the national team and has one WC-gold and 3xWC silver, 1xOlympic silver and 2xOlympic bronze (including Nagano 1998). He was the main goalie in most, if not all of these tournaments.
But yeah, his NHL stats admittedly look brutal. I have no idea why. I did follow the NHL when he played there but I don’t recall anything regarding him.
He played 188 games in the national team and has one WC-gold and 3xWC silver, 1xOlympic silver and 2xOlympic bronze (including Nagano 1998). He was the main goalie in most, if not all of these tournaments.
But yeah, his NHL stats admittedly look brutal. I have no idea why. I did follow the NHL when he played there but I don’t recall anything regarding him.
sr edler
gold is not reality
- Mar 20, 2010
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Yes, I've seen him play live, at least once, to my memory. He scored a goal in that game, so you have to realize he had some untapped offensive potential.
Jokes aside, those early 90s Sharks teams were just brutal, perhaps especially defensively, and it was a high-scoring environment in general. If you look at someone like Arturs Irbe for instance, outside of his stellar 93–94 season with the team, his stats weren't exactly flattering either with those Sharks teams, but then he came back and had a very respectable NHL career with some other teams, and he was always solid internationally.
Not going to pretend to be a goalie expert here, but both Myllys and Irbe were smallish guys. I know Irbe was pretty athletic, not sure if Myllys was as athletic, you have to ask someone else, preferably @Yozhik v tumane who is a Luleå super fan.
Some years ago me and another poster on this board had a running gag about Bure's 5 goals on Finland in the 98 Olympics not being that special because it wasn't against an NHL goalie (Myllys), but my response to that was always if Myllys was that bad then why didn't Sweden (packed with HHOFers) lit him up in the quarter-finals?
By the way, I'm not claiming Myllys was necessarily a great or misunderstood goalie here, but depending on isolated circumstances, goalies can look really bad on a stat page. If you look at John Vanbiesbrouck's stats in the 80s Worlds, for instance, he doesn't exactly look like a world beater, and on top of that he got humiliated on a breakaway by Mr. Magic with his patented "Forsberg" move.
Yozhik v tumane
Registered User
- Jan 2, 2019
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Myllys’ abysmal NHL stats have been brought up here once in a while and it always feels personal to me. He’s the greatest player in Luleå HF history and — I argue — was the best goalie in the world between at least 1994 and 1996. The last great stand up goaltender.
Why did Finland wait until 2022 to win their first Olympic gold in hockey? It’s an explanation as simple as them resting their #1 goalie in the 1994 semifinals against the Canadians, which paved the road for a huge upset at their hands. Good for the Swedes: the legend of Peter Forsberg would never have happened had he played Myllys in the finals.
Of course he brought the Finns their first World Championship title the next year. They asked the cheering crowd of fans in Helsinki afterwards, “who’s the best goalie in the world?”: “JARMO” they answered, resoundingly. Get goosebumps seeing that clip. Of course, we knew this in Luleå already, but it was the next year he brought us our first and only Swedish championship. His Luleå and Team Finland teammate Mika Nieminen did the flamingo in the 1995 semifinals so we had to get rid of him first.
Okay.
I watched Myllys many times over the years he played for Luleå, but I was a kid. I seem to vaguely recall the 1995 World Championship finals as a very early memory of watching hockey, but I didn’t see Luleå win in 1996. I started elementary school the following fall, and remember Luleå being champions. In the schoolyard playing land hockey/floorball and stuff, Myllys was already a legend, kids wanted to be him and play goalie, he made the position cool and his play, on-ice personality and legendary status has probably played a huge role in making Luleå something of a goalie factory in more recent times, where prospects like Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt chose to go to further their development. Anders Nilsson and Joel Lassinantti are two examples of goalies from Luleå who grew up idolizing Myllys, one having an alright international career and the other consistently among the top goalies in the SHL. For his heroics with Team Finland, goalies like Tuukka Rask and Kari Lehtonen had Myllys as their idol growing up.
But me mostly being between ~7-12 watching Myllys from the stands, I can’t probably describe him very accurately or fairly. Watching him nowadays, his style looks as ridiculous as most old school goalies of the era does. I remember he made cool, eye catching saves. I remember him playing the puck a lot, in fact: most of my memories of him might be taking delay of game-penalties for clearing the puck over the boards. I also remember him being hot-headed and feisty, whacking away at or start fighting opponents who got too close to his crease and the like. But he had some crazy stats too. Can’t remember the details, but he had some awesome stretch where he posted a ton of shutouts somewhere in his and Luleå’s late 90s glory years.
Myllys is surrounded by some fun stories too. The most common description of him is probably “he was an offensive goalie”. He shot and scored two goals while with us, and he posted a pretty sizable amount of assists too. One story I heard was of a young prospect who’d got a shot with the pro team, and was visibly very anxious and nervous, which Myllys noted. To calm the kid down, Myllys told him: “Take it easy, just get to the offensive blue line and I’ll give you the puck for an easy breakaway”. Something like that.
