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May 28, 2010, 10:19 PM ET
Niemi’s Finnish track record
by Timo Seppa
In today’s Finals’ preview, I mentioned some promising stats for Philadelphia’s Michael Leighton in his last AHL campaign of 2007-8. But Leighton wasn’t the only goalie showing promise that season. Chicago goaltender Antti Niemi showed signs of potentially becoming a very good netminder in 2007-8 as well. In his age 24 season with the Lahti Pelicans of the Finnish Elite League, Niemi was 26-14-6 with a 2.35 GAA.
In addition to running his Goals Versus Threshold stat for the NHL, Tom Awad also runs it for leagues like the Finnish Elite League. Is it any surprise that Niemi’s 2007-8 season ranked 4th in the league, at a +30.4 GVT rating? (At age 23, he was a respectable +11.0 GVT, for 65th in the league.) That kind of performance clearly counts for something.
Fast forward to North America. While sporting an average .912 save percentage in 39 games with the Blackhawks this season, Niemi impressively had 7 shutouts - Steve Mason-like territory (Steve Mason from 2008-9, that is). With positive signs like the fine 2007-8 Finnish league season and the high percentage of shutouts (7 in 39 games) this season, it’s not surprising to see Antti Niemi coming up big this postseason, with a 12-4 record, .921 save percentage and 2 shutouts. And maybe a championship, to top it off.
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