Around the World of Goaltending, March 16th Edition
This weekly article is dedicated to the goalies around the world making news or making their mark. I’m hoping it’ll also be a resource for people interested in goaltending news. This article will follow the format of Elliotte Friedman’s 30 Thoughts articles (which are always a blast to read). Sometimes this will hit 30 different pieces while other times it will be lower than 30 thoughts/news items. If you know of something or someone who should be featured here feel free to contact me. So without further ado lets’ take a look at the happenings in the world of goaltending:
1. Remember in last year’s 2016 Draft when Wouter Peeters became the first Belgian national to be drafted into the NHL? He’s back in the news again this time as he signs an Amateur Try Out contract with the Rockford IceHogs. The only Blackhawks fans that will see him though are the ones that attend Rockford practices as Peeters will not play any AHL games via Scott Powers of The Athletic.
2. The transition for 20yo goalies coming into the AHL is very difficult and top goalie prospect Thatcher Demko hasn’t been immune to the struggles. In the past 7 games though Demko has more than lived up to his standing as a prospect as he’s put together seven straight Quality Starts, two shutouts and a 0.965 SV%.
3. Mitch Korn most likely has a grin on his face whenever he looks at the Washington Capitals depth chart and sees Pheonix Copley’s name back on the list. Copley was already doing great playing for the Chicago Wolves. Now in Hershey Copley has kept up his great play. All four of his Hershey starts have been Quality Starts, his raw SV% has went up from 0.920 to 0.924 and his QS% has gone up from 0.708 to 0.750.
4. Just want to point out how unlucky Jared Coreau has been this week. Two days, two shootouts, and two shootout loses. The first shootout loss is the most unfortunate though as it was a 1-0 shootout loss where Coreau stopped 31/31 shots in regulation/OT.
5. The NWHL named its Goalie of the Year winner and the finalists. New York Riveters Katie Fitzgerald was named Goalie of the Year and she absolutely deserved it so credit to the NWHL award voters. Fitzgerald was first among starters in QS% with an impressive 0.692 QS%. Fitzgerald was also one of only two goalies in the NWHL to have a QS% over 0.600. The three finalists were Brittany Ott (Boston), Brianne McLaughlin (Buffalo), and Amada Leveille (Buffalo).
6. Also in the NWHL news circuit Buffalo Beauts goalie Brianne McLaughlin was a finalist for NWHL Regular Season MVP. She lost out to Brianne Decker of the Boston Pride.
7. We have a goalie ELC to announce and it’s Landon Bow. Bow was previous signed to an AHL contract with the Texas Stars and is now signed to an ELC with the Dallas Stars. Bow has been the best goalie on the Texas Stars with a raw 0.899 SV%, 0.467 QS%, 0.911 Bounce Back Quality Start %, and a raw -3.755 GSAA.
8. Can a goalie be the AHL Goalie of the Year with less than 30 games started? Jaroslav Halak is about to test that theory out. In only 23 starts in the AHL so far Halak has been absolutely dominant. His Quality Starts % is the highest among goalies with +20 starts at 0.826 QS% while also sitting at 8th in the AHL in raw GSAA with a 12.556 GSAA.
9. If you’ve been following along with the 2017 NHL Draft eligible goalies the name Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is a name that most people will be familiar with. He’s often near the top of the list next to Oettinger but that’s changed over the past few months. In having a quick Twitter conversation with respected scout Grant McCagg (in charge of recrutes.ca, an excellent draft resource) Luukkonen is starting to fall in the opinions of scouts. Struggles this season and a poor recent tournament have led to this fall. The upcoming U18 tournament will be a good gauge as to where Luukkonen deserves to be.
10. The CHL named its Goalie of the Week and its Carolina Hurricanes prospect Callum Booth of the Saint John Sea Dogs.
11. Griffen Outhouse is being given a crash course in the “How to be a Starter 101” class. Last season Outhouse played 27 games for the Victoria Royals in his rookie season. This year he’s started 62 games for Victoria. Those 62 starts are the most in the entire CHL. No other goalie in the CHL has hit 60 starts yet.
12. Looking towards the NHL expansion draft Vegas pro scout David Conte was on MSG radio and said that Vegas could end up with 7 goalies through the expansion draft (https://twitter.com/ehornick/status/836019739155640320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw). This is an interesting strategy to me because you need at least four teams who will trade for these extra goalies and are there four teams who need goalies that they can’t otherwise get in Free Agency?