Yeah, a legend and a beauty. Not the worst. Don’t rest him in 1994, give him another shot in the NHL in 1997, he’d have Olympic and World Championship gold medals, a Swedish championship, and a Stanley Cup.
The Panther
Registered User
It's worth noting here that Artūrs Irbe --- Myllys's teammate in San Jose that season --- went on to have a pretty good career, and his save percentage is just as bad as Myllys's on that God-awful Sharks' team.
Myllys may have put up some not-much-below-average or even good-ish stats had he been acclimatized to the N.A. game and actually played for a decent club.
(Was early San Jose really into tiny goalies? Myllys and Irbe are listed as 5'-8''. I guess Hackett was taller, though...)
Myllys may have put up some not-much-below-average or even good-ish stats had he been acclimatized to the N.A. game and actually played for a decent club.
(Was early San Jose really into tiny goalies? Myllys and Irbe are listed as 5'-8''. I guess Hackett was taller, though...)
Interesting, I was unaware of his international accolades.
That Sharks team certainly was epically awful.
That Sharks team certainly was epically awful.
Myllys indeed wasn't especially awful, not on the same tier with Irbe but someone like Tommy Söderström absolutely. And Söderström had a couple of seasons as a starting goalie in the NHL. Just bad luck having to prove himself as a backup for the worst team in the league.
Stephen
Moderator
- Feb 28, 2002
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I feel like last playing in the NHL 31 years ago stretches the definition of "recent memory."
Worst display of goaltending I can remember was Don Beaupre's 8 game stint for the Maple Leafs in 1995-96, with an .847 SV% and a GAA of 4.64, followed up by a career ending 3 game stint of .833 sv% and a GAA of 5.45 the following year.
Worst display of goaltending I can remember was Don Beaupre's 8 game stint for the Maple Leafs in 1995-96, with an .847 SV% and a GAA of 4.64, followed up by a career ending 3 game stint of .833 sv% and a GAA of 5.45 the following year.
ForsbergForever
Registered User
- May 19, 2004
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quietbruinfan
Salt and light
That San Jose team was awful. Irbe was one of my favorites and did fairly well in Carolina. Jarmo, I remember had lots of hype entering the league, but was not good covering his angles and had a bad glove.
Gretzky's whipping boy, Markus Mattson, always seemed just as bad if not worse to me.
Gretzky's whipping boy, Markus Mattson, always seemed just as bad if not worse to me.
Michael Farkas
Celebrate 68
career ending 27 dropped decisions in a row*
Don Beaupre 1995-96 Game Log | Hockey-Reference.com
Gamelogs for Don Beaupre for 1995-96
www.hockey-reference.com
Jarmo Myllys was a superstar in Sweden. I didn't support Luleå, but Jarmo was still one of my favorite players as a kid.
I would say together with Stefan Liv and Henrik Lundqvist, he could be the biggest goalie name in the swedish league since I started watching hockey.
I would say together with Stefan Liv and Henrik Lundqvist, he could be the biggest goalie name in the swedish league since I started watching hockey.
I recall Irbe's five-hole being a subject of ridicule too. There wasn't a lot of faith in European goalies initially, even Hašek.
MarkusKetterer
Shoulda got one game in
He got into 39 games because the North Stars and Sharks were awful. Even though the North Stars went to the Cup finals, they were still a terrible team that season.
In the 4 seasons he got into a game, the minimum amount of players a team used that season was 39 players.
In the 4 seasons he got into a game, the minimum amount of players a team used that season was 39 players.
Hobnobs
Pinko
- Nov 29, 2011
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Myllys was definitely overrated here in Sweden (and underrated in NA). That excellent playoff performance propelled him to superstar status even though he wasn't better than guys like Östlund and Ahl and sometimes wasn't even the best finnish goalie in SHL.
Very likely. I was 10 when Luleå won the playoffs, so I wasn't capable of really determine who was best. Being the first to score a goal probably helped Myllys superstar status as well.
Hobnobs
Pinko
- Nov 29, 2011
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Haha! Now to the real big questions:
If Myllys was Hextall. Who was Petter Rönnquist and who was Pekka Lindmark?
Hobnobs
Pinko
- Nov 29, 2011
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Lindmark was pretty unorthodox so Hasek?
Rönnqvist? Man.. He did barely anything, never won, but kept getting chances for no reason. So.. Jocelyn Thibault?
His goals came after though, at that point he definitely was in decline already but just not steep enough to change the narratives. Fortified his legend by scoring for sure. In the mid-1990s he was money for all the right reasons. World champion and best goalie, league champion and league MVP. Not many colleagues could claim the same. And of course it helped that Luleå became the northernmost team to ever win the league.
Moose Head
Registered User
I recall him coming in as a pretty good prospect for the North Stars, then never really panning out in Norm Greens circus and then going to that dreadful Sharks team. Maybe things are different if he goes to Dallas.
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