gracie12 Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Not too surprising, they were in the running for a while. Will be interesting to see how this thing pans out. They are really hyping him but its rare that a goalie who has had big success in europe shows the same amount of success in the NHL. Time will tell I suppose. Credit to Burke for making some good moves & making the leafs look competent at least from the blueline back. He may be tall but - 6'3" and 180 lbs? Thats pretty slim to be called the "monster" lol. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283954 Swedish free agent goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has decided to call Toronto home. Gustavsson, who is nicknamed "The Monster," is expected to sign a one-year deal with the Leafs worth $810,000, including a signing bonus of $90,000, to back up current starter Vesa Toskala. The 24-year-old Gustavsson, visited several NHL clubs before choosing the Maple Leafs; Colorado, San Jose and Dallas being the others interested in signing him. Labeled the best goaltender outside of the NHL last season, the 6'3", 181 lb backstop was the top goalie in the Swedish Elite League last season while playing for Farjestad. He posted a 1.96 goals against average and a save percentage of .932 in the regular season, and led the team to the league championship this spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmash Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Tough to know how he will do. There's a lot of hype, but that was the case of Brunstrom who ended up in the minors (that's not to say he'll never be good, but year 1 wasn't impressive). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ForeverGuyLafleur Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 A good signing by Toronto indeed no matter what people might say. You know what my gaffer said? He says that Carey Price has talent, but shouldn't be allowed to sit back with the confirmation he's our number one goalie IN ORDER to keep him working hard on a regular basis and show what kind of guts he has. No disrespect to J.Halak, but this kind of guy would have given a tougher fight to Carey Price in order to earn the number one spot if BG managed to sign him and sell Halak. Anyway, it's not like Gustavsson will be number one right away as he will have to get past Toskala (and his super contract). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creptic Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roy_133 Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Worth a shot, he obviously comes highly recommended and when in a full rebuild like TO apparently is nothing wrong with throwing a bunch of things at the wall to see if anything sticks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twillightzone Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Worth a shot, he obviously comes highly recommended and when in a full rebuild like TO apparently is nothing wrong with throwing a bunch of things at the wall to see if anything sticks. Worth a shot...? Of course it is, Jonas Gustavsson just beat most of Lundqvists records in SEL, so yeah one might think it can stick on a wall.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roy_133 Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Worth a shot...? Of course it is, Jonas Gustavsson just beat most of Lundqvists records in SEL, so yeah one might think it can stick on a wall.... Really doesn't mean a whole lot in terms what he will do, but OK, cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twillightzone Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Really doesn't mean a whole lot in terms what he will do, but OK, cool. Nope no gurantees (when is anything guranteed really ?), but merits like that isnt anything to spit at. Tell me another goalie prospect with that merit, age etc that you dont have to trade for and sign to a league minimum....so again of course its worth a shot imo. You seem to disagree and fine by me. No worries Roy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA_Champion Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Toronto is so lucky for having an elite GM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roy_133 Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Nope no gurantees (when is anything guranteed really ?), but merits like that isnt anything to spit at. Tell me another goalie prospect with that merit, age etc that you dont have to trade for and sign to a league minimum....so again of course its worth a shot imo. You seem to disagree and fine by me. No worries Roy. I think it was definitely worth a shot, it was a very strong signing and my point was that even if it takes him some time to develop as a rebuilding team there's no we need to win right now mentality. Mostly I'm just saying this guy is still and unproven player and the expectations should be curbed a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandred Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 God damnit. Toronto is looking really good for next season. What happened to Gerber? They're going to have Toskala, Gerber, and this swedish guy who is apparently better than Lunqvist? Plus that kid they illegally got, Komisarek, Gabovski, Beauchemin, Exelby, and Stuart? ***** me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mandred Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 God damnit. Toronto is looking really good for next season. What happened to Gerber? They're going to have Toskala, Gerber, and this swedish guy who is apparently better than Lunqvist? Plus that kid they illegally got, Komisarek, Gabovski, Beauchemin, Exelby, and Stuart? ***** me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roy_133 Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 this swedish guy who is apparently better than Lunqvist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twillightzone Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 I dont know if he is better than Lundqvist but he has beaten most of his records this season and the potental is very high with this guy, make no misstake about that. If he can adapt to the smaller NHL rinks....cant say but I think so. Doesnt say much but he represented Sweden in this years WC's and got a bronze medal so the future looks bright. Here is a couple of links from youtube on Jonas. For those who wants a peek. