He knows where the puck is. Always. It's especially noticable when they're playing a lesser goalie who can't keep up with the play. It's also noticable when Mike Smith is in net, because Mike Smith guesses a lot.
Rittich doesn't guess. His rebounds are good. Maybe the best goalie at defending breakaways/penalty shots the team has ever had. Can't speak to pre Kiprusoff years, but if Kipper had kryptonite, it was the shootout.
Goalies are so up and down from year to year, so while I want to believe he's the next 34, I'll temper expectations and say that he reminds me a lot of a bigger Jaroslav Halak. If he's able to do good things for the team in the post season, I'll have no issue giving him 3/$10-$12M this summer.
|