Although I think internationally and to his country, Koivu has meant more, in terms of NHL, Tikkanen had the better career, so far. Saku is my favourite Habs player and I am confident he can become 3rd to Teemu and Kurri, but until he has the big top 10 scoring seasons we know he's capable of, Tikkanen's career is more noteworthy. It's not about who's more talented. I'm talking about career-wise, not talent, let's clear that up.
Koivu is the better player and can be even better than what his career numbers/accomplishments have shown. But Esa was an accomplished playoff performer and scorer for his first 10 years. He won 4 cups too. Koivu doesn't have to win 4 cups to surpass Tikkanen in my list but he has to have more playoff successes and scoring seasons. His health has held him back, but with Kovy it can and will happen for him. If we want to look at most skilled Finnish NHL'ers of all time:
1. Kurri
2. Selanne
3. Koivu
4. Numminen
5. Lehtinen
And a succession of others such as Matti Hagman, Tikkanen, Ikka Sinisalo, etc.
Well, as for the replies to my other post. Don't misunderstand it as bashing. If Theo was #4 on the Team Canada posse's list he certainly is a concensus top 5 goalie in this league. No doubt about it. I don't hate him, I don't want to trade him like many do. I love Theodore asd a goalie, I have a jersey with his name!!! I just think Luongo is better at the moment and will become even better too. He lacks experience and hasn't made the playoffs but he's just better. Like this post states about comparing Koivu to Tikkanen. Esa had the superior career to this point. His playoff acheivements outweigh Saku's playmaking amazingness. But Saku's the overall better PLAYER. Now, Theodore has had the better career no doubt but I feel Luongo is the better goalie. By 24, he's shown more than Theodore did by 24. Of course, he was thrust into action a lot quicker than Jose. Nonetheless, a .931 sv% on a team that still couldn't make the playoffs. Amazing. If your team has a goalie that does that and you STILL miss the playoffs, you are crap.
And there's no way the 01-02 Habs were just as crappy as the Panthers. The Habs actually had a few guys break 20 goals (Petrov, Zednik and Perreault). And Quintal and Breezy were certainly better than most of the d-men Florida trotted out there this season. In 01-02 I recall Breezy recovering quite nicely from his -31 campaign of the year before, drawing kudos from lots of fans and media. Dykhuis was a plus-16 while Quintal was also in the plus and many Hab fans praised his play as instilling toughness, leadership and defensive prowess with the team. Markov had a breakthrough, Souray was always hurt, Rivet did some good things for once and even Traverse avoided sucking. They overacheived but were still superior to FLA's squad. Up front, they were better as well with or without Saku. You also had Gilmour holding it all together.
You can say it was all because of Theo or the inspiration of Koivu but then how did Luongo's goaltending not make anyone look good for FLA defensivelly except for J-Bo and Van Ryn. I thought FLA's defense was certainly crappier than that Hab team. When I look back, it was short-lived but Q was actually a key component to that team. Brisebois is an up n down guy which means next season Patrice will really blow chunks. Yet almost every d-man was in the plus despite our team's +/- not being much more than plus-10. The PK was very good under Carbo yet the PP was nothing special to pad everyone's stats. So an idential sv% for Luongo and his team still doesn't get close to the playoffs (they were not close ok, 7 games under .500 yet the playoffs were very out of reach by the end, hello, by about 16 pts!!! And without Luongo it could have been 30-40 out). No one can blame Luongo as not being great enough to take his team to the playoffs. They were miserable.
But if Luongo can't will his team toward the playoffs/win a vezina or a hart in a few years' span, then he'll still be all potential and no deliverance. I feel like Luongo can come alive and lead his team to an improbable run to the finals in the same way Kiprusoff did. Now, last year we would've said oh Theo is the better goalie. But one season does not a great goalie make. Nonetheless, when you take your team to the finals and do what Kipper did, it's a bigger accomplishment than anything Theodore's done in his career (yes, leading your team to the big game is better than winning the Hart/Vezina yet falling short in the 2nd round). But potentially, Theodore could be the better goalie! Bottom line is; both have had wonderful years with different results. Brodeur did not deserve to win the Vezina this time with a .917 sv% and 11 SOs (a real team reflective stat). Consider that his backups had 3 shutouts combined as well in minimal action. Not saying Brodeur isn't the best, but Luongo got shafted. Anyway, Theo and Luongo have both shown inconsistency as well.
If we can see Theo come back to his 01-02 form (he showed flashes but not long stretches of that ability last season) then I might nudge him ahead of Luongo. It's no popularity contest. For now, Luongo is slighty better than Theo. Not by a very big margin at all, though. However, as a Habs fan, it's great to know that a goalie with the abilities to do the things he has done, Theodore can lead us to the promised land if he's at that dominating level. With an improved team and no holes all around, the Theo of 01-02 could lead the Habs of something like 08-09 to cup glory. It's a projection, but not an entirely ridicluous one by any means.
I suppose my point is saying something is "official" when it is only speculated - regardless of whom makes said speculation - is pretty poor practise.
but hey I got my Luongo glasses on so I cant see anything else 
