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kirant · 02-13-2013, 10:59 PM

I'm curious what people think about Leland Irving. I'm pretty hopeful about him. Here are some things I've noticed:
- He is extremely positionally based. He rarely lets in goals when he's set up as oppose to Kiprusoff, who will occasionally let in those weird "impossible angle" goals. He's flexible enough to make saves anywhere in the net as long as he's able to see the shot.
- Rebound control is average. Nothing really unique about it, but should be workable at an NHL level.
- He's not outstandingly fast. As Flames fans, we'll need to get used to not seeing amazingly fast goaltenders like Kiprusoff. The biggest difference is that Kiprusoff seems to see exactly how far to push himself when he's "on", where as Irving seems to guess a little.
- He doesn't have great puck tracking. He seems to lose the puck if it's behind bodies.
- Inexperience. This is expected, but you can see his confidence go up and down quite a bit. He was lights out against the Wild and was willing to get himself off the goal line. Against the Stars, he was more timid. One user (dustyanddaflames) pointed out in the GT that he could have been rattled by the shootout a bit, and it makes sense.
- A bit of nervousness. Irving's feet are pretty active compared to Kiprusoff, who is made of ice I'm pretty sure. He swings his legs around a bit when moving and dances around in a single spot a little.
- Willing to move the puck himself. He seems more willing to play it than Kiprusoff, though he isn't able to do the down ice passes yet.

In my opinion, he looks exactly like most 24 year old NHL goaltenders with NHL potential. A quick search yields that about half of NHL starts seem to be in the NHL at his age.

Here's my spoilered breakdown of goalies who played above 40 games last year (1A goaltender or higher, effectively. Injuries were not considered):

Spoiler!

From what I can see, young starters are pretty limited to exceptional goalies and Thrashers picks. Of these, 4 top were 10, 2 11-30 picks, 2 2nd round picks, 2 were late. This means it seems to trend towards early picks being starters.

From this, I think Irving (late 1st), if he proves to be a suitable backup this year, is on track to be an NHL goaltender if he continues to develop.

But what do other users think?

02-13-2013, 10:59 PM	#1
kirant Franchise Player Join Date: Apr 2009 Exp:	Irving, level of progress at 24? I'm curious what people think about Leland Irving. I'm pretty hopeful about him. Here are some things I've noticed: - He is extremely positionally based. He rarely lets in goals when he's set up as oppose to Kiprusoff, who will occasionally let in those weird "impossible angle" goals. He's flexible enough to make saves anywhere in the net as long as he's able to see the shot. - Rebound control is average. Nothing really unique about it, but should be workable at an NHL level. - He's not outstandingly fast. As Flames fans, we'll need to get used to not seeing amazingly fast goaltenders like Kiprusoff. The biggest difference is that Kiprusoff seems to see exactly how far to push himself when he's "on", where as Irving seems to guess a little. - He doesn't have great puck tracking. He seems to lose the puck if it's behind bodies. - Inexperience. This is expected, but you can see his confidence go up and down quite a bit. He was lights out against the Wild and was willing to get himself off the goal line. Against the Stars, he was more timid. One user (dustyanddaflames) pointed out in the GT that he could have been rattled by the shootout a bit, and it makes sense. - A bit of nervousness. Irving's feet are pretty active compared to Kiprusoff, who is made of ice I'm pretty sure. He swings his legs around a bit when moving and dances around in a single spot a little. - Willing to move the puck himself. He seems more willing to play it than Kiprusoff, though he isn't able to do the down ice passes yet. In my opinion, he looks exactly like most 24 year old NHL goaltenders with NHL potential. A quick search yields that about half of NHL starts seem to be in the NHL at his age. Here's my spoilered breakdown of goalies who played above 40 games last year (1A goaltender or higher, effectively. Injuries were not considered): Spoiler! At 24, was a starter (10): Theodore, Luongo, Brodeur, Lehtonen, Lundqvist, Price, Fleury, Pavelec, Ward, Khabibulin At 24, was a backup/journeyman starter (11): Miller, Varlamov, Bryzgalov, Thomas, Anderson, Smith, Quick, Vokoun, Halak, S. Mason, Gustavsson At 24, was in the AHL/Lower league (11): Crawford, Howard, Niemi, Kiprusoff, Hiller, Rinne, Garon, Dubnyk, Backstrom, Nabakov, Roloson From what I can see, young starters are pretty limited to exceptional goalies and Thrashers picks. Of these, 4 top were 10, 2 11-30 picks, 2 2nd round picks, 2 were late. This means it seems to trend towards early picks being starters. From this, I think Irving (late 1st), if he proves to be a suitable backup this year, is on track to be an NHL goaltender if he continues to develop. But what do other users think? __________________ Last edited by kirant; 02-13-2013 at 11:03 PM.