Flyers sign Niko Hovinen

[awaz]

Flyers sign goalie Hovinen to entry-level contract

6'7'' is a very big person.. flyers seem to be stockpiling goalie prospects, and getting all the best undrafted free agents

 

[dspice07]

6'7 is Chara in net, i hope the guy has some skill haha.

 

[DaBoltsNIsles]

Hmm... he's 23 so he might be ready soon. Time will tell.

 

[flyersfan4706]

Is he good?

 

[SantaMonicaFlyer]

Is he good?

From BroadStreetHockey.com:

Here's what The Goalie Guild, a fantastic goaltender scouting site, had to say about Hovinen back in 2009 when listing 50 goalie prospects "to ponder."

Hovinen is kind of like the leaning tower of Pizza. He's an absolute giant at 6-foot-7 inches, but does not have very good balance or stability in the net. He gets pushed around a lot and doesn't have a stable presence in the net. Although he's extremely large in the butterfly, recovering from that and then being able to stay square to shooters for rebounds is where he really seems to struggle. It's also noted that he has issues with durability and stamina.

Not exactly a glowing review, but it's nice to know he's a big body in goal.

Shrug.

 

[flyersfan4706]

From that I give him a C-

But then again it only pointed out bad stuff, although there might not be anything good to point out...?

 

[SantaMonicaFlyer]

From that I give him a C-

But then again it only pointed out bad stuff, although there might not be anything good to point out...?

Again from BroadStreetHockey.com:

Niko Hovinen, the goalie the Flyers signed earlier today to an entry-level contract, will stay in Europe for next season. He'll move to North America for the 2012-13 season, at least according to his Finnish team, the Pelicans.

This leaves a few extra question marks, and yields a few other potential answers. For starters, he obviously won't be filling a spot in the Flyers system next year. We don't know exactly what that means just yet, but there are still moves to be made -- whether that's re-signing RFA Brian Stewart or whatever else.

Also, it seems to make sense.

Teemu reported in the comments of our original Hovinen story that he got his game back a bit this last season with the Pelicans after a few years where he seemed to be shaping into a bust. It would only make sense for him to try to continue that growth with another year in Europe, rather than make the jump overseas where he could regress and struggle and never be seen again.

Can't hurt, I guess. This IS how we signed Bob just last year, so...

 

[flyersfan4706]

Very true, time will tell and he is still developing after all.

 

[SantaMonicaFlyer]

Another write-up about him:

Eliteprospects.com - Niko Hovinen

 

[SantaMonicaFlyer]

Another:

Prospect Niko Hovinen Player Profile - Hockey's Future

 

[TOX1]

Thanks for the links SMF.

Looks like Homer is trying to up the anti by bringing in more competition for goalie jobs within the organization. Cool.

 

[SuperFlyer13]

Sounds like a real tall Boosh! No thanks..

 

[PhillyFate48]

He blows!!!!!

 

[jerseyjigroe]

Simply a prospect.

 

[PhillyFate48]

I heard that about cough cough Bob........next thing ya know he's gettin lit up with Boosh!

 

[PhillyBoston781]

At least the negatives mentioned in that article are things that he could work on...

Give the guy some martial arts classes for balance/stability and make him run on a treadmill until he pukes for stamina??