Garret Craig

In 2002, at just 17 years old, Jimmy Howard led the United States team to a Gold Medal at the IIHF World U18 Championships, posting a 1.33 goals against average and a .954 save percentage in 6 games. Following his stellar performances as a member of the U.S. National Team Development Program, Howard earned the Dave Peterson Goalie of the Year Award, establishing himself as the top goaltender prospect in USA Hockey. He continued his development for three seasons at the University of Maine, where he still holds single season and career school records for shutouts, goals against average, and save percentage. During the 2003-04 season, he set NCAA records for goals against average (1.19) and save percentage (.954), both of which still stand today. Howard was selected in the 2nd round (64th overall) in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Detroit Red Wings, and joined the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2005. He quickly established himself as the Griffins’ number one, and remained with the club, maturing and developing his skill-set, for four full seasons. In those four seasons, he made the AHL PlanetUSA All-Star Team twice, and was the Grand Rapids Griffins’ recipient of the AHL’s Man of the Year award twice as well.

For Antti Niemi, the road to the NHL was filled with much more adversity. Until 2005, he was practically unknown outside of First Division, a lower-level Finnish professional league where he had been employed by a relatively inconspicuous organization called Kiekko-Vantaa. He had been moving up and down between the club’s primary team, and their Jr. squad, since age 17. The league was so obscure, and subsequently his pay so minimal, that Niemi was forced to drive a Zamboni at his local ice rink to make ends meet. He drew no interest from teams in Finland’s top professional league, SM-Liiga, until, because of injury issues, the undistinguished Lahti Pelicans gave him a shot. In Niemi’s three seasons there, from 2005 to 2008, he posted a 2.54 goals against average, and received direct instruction from the team’s owner and former NHL goalie Pasi Nurminen. At age 24, perhaps as a result of this special attention, he was spectacular, posting a 26-6-14 record with a 2.35 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. Following this extraordinarily successful season, he finally drew interest from the NHL. Niemi was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Chicago Blackhawks in the spring of 2008, and joined their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, that fall. During his only season as a member of the IceHogs, he was a more than adequate backup to Corey Crawford, with an 18-14 record in 38 games.

In contrast to Niemi, Pekka Rinne was discovered relatively quickly by NHL scouts. He cracked SM-Liiga at age 20 with Karpat Oulu, and developed mostly in the shadow of Minnesota Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom. The tandem led Karpat to two league titles in 2004 and 2005. After being drafted by the Nashville Predators in 2004 (8th round, 258th overall), Rinne joined the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals for the 2005-06 season, and made an immediate impact, leading the team to the AHL Calder Cup Finals, earning ten wins and three shutouts in the postseason. In an injury-shortened 2006-07 campaign, Rinne played 29 games for the Admirals and finished sixth among AHL goaltenders in both goals against average (2.34) and save percentage (.920). In 2007-08, his third and final season in Milwaukee, he led the league with 36 wins, and played alongside Jimmy Howard and countryman Tuukka Rask in the AHL All-Star Classic.

Pekka Rinne, Antti Niemi, and Jimmy Howard; respectively, two Finns and an American from upstate New York. Certainly very different backgrounds, but as their careers have progressed, their paths have grown steadily together.

Rinne was called up in December of 2005 to face the Chicago Blackhawks (three years before Niemi would join the organization) in his NHL debut. He recorded 38 saves in victory. Howard made his debut in November of the same year on the road in Los Angeles, saving 22 of 24 shots, including a penalty shot, to record the first win of his career. Three seasons later, in March of 2009, Niemi, then 25 years old, finally made his first NHL start (second appearance), and, like Howard, stopped 22 of 24 shots in a victory over the LA Kings.

Not only did all three record wins in their first NHL start, they also proceeded to win starting jobs and have led their teams to the NHL playoffs for two consecutive seasons.

