Quote:
Originally Posted by moon
There are some differences between Ramo and Cerevenka's situations that don't make them great comparables but in terms of Ramo-Irving, I am not sure exactly who is better but neither one has shown much more than the other and neither one has shown anything close to indicating that they can be more than a 10 game a year mediocre-bad back-up in the NHL.
Still much too early to say that Comeau isn't better than Cerevenka as well.
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It is tough to gauge Ramo effectively right now. Many people feel he was rushed into the NHL. What he has shown in the KHL has been really good. He has been CONSISTENT in the last 4 years there. He also took his team to the finals last year. Also, on one of his all-star appearances, he garnered more votes than any other player in the KHL. Does this mean he will be a great starting goalie in the NHL? Not necessarily, but at least he has shown consistency at a high level. Gives reason to most fans to be fairly optimistic (though this optimism has to be tempered somewhat).
I rank Ramo higher than Irving just based on his consistency. For those that feel the KHL doesn't translate at all into the NHL, then he has shown nothing. If you feel the KHL is a legitimately strong league, then he definitely has shown that he is at least a strong candidate to becoming the next Flames' starting goalie.
I personally feel that the long-term solution is with the other prospects - Brossoit, Gillies or even Ortio. I look at Irving and Ramo both as stop-gaps for now, but hope either one steps up and legitimately becomes a good starting goalie.
I don't like the fact that Irving allowed 2 AHL journeymen (3 if you count Keetley) to surpass him during his career in the AHL. Ramo, on the other hand, has continually been great on his team. To say Ramo hasn't shown anything would imply that you view the KHL as meaningless in terms of translating to the NHL.