National Goalies

[zatch]

I am unsure oh where this belongs, but...

I am a bit of a goalie nut. I was arguing with a friend about the strength of nations goaltending these days. I just sort of wanted to make up a top-10 and list the 3 best/most likely national team goalies (regardless of availability, i.e. Olmypic rosters). I had no trouble at the top, but starting at Sweden, I don't know who would round out the top-3...for instance, there are 5 current Swedish backups in the NHL, and while some of them have bright futures, I dunno if they are among the top 3 Swedish goalies in the world today.

So I was kind of wondering who you guys would suggest for a top-3 for Russia, Sweden, Czech Repub. Slovakia.

Also, who would round out the top 10? Switzerland and Germany are good candidates, but then number 10 is totally up for grabs. Is Denmark #10 on Andersons strength, or do Belarus, Latvia, Norway, Austria have a case? For my ranking thus far, I have taken the top end talent and depth into consideration. For example, Canada ahead of Sweden, even though I think Lundqvist is better than any Canadian Goalie, the depth is not comparable. Here is what I have thus far:

1. USA (Thomas, Miller, Quick)
2. FIN (Rinne, Kiprusoff, Lehtonen)
3. CAN (Luongo, Price, Fleury)*
4. SWE (Lundqvist, Enroth, Hedberg?)
5. RUS (Bryzgalov, Barulin, Varlomov?)
6. CZE (Vokoun, Pavalec, Neuvirth?)
7. SVK (Halak, Budaj, ???)
8-9 SUI/GER (Hiller, Gerber?, Genoni?)/(Greiss**, Endras, Kotschnew)
10. DEN? LAT? NOR? BLR? AUT? FRA? Somone else?

If I don't get answers here, I'll just go into individual country boards

*Smith and Elliot need to give another good season before I consider them
**Greiss might be the most underrated goalie in the NHL...he is likely as good as Niemi

[Tom93]

Russia-replace Nabokov with Barulin.
Sweden-Add Enroth, Hedberg/Gustavsson
Slovakia-Add Stana maybe?
Switzerland-Get rid of Aebischer. There is likely a dozen Swiss goalies that might be better nowadays. Add Genoni.
Germany-Add Kotschnew maybe? Someone who knows German hockey could answer this better.
Denmark-Andersen, Galbraith, Nielsen.
Norway-Haugen.
Belarus-Koval, Mezin.
Latvia-Masalskis, Raitums, Mustukovs?.
France-Huet.
Austria-Bruckler, Starkbaum, Weinhandl.
Kazakhstan-Kolesnik, Yeremeyev.

[itry]

If we look at the top talent then right now IMO at number 10 should be Belarus with Koval. Only Huet can compare to him but Belarus also have (rather sloppy this season though) Mezin. Then maybe comes Austria with Bruckler. For Latvia nr1 is definitely Masaļskis and after him probably Raitums and Muštukovs with a chance for Jučers to take a spot from one of those guys. I don't know what to make from Denmark and Norway.

Also I would put Barulin above Nabokov.

[zatch]

Is there anyone in Sweden who is better then Hedberg or Gustavson? Not sold on either of them.
Also, Barulin ahead of Nabokov or instead of Nabokov?
So no consensus on the ordering of 8-10 yet either