Rinne, the oldest of the trio by almost ten months, established himself in the 2008-09 season. Although his Predators narrowly missed the playoffs in his rookie season, his numbers were notably impressive. He finished with a 29-15-4 record, a 2.38 goals against average, and a .917 save percentage. In February of 2009, he was named NHL rookie of the month, and in March, he set the Predators’ franchise record for shutouts with his seventh of the year.

Niemi cracked the Blackhawks’ lineup the following season, and began a battle for playing time with Chicago’s established number one goalie, Cristobal Huet. Less than 300 miles away across Lake Michigan, Jimmy Howard was on the same path, as the Red Wings had determined in the 2009 off-season that he would replace Ty Conklin as backup to seasoned veteran Chris Osgood.

By the end of the 2009-10 regular season, both Niemi (26-7-4, 2.25 goals against average, .912 save percentage) and Howard (37-15-10, 2.26 goals against average, .924 save percentage), as a result of their sterling play as rookies (Howard made the 2009-2010 NHL All-Rookie Team), combined with the inconsistent performances of Huet and Osgood, had taken over starting roles for their respective teams.

Meanwhile, Pekka Rinne was finishing his sophomore season with the Nashville Predators. In his second season as their number one goalie, he posted a 32-16-5 record with a 2.53 goals against average and a .911 save percentage, leading his team to a seventh-place finish in the Western Conference and a first-round matchup with Niemi’s Blackhawks.

Rinne, Niemi, and Howard all broke ground as playoff goaltenders in the spring of 2010, and made their first small strides toward attaining the elusive notoriety reserved for legends like Patrick Roy, Terry Sawchuk, and Martin Brodeur (who won a combined total of 11 Stanley Cups).

Howard and the Red Wings, seeded fifth, matched up against the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round. He had two sub-par games in the series, but rebounded after each. In game four in Detroit, he stopped 29 shots on the way to his first playoff shutout. Then, after giving up five goals in a Game 6 loss, he bounced back to stop 32 of 33 in front of a hostile Phoenix crowd in Game 7; his first test as an NHL netminder in a win or go home situation. Displaying tremendous mental toughness, he won three of four games on the road, effectively erasing any doubt that he could not perform under playoff pressure.

In the second round, however, the Red Wings defense faltered, and Howard was bombarded with 161 shots (more than 32 per game). He allowed fifteen goals (six on power plays) in the series, which lasted just five games, and all four losses were decided by just one goal. Considering the heavy workload, Howard’s playoff numbers were very respectable. He finished the playoffs above the league average for save percentage at .915, good for fifth among goalies who faced 200 or more shots in the tournament.

Though Rinne’s Predators were eliminated in the first round, his poise under the increased pressure of postseason play did not go unnoticed, and his team’s ouster was more due to a lack of offensive production (and a star-studded opposing lineup) than a collapse in net. Through the first three games, he allowed just two even-strength goals. After facing almost 180 shots in the series, which lasted six games, he sported a .911 save percentage to go along with a modest 2.68 goals against average.

The goal opposite Rinne was occupied by Antti Niemi, who, granted, didn’t have to play spectacular for his team to advance past Nashville. He exceeded expectations with his performances however, shutting out the Predators in games two and four, both critical games which directly followed losses and changed the momentum of the series in favor of the Blackhawks.

Backed by Chicago’s high-powered offense, Niemi proceeded to knock Roberto Luongo’s Canucks out of the Western Conference Semifinals in six games. In the Conference Finals, he gave up just seven goals in a four-game sweep of Evgeni Nabokov’s Sharks. In the Stanley Cup Finals, carried again by the Hawks’ scoring prowess, he outplayed Michael Leighton, dispatching of his Philadelphia Flyers in six games.

