The good news about last season's Dallas Stars was that the team had no trouble scoring goals. The club ranked second in the NHL with 257 goals (an average 3.13 per game). The bad news: Dallas also gave up 257 goals; tied for the fourth-worst goals against average in the NHL.
There was plenty of blame to go around for Dallas' problems in their end of ice. The team turned over too many pucks, was prone to coverage breakdowns and got into stretches where forwards and defensemen alike did not properly support one another.
The Stars are a team that plays an up-tempo system under head coach Lindy Ruff. When everything clicked -- as it did late in the season -- Dallas carried that over into a 200-foot game. When it did not click, too many players got caught on the wrong side of the puck. For example, the Stars seemed more prone than average to weak-side breakdowns that led to backdoor goals.
In the meantime, Stars starting goaltender Kari Lehtonen had an inconsistent season by his standards after arguably being the team's most consistently reliable player (when healthy) the previous four seasons. At times, Lehtonen seemed to round into his accustomed form but could not sustain it for as long as he did in previous years.
On a full-season basis, Lehtonen did come up with saves at crucial times in 2014-15 as regularly as he did in previous campaigns. There were a few too many games where he let stoppable shots beat him (especially to the short side) or he took himself out of position on critical goals. At times, especially in the first half of the season, the big Finn seemed to try to overcompensate for loose play in front of him and he went through stretches where he got out of rhythm himself.
In the meantime, Dallas continued to struggle to find reliable backup goaltending to Lehtonen; a spot that has been a revolving door for most of the last five years. It was not until late in the season that the Stars finally got their first win (with the now-departed Jhonas Enroth in net) by a goalie other than Lehtonen. Of equal concern was another longstanding problem of having trouble winning back-to-back games.
As a result, the Stars made numerous changes in the offseason. The club acquired Antti Niemi from the San Jose Sharks and signed the 32-year-old former Vezina Trophy finalist (2012-13 lockout shortened season) and Stanley Cup winning (with the 2009-10 Chicago Blackhawks) to a three-year deal worth a reported $13.5 million ($4.5 million cap hit). Niemi will share -- and compete for -- playing time in 2015-16 with countryman Lehtonen, who turns 32 on Nov. 16. Lehtonen has three seasons to run on a contract that carries a $5.9 million cap hit.
Additionally, the Stars made changes to the goalie coaching arrangement. The organization reassigned Mike Valley from the organization-wide goaltending coach to the newly created position of goaltender development coach. General manager Jim Nill hired veteran goalie coach Jeff Reese to take over at the NHL level.
The highly respected Reese, 49, has a dozen years of NHL goalie coaching experience with Tampa Bay and Philadelphia. After stepping down from the Flyers in March, Reese found an opportunity for a fresh start with a Stars team that is bursting with promise but needs a bit of stability.
Coming in from outside the organization, Reese offers a bit of a fresh perspective to go along with a reputation for working within his charge's strengths and comfort levels while building mutual ways to address areas of concern. He is one of the NHL's hardest-working coaches at practice and a good communicator.
Having spent his entire previous coaching career in the Eastern Conference, Reese said he did extra preparatory homework before speaking to Nill about the coaching vacancy in Dallas and has since spent his summer preparing for the new job.
"I did homework with a lot of video work even before I went in to interview with Jim," said Reese. "Since the Stars are a Western team, I didn't get to see as many games as I'd have liked. I did know Kari a bit from my Tampa days when he was in our division [with the Atlanta Thrashers] but I hadn't seen him play nearly as much since then. With Niemi, he was out in the Pacific for five years, so there wasn't too much chance to watch him."
Additionally, Reese has studied Texas Stars (AHL) prospect Jack Campbell and even 2013 second-round pick Philippe Desrosiers, who will enter his first professional season in 2015-16.
Although the 23-year-old Campbell has thus far had a bumpy road at the pro level, Reese pointed out that is common for goaltenders to spend their early pro years adjusting their physical games and refining their mental approach. Goalies often take longer to mature. Dealing with adversity and turning hard-learned lessons about will and will not work at the pro level are all part of what can be a painstakingly long process regardless of where a goaltender was originally drafted. Simply being a former first-round pick (11th overall in 2010) does not make a prospect immune from the learning curve.
"Jack intrigues me," Reese said. "When I watched tape, his tools jump out at me. We are going to make some adjustments and go from there. I met with Jack. He is in very good shape. He puts a lot of pressure on himself, too. We'll see what happens but I think there's a lot to work with, really, with all our guys."
Reese describes his style as coaching the way he'd have wanted to be coached during his playing career. If he suggests an adjustment (such as where to position himself in the crease) to one of his charges, he'd like the goalie to keep an open mind and try it out. However, if the goalie remains uncomfortable, the coach will work together with him to find a different way.
The coach points out that, ultimately, it is the goaltender himself not the coach who is out there on game night and has to make the saves. The coach's role is to help the goalie on that path in any way he can.
