With the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers now duking it out in the Stanley Cup final for the second straight season, the teams’ starting goaltenders are in the spotlight.
That led me to contact Jim Corsi, the current Columbus Blue Jackets goaltending development coach who is famous for developing an advanced statistic that measures shot attempts, including shots on goal, missed shots, and blocked shots. Essentially, it is a measure of a team’s puck possession at even strength.
Years ago, I interviewed him for Between the Pipes, my first book about goalies. He had a lot to say then, and he didn’t disappoint this time. We began by talking about the two starting goalies in the Cup final then ventured into other topics. I asked him what makes a great goaltender, how goalies of yesteryear compare to modern goalies – and which goalie from the 90s would thrive if he were playing in the NHL today. Hint: It’s not Don Beaupre.
RANDI DRUZIN: What do you think of Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky?
JIM CORSI: Bobrovsky is an elite goalie — a two-time Vezina Trophy winner on a strong team. His strength is athleticism rather than technical skill. He doesn’t just block shots; he makes saves. A lot of his saves are reactive. If there is a lapse in his technical game, he can compensate with great reflexes. Also, he is intuitive and can read the play well.
In April, I was wondering how he would cope with the postseason grind given that he is 36 years old. But he is incredibly fit and the Panthers have had some downtime between series so his age hasn’t been a problem.
RD: What about Stuart Skinner in the Oilers net?
JC: Earlier in the year, I wasn’t keen on what the Oilers were doing with goaltending — going back and forth between Skinner and Pickard. The lack of consistency was troubling. But it looks like Skinner is now the starter, and I’m impressed. He has a lot of fight in him and he is great at stopping first shots. He does have to work on stopping second shots though. He needs to be set and in position to handle those. The upside to Skinner is that, at 26, he is still forming as a goaltender.
RD: What does it take for a goaltender to rise to the top?
JC: There are four elements to being a successful goaltender.
1) Mastery of the technical part of his game. By that I mean, everything from fitness level to skill execution and good decision making
2) Mastery of the tactical part of his game. He must be able to think like a player, but play like a goalie. If his team plays a connected game defensively, he can read the play, spot the exposure and deal with that weakness. I was goalie coach with the St. Louis Blues when Martin Brodeur played for the team in the 2014-2015 season. He was 42 years old at the time. During one two-on-one break, he had his stick outside ready to intercept a pass. Sure enough, the player tried to make a pass and Brodeur intercepted it. He was one step ahead of the play. He was that good.
3) His teammates have to have faith in him. They have to believe they are going to be protected on the ice even after he lets in a bad goal. Grant Fuhr would often let in bad goals but his team knew they could count on him at critical times. If it was a tie game and he had to shut the door to keep his team in the game, he would. We used to say, don’t score a bad goal on Fuhr because that would wake him up.
4) He has to get in the heads of his opponents — make them feel like they cannot score on him so they say to their coaches, “Yeah, we can execute these plays perfectly, but we can’t score on that goalie.” The other bench gets deflated. How does that manifest? There might be a two-on-one on an excellent goalie like Andrei Vasilevskiy [of the Tampa Bay Lightning] where the players just dump the puck in and go for a line change. Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek did that to their opponents.
Bottom line, an elite goaltender has great technical and tactical skills, he inspires confidence in his teammates and demoralizes his opponents.
Goalies take longer to reach their potential than other players – so a goalie chosen late in the draft could still develop into an elite netminder. Early on, you can tell if a forward or a defenceman understands the game and can play on both sides of the puck. It is not the same with a goalie. There is so much going on with a goalie’s development that he won’t be the same at 23 as he is at 18. Just look at some of the top goalies in recent history. Henrik Lundqvist was drafted in the seventh round and Curtis Joseph wasn’t drafted at all.
RD: How do goalies of the past compare to goalies today?
JC: Today’s goalies have been better schooled over a longer period of time. Even off the ice, the kids are adding an element of fitness. By the time they reach their 20s, modern goalies are much better prepared with the technical and mental elements of their game. Overall, young goalies today have more global preparation, from emotional to tactical to physical.
RD: Which goalie from the past would thrive if he played in the NHL today?
JC: Patrick Roy was one of the first goalies to master the technical aspect of goaltending, which includes skating and movement, positioning, save techniques, puck control, etc. He was an excellent butterfly goaltender. He also had incredible mental toughness. It was a big part of what made him so great. He would thrive if he were playing in today’s NHL.
Actually, many of the goalies from the 80s and 90s were great athletes and would have been able to adapt their game to thrive in today’s NHL.
RD: Speaking of today’s NHL, who do you think is going to win the Cup this year?
JC: My heart is with the Oilers but, put it this way, the Panthers are a very, very tough team. I will leave it there.