Niemi.....

[Likewall32]

.Nabby wasn't good in the playoffs that often.....but neither were the Sharks. The same will be true of Niemi; he'll only be as good as the Sharks play. I think everybody in here was saying how horrid he's been this series. he was God-awful all series (save for game 1).

I dont think career playoff stats of 40-38 .913s% 2.29gaa is bad at all. While the 40-38 isnt great by any means, the gaa & s% are pretty good in my eyes... 08-09 was a bad playoff for him. other then that I cant really complain at all... I always thought Nabby made the defence better, the defence didnt make Nabby better, but then again maybe im being as blind as all the Nieminites...

 

[Nimesis23]

In the spirit of unity, at least we all can agree that Wallin is fucking garbage...

 

[Cmon_WTF]

In the spirit of unity, at least we all can agree that Wallin is fucking garbage...

That's an insult to garbage...

 

[Destroydacre]

In the spirit of unity, at least we all can agree that Wallin is fucking garbage...

So we can send him to the incinerator?

 

[Nimesis23]

Hopefully they do after this season... but with Doug you never know... He might re-sign him to a 7 million deal...

 

[Likewall32]

Outside of the 1st month of the season Niittymaki's play ranged from not good to flat out terribad, and certainly never reached a level to give McLellan reason to start him over Niemi. Niemi was very poor this series but his play over the course of the season was far better than anything Niittymaki showed.

Weather I agree with that or not isnt the arguement. What is that that when Nitty was playing lights out and Niemi was stinking up the place, Niemi was always the favored goalie per kool-aid Doug & Todd. The man could do no wrong in their eyes and still cant. And of course its going to be better then anything Nitty showed, he got a chance to play & show it!! Thats the whole point. He was ALWAYS allowed to play thru it, Nitty wasnt. Nitty plays one bad game, he's benched for awhile to rust away. Niemi plays a bad game, he gets to start again & again. While you say Nitty never reached a reason to start over Niemi, you can easily say Niemi never reached a level to be the favorite & get that maybe chances.

He shined during the injury & I wont take anything away from that. but like ive said before, every goalie gets hot. A hot goalie isnt the true talent level of that goalie. And you cant base his overall skill set on that hot streak... Common man, how the heck you think Huet got that fat contract & game praise. He got hot, but as we can all see (I hope people arent that blind) that wasnt the true talent level of him Look at Boosh when he gets hot, that guy is literally a brick wall... is that his true skill level??

Niemi is put on a different pedistal then all other previous SJ goalies, like theyve never had someone of this incredible skill set in there lineup before. He gets more opportunies then other goalies have ever gotten, and he gets more excuses made up for his bad games/goals then anyone. You cant deny that...

Are there worse goalies out there? Hell yea, but is he as good as people think? Hell no...

 

[Likewall32]

In the spirit of unity, at least we all can agree that Wallin is fucking garbage...

Apparently passed playoff success holds heavy weight to Dougie... Common man the guy had 3OT winners a few years ago. He's Mr. Clutch!! You cannot play a playoff game with Mr. Clutch out of the lineup, are you nuts!??? Wallin will retire a sharks, because without SJ has no chance of winning those games that go into overtime...

(sarcasim intented)

 

[rares]

Yeah, I was never a fan of Niemi and he's had a rough series but I've bit my lip and haven't blasted him because he DID have a hell of a stretch to close out the regular season (and surprised the shit out of me in the process)...

I didn't watch Game 5. I heard he sucked out loud but oh well.

Tonight, I thought he was pretty good. Like korky said in the GDT, he made some great saves with the game on the line so he deserves some props.

Anyway, I still don't <3 him but I don't hate him as much as I used to...

 

[Likewall32]

Any stat nerds out there know Niemi's playoff numbers if you elminate the ONE good playoff series he had, which was against San Jose last year...

Im taking a guess here, but in those 4 series its gotta be somewhere around 3.30gaa with a .888s%... Hardly numbers of a light out dynamo... And the fact that he's never lost a playoff series leads me to believe his teamates bail him out more on the scoreboard then he bails them out.

 

[bdave]

Niemi is obviously not one of the better goalies in the league but he finds a way to keep us in the game in HUGE situations. If our defense settles down then he could really take over a series like the regular season. You can't hate on the guy he's the big reason we even got into the playoffs this year.

 

[Toolrulzz]

Well you can beat your drum about Niemi all you want, the defense hasn't helped him at all and he hasn't helped himself much either. But to blame it all on him isn't fair. As a fan it sucks to have that Nabokov playoff feeling when you expect every shot to go in. And I really liked Nabokov. But once he let in a softy it seemed as if a slew of softies soon followed. But even for Nabby, the defense didn't always help him out. It wasn't all on him. Just like all the goals allowed against the Kings aren't all on Niemi. And it doesn't really matter who the Sharks play they're going to have a tough time defensively simply because their defense isn't very good. At least that's the way I see it.

 

[filosofy29]

Outside of the 1st month of the season Niittymaki's play ranged from not good to flat out terribad, and certainly never reached a level to give McLellan reason to start him over Niemi. Niemi was very poor this series but his play over the course of the season was far better than anything Niittymaki showed.

I don't really think that's a fair argument though Cmon. When you've had a full month of consistency and get yanked at the first sign of trouble.....then you watch your counterpart struggle mightily but is shown all the faith in him. That does a couple things to a goalies mind. He was benched for long periods of time and then thrown in randomly and then got injured. I watched these same things with Felix Potvin over many, many years. Coaches that showed unwavering support in Felix were rewarded with the benefits when he got his rhythm. Coaches that had a short leash and didn't let him get in his groove got the worst of him.

