MillerTime07 Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 According to TSN, Noronen will be netminding in Russia next season... http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=173282&hubname=nhl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SabresOnTheWarpath Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 good for him, he deseves to play somewhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That Aud Smell Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 According to TSN, Noronen will be netminding in Russia next season... http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=173282&hubname=nhl Interesting, and good for him. I'll share a little Sabres anecdote (I don't have many, but this is one of them): Before the season before the lockout got started (so, what, 2003-2004?), I had the good fortune of going to the Faceoff Luncheon (or whatever it's called) at the Harbor Club -- it was on the company's dime. The gimmick is this: your company's people sit at a table with one of the Sabres. Mika was at our table -- nice, nice guy (kid, really). As we got up to get our food, he was talking to me and another guy here at the office about how homesick he was (there was something about a girlfriend) and how it didn't really matter to him all that much if he wound being an NHL-caliber goalie -- he said something like, "If it works out for me here in the NHL, great, but if not, I'll just go home and play." At that time, there was a lot of talk about who our goalie of the future would be: Marty, Miller or Mika. I came away from that luncheon knowing that it was a 2-way race, not 3. While I realize Russia's not Finland, I imagine it's close enough for Mika. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesportsbuff Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Good that he gets to play somewhere, really underrated goaltender in my oppinion. Wish he'd stick around in the NHL though, I was actually very interested in seeing what type of player he would and could develope into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayFinkle Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 but Darcy sucks, we needed to move Biron and all we got for him was a lousy second! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted August 4, 2006 Report Share Posted August 4, 2006 Good that he gets to play somewhere, really underrated goaltender in my oppinion. Wish he'd stick around in the NHL though, I was actually very interested in seeing what type of player he would and could develope into. Doesn't mean he won't be coming back to the NHL, right now he is going there for around 1 year til he can officially be a UFA and to showcase himself to other teams that may be interested in him for next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LexLuthor871 Posted August 5, 2006 Report Share Posted August 5, 2006 but Darcy sucks, we needed to move Biron and all we got for him was a lousy second! The fact Darcy got a second for Mika who is now not even in the league, I think proves that it was a sound trade, and he should be lauded even more for getting what he did. No? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted August 5, 2006 Report Share Posted August 5, 2006 The fact Darcy got a second for Mika who is now not even in the league, I think proves that it was a sound trade, and he should be lauded even more for getting what he did. No? Actually, the way Mika was jerked around here, Darcy is very lucky Mika didn't jump ship while he was a Sabre and the Sabres would have got nothing in return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetweenThePipes00 Posted August 5, 2006 Report Share Posted August 5, 2006 Actually, the way Mika was jerked around here, Darcy is very lucky Mika didn't jump ship while he was a Sabre and the Sabres would have got nothing in return. Why? I mean, I understand he could have left, and Regier botched it and should have traded him when his value was high and he was minor league player of the year, but how was he "jerked around"? He had 2 great years in Rochester in 1999-00 and 2000-01, when Hasek was still on the Sabres ... were they supposed to give him a chance then? The next year Biron played well enough to play 72 games, and Noronen regressed in Rochester. And since then he has been nothing special at all. Biron gave him every chance to take the job for years while we were waiting for Miller and Noronen never did it. I understand he is a nice kid and all but look at his numbers since 2001 ... over the last 5 years he has been ordinary, even in Rochester. And if sending him down there is "jerking him around", then they jerked Miller around too, sending him down after he started a season as the starter in Buffalo. But Miller matured and got better, Noronen did not. Again, Regier botched it and did not manage is assets well, but Noronen had years to prove he could be THE guy and never did it. And other teams saw it too, because if they really thought he was a difference maker at that position, someone would have met the Sabres price to deal him at some point in the last 3 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted August 5, 2006 Report Share Posted August 5, 2006 Why? I mean, I understand he could have left, and Regier botched it and should have traded him when his value was high and he was minor league player of the year, but how was he "jerked around"? He had 2 great years in Rochester in 1999-00 and 2000-01, when Hasek was still on the Sabres ... were they supposed to give him a chance then? The next year Biron played well enough to play 72 games, and Noronen regressed in Rochester. And