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J08dWoEWEhw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd23Xdp2rK0&feature=fvw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteenIsThaFuture Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Nobody is doubting the kid, but his records/stats were obviously inflated by playing in Farjestad BK, one if not the SEL's best defensive team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twillightzone Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Nobody is doubting the kid, but his records/stats were obviously inflated by playing in Farjestad BK, one if not the SEL's best defensive team. Not only one of the best teams defensively but offensively as well Moneypuck. To tell you the truth they were just obliberating any opposition in this years playoff. Frankly one could argue the same about Lundqvist's stats when he played for Frölunda in the early 00's. What sticks out about Lundqvist is that some of his records came in the lockout year when SEL was just amazing! Then again he played on Frölunda that had a extremly good team that year so....it kind of goes both ways. Both are very good goalies the difference is that Lundqvist is proven. If I remember correctly it was alot of hype around him when he came into the NHL too. Still the best Swedish goalie in NHL is by far.....the late Pelle Lindbergh imo. There you have one that would have won a cup if fate didnt want diferently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteenIsThaFuture Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Not only one of the best teams defensively but offensively as well Moneypuck. To tell you the truth they were just obliberating any opposition in this years playoff. Frankly one could argue the same about Lundqvist's stats when he played for Frölunda in the early 00's. What sticks out about Lundqvist is that some of his records came in the lockout year when SEL was just amazing! Then again he played on Frölunda that had a extremly good team that year so....it kind of goes both ways. Both are very good goalies the difference is that Lundqvist is proven. If I remember correctly it was alot of hype around him when he came into the NHL too. Still the best Swedish goalie in NHL is by far.....the late Pelle Lindbergh imo. There you have one that would have won a cup if fate didnt want diferently. The defense I point out is because Jonas faced less shot and lower quality shots than most other goalies, which is why I didn't point out the offense. Jonas faced 28.12 shots per game, and while I'm not aware of the quality I imagine it was lower than league average. For Henrik, the quality of the league was higher at his time which makes his stats slightly more impressive. While Frolunda also was a great team, I look at Henrik now and I don't excatly see a top 3-5 goalie. He had those kinda seasons before, but last year he was just above-average. Not saying Toronto wouldn`t be pleased with that, I`m just going off-topic to say Henrik is slightly overrated. Jonas I`m not going to say is good or bad, because I don`t really know. I would guess that he may be good, but I really don`t knwo because I don`t have much clear-cut evidence to do so. We will just see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glory_Days Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 No doubt Toronto looks good on the back end, but who will provide the scoring...Grabovski? Ponikarovski? Blake? They're not really scary up front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RicochetII Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 He looks to be a little aggressive and reactionary. He stays in the vicinity of the goal, but I wouldn't judge any of that to be of a sound positional style, lol. Can't really judge based on a couple of highlight clips though, guess we will have to wait and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kubby31 Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Tough to know how he will do. There's a lot of hype, but that was the case of Brunstrom who ended up in the minors . Let's not forget Pogge,speaking of hype. A good signing by Toronto indeed no matter what people might say. Possibly. Toronto is so lucky for having an elite GM. I reading between the lines here DA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bailey1 Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 I guess MLSE is bailing out on Pogge... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHL-Expert Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 Does Burke know how to convice people or what ? At the end of last year he won the Tyler Bozak sweepstake, he also signed the third best undrafted NCAA player in Christian Hanson, and now he signed the best player not in the NHL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gracie12 Posted July 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 I guess MLSE is bailing out on Pogge... Seems that way. Im actually surprised how quickly they seem to have given up on him. I see him as a long-term project but still see potential in the kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roy_133 Posted July 8, 2009 Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 and now he signed the best player not in the NHL That's a pretty big statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gracie12 Posted July 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2009 Does Burke know how to convice people or what ? At the end of last year he won the Tyler Bozak sweepstake, he also signed the third best undrafted NCAA player in Christian Hanson, and now he signed the best player not in the NHL We'll see how it works out for him. So far they're all just 'prospects' - albeit with a lot of potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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