This is part two of a three part series that looks at the Hurricanes goaltending situation. I elected to do this in three parts to try and keep the articles shorter. Part one focused on
what the goaltending depth looks like for the Hurricanes. Today focuses on who should be the top-four goalie coach candidates that I believe GMRF should be interviewing. Finally, part three will evaluate how to approach Ward/Lack this off-season.
Earlier in the off-season, GMRF decided to part ways with the goalie coach, David Marcoux. Despite not bringing Marcoux back, GMRF did decide to keep Curtis Joseph on the goaltending staff. While Cujo has spent some time as a goalie coach, I do not think he’s ready to be more than an assistant NHL goalie coach currently.
I think that Cujo would benefit greatly by getting mentored by a goalie coach with a longer and stronger track record. He was a great NHL goalie and would benefit from more time spent working with the Hurricanes AHL and ECHL goalies. If he does well, I could see him being an enticing option for another NHL team or the Hurricanes if they lost their goalie coach.
Here are my top four candidates to be the next head goalie coach for the Hurricanes.
Please note, there is no ranking associated with this list regarding preference:
1: Jim Corsi: Yes, as in the guy who helped create and establish the hockey metric called Corsi. He has a long track record in the NHL as a goalie coach and was recently fired by the Blues in February of 2017. He was with them from 2014 through 2017; before joining the Blues in 2014, Corsi was in Buffalo from 2001-14. The most notable goalies he has worked with in that time are Miller, Biron, Allen, Elliot and Enroth.
One reason that I like him as a potential candidate is the fact that the Hurricanes are a top Corsi team. I think that he could bring a positive benefit to goaltending analytics and help learn/implement the best strategies for teams who use large-framed goalies.
Also, it helps that he is one of the few goalie coaches with over 15 years of experience on the open market. He also brings some limited NHL experience in his own professional playing career too. My one issue is that most of his goalie are under 6’2, so I think he would have a bit of a learning curve and style adjustment.
2: Rollie Melanson: He is a bit of an obvious pick honestly because of his track record and the fact that he worked previously with Lack for two years. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t one of GMRF first calls after firing Marcoux, merely to check-in on his personal situation.
He left the NHL goaltending world after the 2015-16 season so that he could spend more time with his elderly mother in eastern-Canada. He has been continuing to work in player development in the AHL, college and juniors. I am not sure what his personal situation is now, however, he would be one of the top targets if he were on the market.
Melanson previously worked in Vancouver, as he was the goalie coach starting in the 2010-11 season. He stepped down after the 2015-16 season and worked with goalies like Luongo, Miller, Schneider, Lack, and Markstrom.
Before joining the Canucks, he was an assistant coach from 1997 to 2009 and oversaw the development of all goaltenders in the organization. His list of goalies is most impressive in Montreal too: Theodore, Hackett, Garon, Thibault, Aebischer, Halak, Huet and Price. He was also the goalie coach for Dwayne Roloson in the QMJHL from 1995 to 1997.
He brings nearly 20+ years of NHL goaltending coaching and has a very impressive list of diverse goalies. Also, he played 12 seasons in the NHL, played almost 300 NHL games and won three Stanley Cups. The coaching staff is stacked with Steve Smith and Brind’Amour, however, adding Melanson could make this an elite staff.
3: Andrew Allen: Coach Peters and Allen just barely missed each other in the AHL at Rockville. As Peters left Rockville after the 2010-11 season to be an AC in Detroit, Allen was hired to be the Blackhawks goalie coach for all goaltender development in the AHL at Rockford.
It wouldn’t take Coach Peters long to get a list of recommendations for him, as he worked with Scott Darling in the 2014-15 season. Darling posted a .927 SV% and 2.20 GAA in 28 games in the AHL. Darling performed so well that he was called up to the NHL and played stellar in 14 regular season games and 5 playoff games.
He spent four seasons working in the AHL with Rockville before being signed as the head goalie coach for the Sabres for the 2015-16 season. While I doubt the Hurricanes would be able to pull him away from the Sabres, he has done great work in his two seasons with Lehner, Johnson, Nilsson and Ullmark.