since then he has been nothing special at all. Biron gave him every chance to take the job for years while we were waiting for Miller and Noronen never did it. I understand he is a nice kid and all but look at his numbers since 2001 ... over the last 5 years he has been ordinary, even in Rochester. And if sending him down there is "jerking him around", then they jerked Miller around too, sending him down after he started a season as the starter in Buffalo. But Miller matured and got better, Noronen did not. Again, Regier botched it and did not manage is assets well, but Noronen had years to prove he could be THE guy and never did it. And other teams saw it too, because if they really thought he was a difference maker at that position, someone would have met the Sabres price to deal him at some point in the last 3 years. Biron was never that great that Mika did not deserve an extended run of games. It always appeared that he just was not a Lindy/Darcy favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetweenThePipes00 Posted August 5, 2006 Report Share Posted August 5, 2006 Biron was never that great that Mika did not deserve an extended run of games. It always appeared that he just was not a Lindy/Darcy favorite. Like I said, I agree Biron was not great and I said he gave Noronen every chance to win the job. But at least Biron had a bit of early NHL success to make you think he could find it again if you let him play through it. You say Noronen needed more games in a row, but he never played well enough to earn that.They were still trying to win games, and I swear he never strung two good games together, how could they play him 8 or 10 in a row? Biron was the same way for a couple years there, which is why Miller is now the guy. Besides, even when Noronen was in Rochester playing every night his numbers got worse and worse compared to his first 2 years. Maybe that's what Darcy/Lindy were looking at, the way he was playing against lesser competition. I just think it's a classic case of the fans loving the backup, be it at QB or goalie ... he hasn't played, so they haven't seen him play poorly yet, so he MUST be better than the guy struggling in there now. Well, usually they are the backup QB for a reason. For every Cristobal Huet who gets hot and carries his team for a while, there are 25 Mika Noronen's. From Aud Smell's post, it sounds like he will be happier closer to his family anyway, maybe that's why he regressed, maybe he was homesick, who knows. I just don't think he got jerked around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfreeman Posted August 6, 2006 Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 Again, Regier botched it and did not manage is assets well, but Noronen had years to prove he could be THE guy and never did it. And other teams saw it too, because if they really thought he was a difference maker at that position, someone would have met the Sabres price to deal him at some point in the last 3 years. This is an unfair characterization. Just b/c with the benefit of hindsight, we now know that Darcy didn't trade Mika at the absolute peak of Mika's market value and get more for him than we got (which, btw, is a huge, and unsupportable assumption), doesn't mean he "botched" anything. At that time everyone knew we were going to need a goalie pretty soon to replace Dominik, who was 37 by the time he left us. Nobody knew whether Marty was going to be good enough. The logical move was to keep both of them. Both had sparkling credentials at levels below the NHL, so it was reasonable to hope one of them would turn into a front-line NHL goalie. But it would have been foolish to unload Mika (and for what? for an utterly unproven goalie at the NHL level? how much more than the 2nd rounder would we have gotten?). This would have meant we were just assuming that Marty was definitely going to be that guy and thus that Mika wasn't needed. In fact, as it turned out, Marty wasn't good enough. Neither was Mika. But Miller, if he keeps it up, is good enough (hallelujah!). That's why it makes sense to stockpile good prospects, and not to make major moves in reliance on a prospect turning into a reliable pro -- especially at the most critical position. Most of them don't pan out, so you need numbers. Just my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BetweenThePipes00 Posted August 6, 2006 Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 I hear ya, I am all for stockpiling talent, but at a position where you need (and can really only have) one guy to be THE GUY, once Miller was signed away from college he should have moved one of them. No doubt, he couldn't just keep Marty (or Mika) and leave himself no outs, but having THREE guys around the same age in the system at the same time battling for essentially one spot was too much. When I say botched I don't mean like Milbury botched his entire tenure on the Island, just that I thought then as I do now, so it's not just hindsight, that there was a chance to get real value for one of the three and he did not do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted August 6, 2006 Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 When I say botched I don't mean like Milbury botched his entire tenure on the Island, just that I thought then as I do now, so it's not just hindsight, that there was a chance to get real value for one of the three and he did not do it. Right now it looks like Darcy sold high. Buffalo got a 2nd round pick for a head case, Vancouver got 3 games and nada. An NHL goalkeeper needs to make his own breaks. Mika didn't want to play that game. How does Regier not look good in