January 08, 2007
Norrena In Net
After splitting time in net with Pascal Leclaire this season, Columbus' Fredrik Norrena will be getting a lot more starts in the next month and a half. After Christmas Leclaire underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and is expected to be out until mid-February. Ty Conklin has been called up from Syracuse, but expect Norrena to get most of the starts.
Norrena is somewhat of a surprise, posting a 10-9-1 record in his first season in the NHL. His record would be a little better, but Columbus has so far posted the 26th ranked offense in the league. He has posted decent stats, with a SV% of .896 and a GAA of 3.02, including 2 consecutive shutouts. Against the Ducks on Jan. 5 Norrena stopped a Teemu Selanne penalty shot with 21 seconds left to preserve a 4-3, come-from-behind victory.
A relative unknown before this season, Norrena spent the last 14 seasons playing in the Finnish and Swedish leagues. He was so obscure that the Columbus team website doesn't even have his win-loss record for the past 4 seasons. Yet Norrena has been able to hold his own, owning a 4 game win streak at the beginning of December, which included those 2 consecutive shutouts. His only major problem so far is lack of consistency - he's basically alternated between wins and losses from December on. It will be interesting to see what he does with the extra ice time. With a more regular starting role, Norrena may be able to settle into some sort of rythym and improve his numbers. But without a more productive offense, his overall win-loss record won't get any better.
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Interesting thing about Norrena too is that he played centre until he was a teenager - that's what makes him the second best puck-handling goalie in the NHL (behind Brodeur).
Posted by:
at January 8, 2007 09:22 PM
Watched him play pretty closely last night. First thing I noticed was how far out of the crease he plays. A couple of feet past the blue paint a few times.
He was very mobile, and quick getting up and down. The Blue Jackets lost 5-2, but all 5 of the Sharks goals were on the power play. The last one was probably the worst goal because Norrena was sprawled on the ice with his glove tight against the post, and a diving Ryane Clowe bounced the puck in off of his face mask.
He could have used a little more defensive support, and about 50% less penalties against the top rated power play in the league.
Posted by:
at January 8, 2007 10:06 PM
Norrena was part of the Marc Denis deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the offseason. I had heard good things about Fredrik but Jay Feaster has this fetish for a seasoned and known commodity -- meaning giving someone new a chance isn't something he is comfortable with.
IF the Lightning had the audacity to keep Norrena (and Fredrik Modin) instead of trading for Denis, just where would they sit right now with the two rookie Euros in net (Norrena and Johan Holmqvist)? Bolt fans certainly are not happy with the fact fan-favorite Modin is elsewhere, and our Power Play and Penalty Kill units are showing the effects of not having the power forward helping out any more.
Posted by:
at January 8, 2007 10:27 PM
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