13. Something I’m noticing in the aftermath of the Clarkson Cup Final is the media going after Scott Reid’s decision to play Emerance Maschmeyer over Genevieve Lacasse. Saw it on Sportsnet during the game and then on Don’t Snow the Goalie (just a fantastic podcast with great hosts) where they compared Lacasse to Maschemyer vs Montreal. The only argument used was the records of the two Inferno goalies vs Montreal.
14. Any goalie coach or goalie evaluator worth their salt will tell you that wins are not all that matters. What matters is providing your team the best chance to win. So when looking at Lacasse’s 2-1-0 record vs Montreal it seems as though Lacasse did really well, however if you were to dive deeper you’d notice that only one of three of Lacasse’s starts was a Quality Start. In comparison Maschmeyer’s 1-2-0 record looks not so great but when we go deeper we see that Maschmeyer provided two quality starts of the three starts she made vs Montreal.
15. We could go deeper and we’d notice that the two non-quality starts that Lacasse had vs Montreal were below replacement level. Maschemeyer’s non-quality start vs Montreal in comparison was at least replacement level. If you want to make the argument that you take the hot goalie who won two playoff games than I can get on board with that. To say Lacasse was better vs Montreal compared to Maschmeyer is blatantly wrong when every statistic and result points to Maschmeyer being the better goalie vs Montreal.
16. Some good news for Colorado Avalanche fans. 2016 NHL drafted goalie Adam Werner has committed to staying in Sweden for the next two seasons. This is good because it’ll give him more time for development and won’t have to compete with Spencer Martin who looks to be finishing off the season strong.
17. Former Kelowna Rockets goalie, and now University of Saskatchewan Huskies goalie, Jordon Cooke has been named U Sports (CIS) Goalie of the Year and the All Canadian 1st Team for the 2nd straight year. In 25 games he posted a 0.929 SV%. Cooke was also named CHL Goalie of the Year and WHL Goalie of the Year in 2013/14.
18. The USA Women’s Hockey team is boycotting the upcoming World Hockey Championship until they are paid fair wages/compensation. It’s terrible to see these athletes get taken advantage of for so often and be treated as if they’re second rate. Happy to see them stick up for themselves and for the future of their team.
19. If there is one good thing coming from the World Hockey Championship it’s that Shannon Szabados is back in style with some great gear.
20. Going back to U Sports for this one. McGill University goalie Tricia Deguire was named to the All-Rookie Team along with being named the Rookie of the Year. It’s no surprise she’s doing so well when you realize that her goalie coach is an All-Time Great in Charline Labonte.
21. Goalie Valerie Lamenta of the University of Guelph Gryphons as named to the All-Canadian 1st Team and is also the top goalie by default as there is no top goalie award for women’s U Sport hockey.
22. Chicago Wolves goalie Jordan Binnington is getting back into the groove this week. He’s posted two straight shutouts in wins over Milwaukee and Texas.
23. Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds goalie Matthew Vilalta is coming into his own late this season. He’s started the last 13 of 17 games over the more experienced goalie Joseph Raaymakers. This is extra important to look at because Vilalta is a 2017 draft eligible goalie who is putting up some of the best numbers for a CHL 2017 draft eligible goalie.
24. The annual OHL Coaches Poll has been released (yay!). For Best Puck-Handling Goalie from the Eastern Conference the coaches named: 1. Jeremy Brodeur (Oshawa) 2. Jeremy Helvig (Kingston) 3. Dawson Carty (Hamilton)/Dylan Wells (Peterborough). The best puck-handlers from the Western Conference are: 1. Tyler Parsons (London) 2. Michael McNiven (Owen Sound) 3. Troy Timpano (Erie).
25. The last category is Best Shootout Goalie. The OHL coaches chose 1. Jeremy Brodeur (Oshawa) 2. Leo Lazarev (Ottawa) 3. Dylan Wells (Peterborough) from the Eastern Conference. From the Western Conference they chose: 1. Michael McNiven (Owen Sound) 2. Michael DiPietro (Windsor) 3. Tyler Parsons (London).
26. Last but not least there is one last ELC signing to announce. The Carolina Hurricanes has signed Saint John Sea Dogs goalie Callum Booth to a 3-year ELC. Booth is a top 2 goalie in the QMJHL in all relevant statistics. Booth has definitely earned the contract.
Thanks for reading and watch out for the next one, next week.