Bottom line, Niitty was set up for failure by the coaching game plan and Niemi was set up for success. It's hard to be consistent when you sit for 8 games straight and it's hard to be consistent when you come back from injuries and sit for 8 games straight. I don't think you're making an apples to apples comparison.

 

[Cbrower91]

I think you should rename this thread to exactly what it its and its "the I hate niemi" thread

 

[koblix]

go ahead and bash Niemi all you want...at this time, I have to say "In Nemo We Trust", let get behind him and win a CUP!!!

Go Sharks!!!!

 

[Cbrower91]

I don't really think that's a fair argument though Cmon. When you've had a full month of consistency and get yanked at the first sign of trouble.....then you watch your counterpart struggle mightily but is shown all the faith in him. That does a couple things to a goalies mind. He was benched for long periods of time and then thrown in randomly and then got injured. I watched these same things with Felix Potvin over many, many years. Coaches that showed unwavering support in Felix were rewarded with the benefits when he got his rhythm. Coaches that had a short leash and didn't let him get in his groove got the worst of him.

Bottom line, Niitty was set up for failure by the coaching game plan and Niemi was set up for success. It's hard to be consistent when you sit for 8 games straight and it's hard to be consistent when you come back from injuries and sit for 8 games straight. I don't think you're making an apples to apples comparison.

I don't know how you can say he was set up to fail. Nitty had ample opportunity to take the job the first 3rd of season, and it didn't happen. Then he got hurt, it happens, its similar to the sheilds/nabby, when shields got the high ankle sprain

 

[Dean_Youngblood]

I hate this thread

 

[Cmon_WTF]

I don't really think that's a fair argument though Cmon. When you've had a full month of consistency and get yanked at the first sign of trouble.....then you watch your counterpart struggle mightily but is shown all the faith in him. That does a couple things to a goalies mind. He was benched for long periods of time and then thrown in randomly and then got injured. I watched these same things with Felix Potvin over many, many years. Coaches that showed unwavering support in Felix were rewarded with the benefits when he got his rhythm. Coaches that had a short leash and didn't let him get in his groove got the worst of him.

Bottom line, Niitty was set up for failure by the coaching game plan and Niemi was set up for success. It's hard to be consistent when you sit for 8 games straight and it's hard to be consistent when you come back from injuries and sit for 8 games straight. I don't think you're making an apples to apples comparison.

Niitty was never consistant at any point this season. Even at the start of the season when he was playing his best he was medocre and all over the place. The claims of "favortism" by the coaching staff are being blown way out of proportion in this thread. The only time Niitty didn't get starts when he should have came during the stretch of games between Dec 30 and Jan 13. By that point in the season the coaching staff should have realized that Niemi was far and away the better of the two goalies and the team was going to live or die with him.

No matter what was said by Dougie or the coaching staff, Niemi was signed with the intention of him becoming the primary starting goalie for the Sharks. I can't believe this is some sort of revilation for anyone. After working with Schwab and Thomas Niemi took the reins of that starting position and never looked back.

 

[filosofy29]

Niitty was never consistant at any point this season. Even at the start of the season when he was playing his best he was medocre and all over the place. The claims of "favortism" by the coaching staff are being blown way out of proportion in this thread. The only time Niitty didn't get starts when he should have came during the stretch of games between Dec 30 and Jan 13. By that point in the season the coaching staff should have realized that Niemi was far and away the better of the two goalies and the team was going to live or die with him.

No matter what was said by Dougie or the coaching staff, Niemi was signed with the intention of him becoming the primary starting goalie for the Sharks. I can't believe this is some sort of revilation for anyone. After working with Schwab and Thomas Niemi took the reins of that starting position and never looked back.

I respectfully disagree, but there's no need in going on with this because I don't think we're going to change each others minds. Like I said, I'm actually happy with how things ended up because as much as I like Niitty, the guy just isn't durable.

That said, go Sharks and go Niemi.

 

[Likewall32]

I respectfully disagree, but there's no need in going on with this because I don't think we're going to change each others minds. Like I said, I'm actually happy with how things ended up because as much as I like Niitty, the guy just isn't durable.

That said, go Sharks and go Niemi.

Im gonna have to go with this... After looking at the numbers and gameplay of those 2 from Oct-end Dec, I just dont see where Com's argument is coming from. I think there was only 3x Nitty gave up more then 3 goals and some of them were OT games so I dont know if they were shootout credited 1 goal or what...

IMO which isnt going to change, you compare the games where they were both healthy and its a no brainer who was better. You compare there play in the playoffs (which isnt exactly even minutes) but even then, its still a no brainer who has played better. Without that game 4 effort by Nitty, this series prob goes to LA.

We can be happy we won this series, but 3 outa 4 wins coming in OT, to the worst team in the playoffs, who dont have their leading scorer? Its pathetic, and people still blame the D for the bad goalie play. And most of the D turnovers that flushing nemo lets in arent even odd mans, breakawys or scoring chances. they are just normal shots.

On another note Corey Crawford is a badass, I wish we had his game 7 play in net for the next round. And Luongos OT save... Fuck man, that play by the Hawks was incredible, I was droppin F-bombs that could destroy Hiroshima when he stpped that... Uggg here comes detroit...

 

[Likewall32]

I hate this thread

I hate the idea of Rob Lowe playing a hockey player... but theres some things we just cant change haha :focus: