Leafs Sign Mark Owuya

[GoalieGuild]

I dropped Owuya in my "Deconstructing Demeanor" School of Block piece two weeks ago.

http://thegoalieguild.com/2011/04/de...ting-demeanor/

Scroll to the very bottom.

Leafs are doing a great job of grabbing raw-skilled European prospects with potential. It may not have worked for Gustavsson, but Owuya is younger and totally raw-skilled...so I like the upside here. Gustavsson was already a pretty polished reactive butterfly goalie.

But Owuya can be molded and shaped in the Allaire style. It may or may not work. It might work quickly, it might take a while. Leafs need to be patient.

[kbooks]

Brian Burke, President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced Thursday that the hockey club has signed goaltender Mark Owuya (oh-WOO-yah) to a two-year entry level contract.

Owuya, a 21-year-old native of Stockholm, Sweden, played 32 games this season for Djurgarden of the Swedish Elite League posting a 2.18 goals against average and a league best .927 goals against average. The 6-2, 198-pound goaltender also played in seven playoff games for Djurgarden registering a 1.66 goals against average and a .934 save percentage. He was a teammate of Leafs’ prospect Daniel Brodin this past season with Djurgarden.

Internationally, Owuya won a silver medal with Sweden at the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championships and a bronze medal at the 2007 IIHF World Under-18 Championships.

http://mapleleafs.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=561360

Looks like pretty good stats. Burke just seems to have an in with goalies. Perhaps it is the Francois Allare effect, but what ever it is it is very effective. Gustavsson, Rynnas, Scrivens and now Owuya have all been signed as Free Agents. They all look like very good prospects. Only Reimer came through the draft. Now big talk about Colorado either spending a high draft pick to lure Schnieder / Bernier or spending big bucks to sign Vokoun or Bryzgalov. Sherman take note there are other ways to secure quality goalie prospects.

[JagrBomb]

Please dont tell me it's the same person:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG1F9kUDBHw

[bondon]

Please dont tell me it's the same person:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG1F9kUDBHw

LOL..... that was hilarious.
American Idol rated R for profanity and sexual innuendo...



Edit: Lol sorry got off track, great read Justin! Definitely a good thing to see for Neuvirth owners.

[kbooks]

I assume this signing of another goalie means Giguere is unlikely to be signed in Toronto.

It would appear today that Reimer and Gustavsson will be with the leafs. Scrivens and Rynnas will be with the Marlies which I think means Owuya will be starting in the ECHL as Scrivens did last year or will he stay in Sweden another year?

[Dean Youngblood]

Please dont tell me it's the same person:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG1F9kUDBHw

Burke is recruiting from all areas of life now. hahaha Good stuff Praba

[Big Ev]

Ray Emery 2.0

[Mr. Guru]

Lol Ev....exactly what I was thinking

Mark in the motherfu**ing park!!!!

wooooo

EDIT: He did lead the SEL in sv% with a .927..............not bad

[reeveta]

While I think it is nice for the TML press release to mention he has a silver at the 2009 world junior it should also mention he was the backup. As far as I can tell he played in Sweden's 10-1 victory over Latvia and allowed one goal on ten shots.

[Light_the_Lamp]

I also heard that he did attend Francois Allaire goaltending school before, that could have been a significant factor when trying to determine if he would fit here.