In like manner, although Reese does find the increasingly detailed analytics on goaltenders interesting to some degree -- for example, save percentages subdivided by shot placement, shot location on the ice, shot type, manpower situation, etc. -- he is not one to favor coaches filling goalies' heads with such materials as they prepare to play a game.
"If we notice a specific problem that's popping up, say shots going in on the blocker side, we'll address it," said Reese. "The time to make mechanical adjustments is in practice and camp. When it comes time to play, the only focus needs to be on seeing and reacting. If you start to compartmentalize the game too much, you can lose sight of the big picture."
Although goaltending is an individualized position by nature, it is also deeply intertwined with what the team as a whole is doing. A goalie needs to perform well for effective team defense to hold up and the team needs to provide support so that the goalie is not too frequently required to singlehandedly keep the score close. At the end of the night, the biggest concern is whether the team won or lost. That is true regardless of the system a team plays.
"Every [head] coach has a different way of going about his system," said Reese. "Regardless of that, there will come a point where your goalie has to make certain saves. Along the way, we're going to have 4-3 games or even 5-4 we need to win and well as games that are 2-1. Either way, the goalie has to do his part."
Over the years, many critics have denigrated Niemi's performance in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, saying that Chicago won the six-game series despite its goaltending. Reese, who was on the opposite side as Philadelphia's goalie coach, has long felt differently.
"Go back and watch Game 2," Reese said. "We outplayed Chicago that night, especially in the third period, and Niemi made a lot of big stops. I think that's a different series in the end if we come back to Philly tied at 1-1. The rest of the games they won in the series, OK, maybe Niemi just had to be solid enough in net -- there were a lot of chances in most of the games and it was a bend but don't break mentality -- but he did that successfully. Game Two was the night where had to shine and he did. So to say he was undeserving of the Cup, I've never bought that idea."
While some critics are skeptical of whether a 1A/1B goaltending arrangement can work in Dallas, it has worked just fine elsewhere when the other pieces have been in place. Ultimately, the hope is that a primary starter emerges for a playoff run and gets on a roll.
Some of the best teams in NHL history have had time-sharing arrangements in goal. Niemi split time with Cristobal Huet for Chicago before he became a workhorse starter in San Jose. Al Arbour used to rotate Chico Resch and Billy Smith regularly. The Oilers had no problems switching off seamlessly between Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog. The Red Wings did just fine with tandems of Mike Vernon and Chris Osgood and Osgood with Dominik Hasek.
No one would deign compare the current Dallas Stars as a team to the level of the Blackhawks recent mini-dynasty (three Cups in the last six seasons) or to championship teams of the past. That's not the point.
The point to be made is that a time-sharing arrangement in goal need not automatically preclude a club from having success.
One benefit of a 1A/1B goalie arrangement is that it helps keep both goaltenders from getting worn down over the course of the marathon-like regular season. However, it is not set in stone that starts will be split equally between Lehtonen and Niemi assuming good health for both. Their play and the team's performance will also dictate who plays and when.
"We're all turning the page and coming in fresh here," said Reese. "The focus is doing what's best for the Dallas Stars as a team. I'm not sure how it's going to play out [in terms of playing time] but everyone will have to make some sacrifice. Both guys, Kari and Antti, are pros."
Likewise, both Reese and Valley understand there is no room to be territorial as Reese takes over Valley's former job and Valley focuses on the prospect development side. It was a testament to both men's professionalism that Nill felt the two men could work together successfully in what could have been an awkward situation as tweaks are made on previous practices.
"That's the way the league is going now, with two goaltending coaches in the organization," Reese said. "I am a firm believer that both guys need need to be as close as possible to being on the same page. No two coaches are exactly the same. Styles and theories are bound to be at least a little bit different. It isn't always easy, but you have to work together with the number one idea in mind that goalies can't get two different messages."
No goaltender is perfect. He is a believer in structure; simplifying and fine-tuning the game after necessary adjustments are made during training camp. That is why Reese spends a lot of time at practice during the season working with his goaltenders working on areas where everyone has room for continual improvement, even if it's generally an area of strength.
"Even if it's an area of strength, everyone can always get better on rebounds, puckhandling, deflecting pucks into the corner instead of dangerous areas, that sort of thing," Reese said.
Staying focused through multiple repetitions at practice can also help carry over into consistency through the game-night grind. While in Philadelphia, for instance, Reese and Steve Mason usually went through daily reps in the same order with the objective being duplicating similarly sharp reps throughout the sequence -- whether it be left pad, right pad, stick, glove, or blocker work.
Having played the position in the NHL, Reese also understands the need for every goaltender to stay positively focused during times of adversity. Being honest in self-assessment is important, of course, but preventing negative thoughts from creeping is key to overcome the bumps in the road that inevitably pop up during the season.
"I think we can do a lot of good things this season, and I'm looking forward to working with Kari and Antti," Reese concludes. "We have two quality goaltenders in the NHL and some good prospects in the system. I'm excited to get going."
On Sept 12, the Dallas Stars Alumni Team will play the Israeli national team at Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco. The start time is 8:30 p.m.