Most of the goalies that he has worked with and that also had success are ones with larger frames. Lehner is 6’5, Nilsson is 6’6, Johnson is 6’3 and Ullmark is 6’4. Lehner, Nilsson and Johnson all posted SV% above .920 in their total playing time under Allen too.
I don’t know if he would have any desire to be reunited with Darling, but, I think Darling would welcome the chance to work with him again. I was most impressed with how significantly he turned around the game of Johnson and Nilsson, ironically, both goalies who were “ruined” by the Islanders. I wonder if Johnson gave Nilsson a tip on where to sign last off-season.
Finally, looking at his playing career, he was an NCAA goalie and spent some years playing in the minors. Overall, I think the Hurricanes would be lucky to score a goalie coach with his credentials and recent success with larger goalies.
4: Scott Murray: I have to list someone who doesn’t quite have all the NHL experience but deserves a shot at taking on a larger role. I believe Murray could be the next “up and coming” goalie coach, as he has been the Capitals associate goalie coach since the 2013-14 season.
Before he joined the Capitals, he was the goalie coach for the Sudbury Wolves in the OHL. He doesn’t have the long list of NHL goalies that the three above him have, but he has a great lost of mentors. During his time in Washington, served under Dave Prior, Olaf Kolzig and most recently, Mitch Korn.
The most notable goalie that he spent any time working with was Grubauer, who he worked with in the AHL at Hershey. He now has three years serving under Mitch Korn, who is considered a “goalie whisperer” and one of the NHL’s top goalie coach. It would be wise of GMRF to take a look at Murray because of his mentors and strong work with Grubauer.
Runner-up (and probably best for a different position in Hurricanes organization): Olaf Kolzig: This one is an “out there” type selection, however, I still stand by it. Kolzig was one of the first larger sized goalies in the NHL to have success post-1990. He had an elite NHL career mainly with the Capitals over 14 NHL seasons and 700+ GP. He is often one of the goalies that is in debates on whether his career was worthy of an NHL Hall of Fame induction.
Kolzig has been on the Capitals coaching staff since the 2011-12 season. Similarly, he served under Prior and Korn and has learned a lot about goaltending. Kolzig was especially happy that Korn was brought to the Capitals, as Korn was his first goalie coach in Rochester a long time ago. So, not only did he learn from him as a student, he has learned as a coach too.
Kolzig made the transition to the Capitals professional development coach after two seasons as the Capitals associate goalie coach. Kolzig has spent the past four seasons in this role and also does motivational speaking in his free time. He certainly doesn’t have the most goalie coach experience, so perhaps he is better suited in a different role.
He works primarily with guys in the AHL and ECHL, trying to help them navigate the emotions and transition playing in the minors.Kolzig won the King Clancey Memorial Trophy in the 2005-06 season, which is given to a player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution to his community.
Looking at the Hurricanes roster as a whole, Kolzig might be a great addition to help work with all of the youth. I still believe that he would be a good candidate for the Hurricanes, as he has worked with Holtby, Neuvirth and Grubauer and had some great mentors.
I am sure some may sit there scratching their heads at Olaf Kolzig and/or Scott Murray. However, take note that the Golden Knights hired Dave Prior as their head goalie coach in one of their first staff moves. The Capitals are one of the few organizations that recently have a strong history of drafting and developing goalies too.
Prior spent the 1997 to 2014 seasons with the Capitals, as the director of goaltending and head goalie coach. He also spent time with the Stars, Red Wings, Sharks, Jets and German national team before joining the Capitals. The Capitals system has been one of the strongest goalie “farms” in the last decade. Prior was one of the main people responsible for the Capitals drafting Varlamov, Holtby, Neuvirth and Grubauer—not bad at all.
As GMRF begins to decide who the next goalie coach will be, I think he has plenty of options that would work well. I would be surprised if he promoted Cujo to the head position, as it appears there are plenty of options that are better and more experienced. While he wouldn’t be a “bad” choice, I don’t think he is quite ready for that type of responsibility.
Thanks for reading and check back for part three on Friday! In the meantime, who did I leave off that list that you think GMRF should be interviewing?
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