Niemi’s playoff numbers (.910 save percentage, 2.63 goals against average) were not earth-shattering, but not just anyone, even on a stacked team, can win the Stanley Cup, especially in their first full NHL season. Adding to the illustriousness of the accomplishment, the championship was Chicago’s first since Glenn Hall backstopped them over the Detroit Red Wings in 1961, and brought an end to the 49-year drought that Hall of Famer Tony Esposito, Ed Belfour, and Nikolai Khabibulin, among others, failed to end during their Blackhawk tenures. Niemi also became the first Finnish goaltender, and only the fourth rookie goalie in history to win the trophy.

Due to salary cap restraints, the Blackhawks were forced to let Niemi go in the following offseason, and he signed as a free agent with the San Jose Sharks. There, his regular season numbers only improved. He finished the season with 35 wins, an impressive .920 save percentage, and 6 shutouts. His strong play earned him the title of “Sharks Player of the Year” as voted by the Bay Area media.

The 2010-11 regular season numbers posted by Pekka Rinne were even more staggering. His .930 save percentage was surpassed only by that of Boston’s Tim Thomas (.938). His goals against average of 2.12 was also near best in the league, and he matched Niemi with six shutouts.

Jimmy Howard’s personal statistics in his second full season (.908 save percentage, 2.79 goals against average, and 2 shutouts) were by far the least impressive of the trio, but his win total of 37 was tied for second in the league.

Howard’s recent playoff performances, though, were more than enough to make fans forget any possible negative regular season memories. In the first round, he led the Wings to a four-game sweep over the Phoenix Coyotes. He gave up just ten goals, with six coming on the power play. In the second round, though the Red Wings fell in seven games to San Jose, he looked, at times, like the best player on the ice. He faced a whopping 35+ shots per game in the series, but finished it with a .927 save percentage. His final playoff line included a .923 save percentage, 2.50 goals against average, improving on both numbers from the 2010 postseason. Howard, in two playoff runs, now has a 5-2 record in games facing elimination, and has played in two game sevens (both on the road), experience that will surely be beneficial as the Red Wings look to the future.

Rinne, meanwhile, led the Predators to a series victory in six games over the Anaheim Ducks; the first playoff series victory in the history of the young franchise. After advancing to face Vancouver in round two, Rinne stepped up his play significantly. His save percentage for the series shot up to .932, and in six games, he never allowed more than three goals. Unfortunately, Nashville failed to generate adequate offense, and was eliminated.

Interestingly, one could argue that both Howard and Rinne performed well enough in their respective second round series to advance. Had it not been for the Red Wing’s defensive struggles, and the Predator’s lack of offense, the two could be battling it out for a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals right now. Instead, it’s Antti Niemi and Roberto Luongo.

Niemi, in his second year, with his second team, is in the midst of his second deep playoff run. His Sharks are currently in an 0-2 hole to Vancouver in the Western Conference Finals, but no matter how their season ends at this point, it has undoubtedly been an impressive feat by Niemi to reach this point twice in his first two seasons. To get there this year, Niemi and the Sharks fought through the Los Angeles Kings in six games, and the Detroit Red Wings in seven. After visibly struggling in the first round, including being pulled early in games three and five; he recovered in the second round to match Jimmy Howard of the Red Wings almost shot-for-shot. Both goalies faced more than 35 shots per game, and Niemi gave up 17 goals to Howard’s 18. In Game 7 of the series, one of the Sharks’ most significant games in franchise history, Niemi stepped up and stopped 38 of 40 shots in a 3-2 victory.

Destined for greatness? Maybe. Maybe not. Working against the three young stars is the fact that they all began their NHL careers relatively late (the average age of an NHL rookie goalie is 23.54; Rinne, Niemi, and Howard were 26, 26, and 25 respectively to begin their first full NHL seasons), but there also innumerable reasons to buy in to their astronomic potential. All three, still in their twenties, are now playoff-tested and entering the prime of their careers.

Who do you think has had the most impressive career thus far? Who has the most potential for greatness? Regardless, it will without a doubt be interesting to follow these three promising careers, and to compare and analyze their performances as they continue their pursuit of stardom and notoriety.