Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
If Gillies turns pro, I wouldn't mind having him sent to Finland for some seasoning. It seemed to work well with Ortio.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BloodFetish
Of goalies born in Finland. They are not a North American goalie refurbishment factory.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
Irving's doing pretty well there.
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Irving hasn't furthered his NHL career or proven to have furthered his development as a goalie by going to Finland. He's simply gone to a lower league and had success. North American players tend to go there when they have tried and failed to crack the NHL full-time and no longer have NHL ties.
The notion of sending a young, North American born, goaltending prospect to Finland for seasoning is just a silly idea. As BloodFetish pointed out, Finnish goalies have success in large part because of their development from a young age. As albertGQ eluded to, for someone Gillies' age there are appropriate pro leagues in North America to get quality playing time and coaching to take the next step. Ending up on a team outside the Flames' organization in a foreign country with language and cultural barriers offer some big disadvantages for development.