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remember when there were brodeur vs richter debates?


metallidevils

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lets try and recall some arguments that were made in favor of mike richter.

I like the fact that you appreciate Brodeur but I'm hoping you didn't start this thread to take shots at Richter.

Richter is probably one of maybe a handful of Ranger players that I ever had any respect for. He was a very good goalie and flat out dominated the Devils as well as other teams from time to time. Very clutch goalie that would have done better had he played on better teams. He was also very good for his country in international play. Messier gets all the credit for game 6 in 94 but without Richter the Rangers never even get a chance to come back in that game. The Devils were all over the Rangers in that game early on and he imo is the main reason they won.

Sorry for the rant but I respect the guy. Much more then the fragile "king" who now tends goal for the Rangers. Its really a shame to be honest because Richter has become an afterthought ever since Lundqvist arrived.

Edited by SickMan
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I like the fact that you appreciate Brodeur but I'm hoping you didn't start this thread to take shots at Richter.

Richter is probably one of maybe a handful of Ranger players that I ever had any respect for. He was a very good goalie and flat out dominated the Devils as well as other teams from time to time. Very clutch goalie that would have done better had he played on better teams. He was also very good for his country in international play. Messier gets all the credit for game 6 in 94 but without Richter the Rangers never even get a chance to come back in that game. The Devils were all over the Rangers in that game early on and he imo is the main reason they won that game.

Sorry for the rant but I respect the guy. Much more then the fragile "king" who now tends goal for the Rangers. Its really a shame to be honest because Richter has become an afterthought ever since Lundqvist arrived.

Richter was always a class guy, but I NEVER liked any Ranger, or would root for them. With that being said, if I had to pick, I certainly like Richter more than Queen Hank....I do not think Rags fans will ever forget him, and what he did with Messier & Co to end the 54 year drought....

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I like the fact that you appreciate Brodeur but I'm hoping you didn't start this thread to take shots at Richter.

Richter is probably one of maybe a handful of Ranger players that I ever had any respect for. He was a very good goalie and flat out dominated the Devils as well as other teams from time to time. Very clutch goalie that would have done better had he played on better teams. He was also very good for his country in international play. Messier gets all the credit for game 6 in 94 but without Richter the Rangers never even get a chance to come back in that game. The Devils were all over the Rangers in that game early on and he imo is the main reason they won.

Sorry for the rant but I respect the guy. Much more then the fragile "king" who now tends goal for the Rangers. Its really a shame to be honest because Richter has become an afterthought ever since Lundqvist arrived.

Very well said, especially about Game 6. Another reason why I think Messier's legend is overblown. A lot of other guys on that Ranger team deserve credit for Game 6, and Richter is front and center as far as the "other guys" go.

At his peak Richter was a very good goalie, occasionally excellent, and the gap between him and Brodeur was actually pretty narrow. Unfortunately for Richter, his peak wasn't that long, and he played for some rotten teams and suffered some injuries. He still found a way to win 301 games though. If anything, Richter's career shows why Marty's career is so special...guys come and go who are occasionally almost as good as Brodeur, but none of them have come close to sustaining that kind of excellence for so many years.

Three Cups, you have to keep the arguments in context to the time they were made. Of course at the time I still would've gone with Brodeur, but the Richter arguments weren't as silly then as they are now, and unlike the mid-to-late 90s, I don't hear so much as a single Ranger fan making that argument in 2009.

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Richter was maybe the best 40+ shot goalie you'll ever see in the league at his time... it was such a strange thing, the more rubber he saw the better (given it's hard to keep focus when you see a shot every 3 minutes).... and don't forget his epic runs in the 96 World Cup and Olympics.... best US-born goalie to date (Ryan Miller can pass this one day but that's long off)

He's been out of the league and spotlight long enough, we can be nice to him now :P

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nothing against Mike personally, I have nothing against any athlete personally; it's the fans that make me hate them. Richter was worshipped in NY the way lundqvist is now, and admittedly richter definitely deserved it more than the Queen :)

Lundqvist deserves the worship. The man beat Atlanta in the playoffs. ATLANTA!

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I'm another one that can't hate Richter. Even when he eliminated the Devils I respected him. He was an absolutely incredible goalie when he was on.

And, his performance in the 1996 World Cup Finals is one of the best you're gonna see. Right up there with Jim Craig in 1980. Couldn't find it on Youtube, but his save on Sakic in the last game is one of my all time favorites.

In fact, I may need to dust off the old VHS of that series.

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Always respected Richter. Damn solid goalie, and it helped that he was so good for Team USA. It always pained me to admit respect for anyone who wore Ranger blue so proudly, but Richter and Leetch were just too classy for me to hate.

Richter also gave a great speech at his jersey retirement. "Right about now, I'm wondering whose idea it was to get a guy who retired because of head injuries to memorize a speech to give to 18,000 people." :lol:

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Richter was worn down because he played for the Rangers, who can't even spell team defense. Same way Fuhr was destroyed by facing so many shots. Game 7 of the 94 series was even better goaltending by Richter than game 6. My brother went to the same prep school as Richter and spent some time with him while he was still playing. He's a class act all the way. I was so happy when Brodeur finally got one over on him in the 2002 Olympics. However, that said, Richter was the best goaltender in that tournament. Just look at the games he played against the Russians. He is in the very top echelon of elite goaltenders in my book, as is anyone who wins a Stanley Cup and a best on best tournament. Much more of a reflex and scramble goalie than Brodeur, Richter was an entertaining goalie to watch, but man did I ever hate it when my teams had to face him.

