"Plenty"?
In the past 20 years, it looks like 4 goalies have won the Conn smythe.
I think only Cam ward was a rookie.
I believe since the late 70's only 5 rookie goalies won the cup: Roy, Bennington, Murray, hextall, ward.
Not a huge list, but Askarov doesnt have to lead his team to cup victory in his first year in order to have a successful year IMO.
Ah well.
The leafs have injury woll, Stolarz, Murray, Hildeby...hopefully one of them turn out to be our consistent #1.
- Fakepartofme
Semantics.
I never said a "huge list" - I said plenty, of which 5 seems to fit adequately.
Askarov does not need to lead SJS to a Cup victory, but that wasn't my larger point: rookie goaltenders can be thrown into the fire and can win with contenders. In some cases, they've won a Cup and even Conn Smythes.
No one knows the future but Askarov is looking very, very promising. He's absolutely the top goaltending prospect in the league and, while he has his work cut out for him on an epically bad Sharks squad, I suspect he'll be pretty great.