Will Niittymaki be considered the real deal?

[David Puddy]

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

 

[Savolainen]

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.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

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.

 

[chthonic]

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.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

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.

 

[sandels]

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.

 

[Esko6]

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.

 

[chthonic]

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.

 

[JussiM]

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.