light of Mika's decision to opt out of the NHL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blugold43 Posted August 7, 2006 Report Share Posted August 7, 2006 i predict he'll be back in the nhl soon. i bet he plays 1 year there, kicks ass, and gets a real offer here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 i predict he'll be back in the nhl soon. i bet he plays 1 year there, kicks ass, and gets a real offer here. There are always goaltenders coming up. I don't see any GM taking a chance on him any time soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 There are always goaltenders coming up. I don't see any GM taking a chance on him any time soon. Exactly. He needs to earn a starting job and the only way he can do that is by playing in the NHL. I get the feeling that Mika thinks he should be handed a starting job based on his draft status and AHL success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 Exactly. He needs to earn a starting job and the only way he can do that is by playing in the NHL. I get the feeling that Mika thinks he should be handed a starting job based on his draft status and AHL success. And where is he going to get this NHL starting experience? Playing for a team with a goalie who will probably start 70 games next year? This is a smart move for Mika because he can probably be a starter there and if he puts up good numbers, he may get a look from a team trying to pick up a cheap alternative for a starter, or someone who ca come in to compete for the starting job with a young goalie who still might not be ready to carry a team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 And where is he going to get this NHL starting experience? Playing for a team with a goalie who will probably start 70 games next year? This is a smart move for Mika because he can probably be a starter there and if he puts up good numbers, he may get a look from a team trying to pick up a cheap alternative for a starter, or someone who ca come in to compete for the starting job with a young goalie who still might not be ready to carry a team. Agreed. In addition to your points, Vancouver has Flaherty in the system and it appears they are looking to have him as their backup (Rickshaw should be able to give more details and/or confirm/deny). They also wanted Mika to accept a 2 way contract which he refused. Playing for a top Russian team (assuming he is successful there) will do more for his career than playing for Manitoba will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 The NHL experience means more than anything else, I think. Unfortunately for Mika, he's been with in two organizations where playing time was hard to come by. I think the ideal situation for him would be with one of the bottom feeder teams, a place where he could get some real playing time and make a name for himself here in the NHL. Maybe that happens after his year in Russia, but I doubt it. How many goalies go overseas and then come back to thrive in the NHL? I can think of a few people, but the odds are against Noronen here. I hope he's happy over there though. That should be his top priority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hopeleslyobvious Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 Mika did have some bad breaks last year. He was the number 3 coming out of camp after a great season in Europe. If I remember correctly, he kind of got thrown into the Ottawa game right after Miller's injury when we were already getting beat up pretty bad. When he finally got a start, I remember him doing pretty well against Boston, and having a great game against the Rangers until he got hurt. In fact, I think the game tying goal and the first shootout goal were as a result of his injury limiting his lateral movement. With that being said, he did play pretty bad against the Sharks, but the whole team played pretty bad. I am pretty sure if he ever gets some regular work he will be pretty good. Not an all star by any means, but he's not as bad as many think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffalOhio Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 ....that there was a chance to get real value for one of the three and he did not do it. And that real value may have been a player that may or may not have panned out. That value may have been a player that we may have just lost an arbitration award of $6M to. He got a 2nd rounder, that we don't have to pay for a few years, for a goalie that was just good enough to hang around. Not such a bad deal given the cap and budget constraints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 Agreed. In addition to your points, Vancouver has Flaherty in the system and it appears they are looking to have him as their backup (Rickshaw should be able to give more details and/or confirm/deny). They also wanted Mika to accept a 2 way contract which he refused. Playing for a top Russian team (assuming he is successful there) will do more for his career than playing for Manitoba will. He may have a great career, I just don't think it will be in the NHL at this point. He was willing to back up Luongo, was not willing to sign a two-way, and assumed he would not have the chance to start. I think it is more likely that he would have been traded or had the chance to prove himself inside the NHL than the prospect of him playing great in Russian Superleague and being invited back to the NHL as a #1 goalkeep. Sad he won't get the chance, but I don't think he will ever get the chance on the terms he seems to want. Just my op. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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