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UPDATE 2:15PM: Penguins Promote Mike Bales As Next Goaltending Coach

August 19, 2013, 8:59 AM ET [46 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
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UPDATE 2:15PM: No Swedish interpretation is necessary for this update:



Well, after all that translating I did this morning it turned out to be a moot point. The Penguins have promoted from within, something that they have done successfully in the past (Bylsma). Mike Bales will now be the new goaltending coach replacing long time coach Gilles Meloche. Many will point to him as the guy who will be Marc Andre Fleury's "savior" but at the end of the day MAF's issues are not as much about technique as they are with the realm of sports psychology.

Although one non-psychological area that Bales should have Fleury focusing hard on is his positioning on sharp angle shots, which includes hugging the post while the puck is behind the net. Fleury definitely leads the league in weird preventable bounces that result in goals.

Best of luck to new coach Mike Bales.

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Progress on the new goaltending coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins has been quiet all summer long. The Penguins have still not found a replacement for longtime goaltending coach Gilles Meloche.

Given Marc Andre Fleury’s postseason struggles, this goaltending search is a little more interesting than your regular garden variety searches. On the surface it appears the Penguins think that they can get Fleury back on his 2008 track again. Part of that equation will be trying to find the right coach to work with him on a daily basis.

While the news has been quiet in North America tidbits of information have started leaking out in Sweden about the Penguins goaltending search.

Johan Eriksson ( @VFeriksson ) of Varmlands Folkblad in Sweden is reporting that Färjestad goaltending coach Erik Granqvist is one of three finalists for the Pittsburgh Penguins goaltending position.

Here is his original tweet about the topic:




Here is the Google translation:

FLASH: In Saturday's VF, Erik Granqvist one of three final candidates for the goalkeeper coaching job at Pittsburgh Penguins, according bombproof sources. # fbkse

I don’t know about you, but I am trusting bombproof sources.

The full article can be found here (it is in Swedish).

Here are some excerpts from the article that have been run through Google translate.


- I love working in Färjestad, it's a great environment and the association to work in. But during this coming year, I'll take some time to think what path I should take, said Erik Granqvist.

But the question is whether Färjestad may keep "Grana" even that long. Because, according to VF sport informed sources 41-year-old thus highly topical as the new goalkeeper coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. NHL club, which has two of the league's biggest stars in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in the team, the whole summer has been on the lookout for a new goalkeeper coach after Gilles Meloche after seven years decided to take a step aside and become scout instead .
When Penguins last week hired Jacques Martin as the new assistant coach said head coach Dan Bylsma as follows goalkeeper coaching hunt:

- We have three candidates right now that we all feel very strongly about. I do not expect that the process will take more than a few weeks, but I will not put a definitive time frame on it

And according VF port resources is thus Erik Granqvist one of the three. Self chooses, Granqvist to lie low when he is confronted with the data.

- No comment, he says.


Whether the Penguins go with Erik Granqvist or one of the other two candidates, the process should be reaching its conclusion with the start of training camp right around the corner. We should know the final result in the very near future

Thanks for reading!

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