Edited by daneyko_booster
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He's nowhere near Marty, but we abuse the queen more than he deserves. Rags fans are obnoxious as all hell, but he's the only reason that team wins anything. They didn't make the playoffs for years til he got there. He's weak glove side high, but he's made some sick saves on everybody, including us, and he's beaten us in the playoffs as well as Atlanta. We're no better than the Rags fans overinflating his success when we bash it. I hate him, but he's one of the top goalies in the league, along with Marty, Miller, Ward and Luongo when he's healthy. Better in the playoffs than Nabokov, has done it for a couple straight seasons, unlike Thomas, whose coming back to earth fast, and even the Kipper's looking weaker out in Calgary.

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He's nowhere near Marty, but we abuse the queen more than he deserves. Rags fans are obnoxious as all hell, but he's the only reason that team wins anything. They didn't make the playoffs for years til he got there. He's weak glove side high, but he's made some sick saves on everybody, including us, and he's beaten us in the playoffs as well as Atlanta. We're no better than the Rags fans overinflating his success when we bash it. I hate him, but he's one of the top goalies in the league, along with Marty, Miller, Ward and Luongo when he's healthy. Better in the playoffs than Nabokov, has done it for a couple straight seasons, unlike Thomas, whose coming back to earth fast, and even the Kipper's looking weaker out in Calgary.

Never happened.

Edited by pattyelias
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Never happened.

I'm assuming you're not being serious, but he won 4 of 5 in 2008. I know the Devils shat the bed in that series, but that had a lot to do with the queen embarrassing the team throughout the regular season. They're confidence was shot. Again, I hate the queen and Rags fans, but he's got game, and every time we deny that, we just sound fricking stupid.

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I'm assuming you're not being serious, but he won 4 of 5 in 2008. I know the Devils shat the bed in that series, but that had a lot to do with the queen embarrassing the team throughout the regular season. They're confidence was shot. Again, I hate the queen and Rags fans, but he's got game, and every time we deny that, we just sound fricking stupid.

He really wasn't that good in that series though. I'm not trying to take anything away from him but the Devils scored pretty well that series.

Ugh lets just let this one die. No reason to relive that nightmare.

Edited by SickMan
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Who cares about Richter? Seriously.

As for Lundy? Very overrated and just a desparate attempt by Ranger fans who wish they had a Marty Brodeur.

I'll say.

Now I can understand the NY media hyping a home team player, but the way they do it is way over the top.

My point here is that this NY hype is contagious for reasons unknown, because it's not just the NY area that tends to claim Lundqvist an elite goalie, other big media markets do too. They do it because the NY media does it.

Fortunately there are those who put things into perspective and realize Lundqvist is not an elite goalie.

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Lundqvist deserves the worship. The man beat Atlanta in the playoffs. ATLANTA!

Alright. So he's not in the class of Brodeur, Miller, Luongo and Kiprusoff. Take away Lundqvist and the Rangers are a 50 point team. Outside of Gabby, nobody else scores, magnifying the pressure on a team w/o a backup. Not by design with a good system in place where D actually clear the front of the crease. It comes up all the time in our section about how flawed Henrik is. He hasn't improved since Year 1. High glove. Can't play pucks. Inconsistent rebound control. And suffers from concentration lapses. One issue this year has been the constant flopping around. When there's a scramble, he's always down on his knees. The other is the lack of aggression. He used to be money on breakaways but now sits back too much. That said, he's still one of the better goalies who can keep a flawed team in games. Somehow, on the most poorly constructed roster since he entered, Lundqvist has a .920 save percentage (29.25 shots/gm-1 in relief, 30.1 avg. in 35 starts). On what's a young blueline where the 2 overpaid vets are the weakest links, that's respectable.

To the original topic. Richy was great. One of the best during that brief stretch. Before our core was broken up, there were few better in a big game. That he even won a franchise record 301 games with such a poor roster that cost him a ton of games (ACL, MCL) speaks volumes about Mike's commitment. When evaluating, one could argue that Richter was more injury prone than Brodeur which is why he wasn't as durable/consistent. It's hard for any Ranger fan not to wonder how many he might have won on a better roster. The same way it's impossible to figure out how many more shutouts Hasek could've wound up with if he'd been a starter earlier. What must be respected about MB30 is how appreciative he is for the kind of teams he's had to set these records. There was a strong quote where he talked about how breaking Sawchuk's record was a team record. Without good teammates, it never would've happened. But he also deserves a ton of credit for keeping in shape and remaining the Devils rock after he lost Stevens/Nieds/Raf/Dano. That used to be the one legit question. How would he perform without them? He answered his critics, further cementing his legend.

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I'll say.

Now I can understand the NY media hyping a home team player, but the way they do it is way over the top.

My point here is that this NY hype is contagious for reasons unknown, because it's not just the NY area that tends to claim Lundqvist an elite goalie, other big media markets do too. They do it because the NY media does it.

Fortunately there are those who put things into perspective and realize Lundqvist is not an elite goalie.

they do it because he is an elite goalie and all of the numbers say so

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