All eyes on the Monster

by James Mirtle on Nov 10, 2009 9:33 AM CST Comment 18 comments

Jonas Gustavsson has made quite an impression here in Toronto so far, essentially rescuing the Leafs goaltending situation after returning from a groin injury. His save percentage is up to .918, he has a winning record and Toronto's on as much of a roll as you can be on after winning three out of seven games (3-0-4).

Tonight, the Monster will likely go head-to-head with Niklas Backstrom, which is the subject of my latest yarn at globesports.com. Along with Jonas Hiller, Antti Niemi and Erik Ersberg, Gustavsson and Backstrom are part of a new trend we're seeing postlockout where older free agent goalies from Europe are stepping in and winning NHL jobs (often without time in the minors).

One of the things I did for the piece was look back over the recent history of where goaltenders are coming from, and over the past decade, the number of Europeans in the crease has slowly but steadily risen. This season, as many as half of the starters in the league could be from overseas (depending on who ends up in the No. 1 role):

Anaheim: Jonas Hiller
Atlanta: Ondrej Pavelec
Calgary: Miikka Kiprusoff
Chicago: Cristobal Huet
Edmonton: Nikolai Khabibulin
Florida: Tomas Vokoun
Minnesota: Niklas Backstrom
Montreal: Jaroslav Halak
Nashville: Pekka Rinne
N.Y. Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist
Phoenix: Ilya Bryzgalov
San Jose: Evgeni Nabokov
Tampa Bay: Antero Niittymaki
Toronto: Jonas Gustavsson
Washington: Semyon Varlamov

It used to be that Dominik Hasek and Arturs Irbe were anomalies in the crease, with their funny helmets and unique playing styles, but not anymore. And with Gustavsson's success so far, it'll be interesting to see if the demand for the latest great goalie in Sweden or Finland continues next summer.

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Oddly, he is replacing a Eurooean goalie who is also finnish like Backstrom and Kipper.

by sctlaw on Nov 10, 2009 9:59 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

European Invasion

It’s seems we’re in one of those era’s now that most teams now have at least one european goaltender on their roster. Years ago it was the Quebec goaltending system that turned out many promising stars, now it’s Europe (most notably the Scandanavian countries).
From Lundqvist to Kiprussoff to the newcomers like Gustavsson and Niemi, it’s seems we’re in the era of the European style of netminding. It’s no coincedence that the successes of Finland and Sweden during the Turino Olympics (and the Czech. Republic before them in 1998) have had a profound influence in the increase of European netminding within the NHL.
Even the style of the Eurpean goaltending is being copied with Cristobal Huet being sat in favour of Niemi just so that goaltending coach, Stephane Waite, could restructure his game and strip him from using the Quebec system of butterfly goaltending. The Quebec system of butterfly goaltending is now considered old school and passé as it’s widely considered to be flawed. A stark contrast from a few years ago when it was the norm and copied throughout the league.

Side note: Interesting how Gustavsson does in the Windy City on Friday. An Original 6 match-up that doesn’t happen often enough, but that’s another forum in itself as the NHL needs to rekindle these types of match-ups.

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by hawks61 on Nov 10, 2009 10:41 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Uh, a lot of these European goalies have been to multiple Allaire goaltending camps, so I don’t think it’s as simple as saying that the Quebec style is somehow dead. Goaltending is an evolving art, and even the most strict disciples to the classics (butterfly) make adjustments.

There is simply more competition, and with a faster paced game, the emphasis on athleticism is higher than ever. So what we’re seeing is a reflection of simply more athletic goaltenders. The butterfly is still quite an important part of all the goaltenders that James has listed there.

I find it difficult to lump this as some kind of European invasion, when there are 4 fairly distinct regions that they are coming from: Nordic countries (don’t use Scandanavian and include Finland), Eastern bloc (Czechs/Slovaks), Russians/ex-USSR, and the new Swiss/German region (which also includes Huet, since he developed in the Swiss league).

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by saskhab on Nov 10, 2009 11:55 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Actually, Huet’s another European goalie, too. He’s real French, not Canadian French.

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by Doogie2K on Nov 10, 2009 4:05 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

15 starters, but also backups: Toskala, Greiss, Rask, Hedberg, Budai, Ersberg, Niemi…1/3rd of all goalies at the NHL level.

by Alix71 on Nov 10, 2009 11:49 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Add in Enroth in Buffalo.

by Afino on Nov 10, 2009 1:20 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Oddly, exactly equal to the representation of Europeans among forwards and defensemen…

by Hawerchuk on Nov 10, 2009 1:46 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Bring back the funny helmets, please.

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by PRC on Nov 10, 2009 1:31 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Here you go PRC

by cubanpuckstopper on Nov 10, 2009 2:11 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Just as an aside, Irbe is now Washington’s goalie coach. Don’t know if he’s the only European-born goalie coach in the NHL. And Washington’s other wunderkid goalie down in the AHL is Czech.

by RedBirdie on Nov 10, 2009 2:03 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Arturs Irbe: “What the hell was that, Jose?”
Jose Theodore: “It’s the butterfly, coach.”
AI: “No no no, none of that stuff. When a guy comes down the wing I want you to flail about like a fish and then pokecheck the puck away.”
JT: “Like this?”
AI: “Yeah, exactly. Then I want you to let in a goal from behind the blue line.”
JT: “That should be pretty easy for me.”
AI: “OK, good… wait, what are those?”
JT: “My pads?”
AI: “What are those, 5 years old? They need to be at least 20 years old to be effective. And I bet you don’t even stitch them yourself.”
JT: “No, why would I-”
AI: *Sigh “You kids today. Oh well, we won’t worry about that. Finally, I want to teach you everything I know about playing the puck. Ready?”
JT: “Sure thing, Mr. Irbe!”

(silence)

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by RudyKelly on Nov 10, 2009 3:38 PM CST up reply actions 6 recs

Incredible.

When I renew my Hockey Reference sponsorship on Irbe’s page, I’ll be sure to copy and paste the ending there and credit you for a hilarious exchange.

by Afino on Nov 10, 2009 7:36 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

nice work!

(fortunately for Caps fan, Jose has mostly regained solid positioning and not his usual twitchy, let in a billion soft goals self. Now, Varly…there’s a flopper!)

Jose had a good time poking fun at Archie’s reputation for stitching his own pads at the Caps Con this year.

by RedBirdie on Nov 10, 2009 9:20 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Awesome. And rec'd.

by Jevant on Nov 11, 2009 9:34 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

There are a number of advantages to the development process of goalies in Europe. Patience is a key ingredient to that fruition.

The Finnish program, coaches goalies at very young ages, with qualified coaches, not just parents helping or older players just hammering shots at younger goalies (not intended to minimize the efforts of volunteers).

It fits into the European model of more focus on skill development and less on games up through the age of 14.
The European leagues have a higher ratio of practice to games; compare 56 games per season to 82 games per season.
This leads to a goalie that will peak later in their career but at a higher skill level, hence the late bloomers from Europe that everyone discusses.
There are still a lot of skeptics that don’t believe that the higher practice/game ratio works. Look to North America’s NCAA Division I schedule. A season which runs from October to April for some, 30 to 40 games for most. For a while Conklin, Roloson, and Turco were the three most recognizable NCAA names in the NHL. Recently, Miller, Thomas, Ellis, Schnieder (on the cusp), Danis, Elliot, McElhinney, Clemmenson, Bishop, and Howard are all NCAA’ers that have seen NHL action and/or will contribute to their NHL team. I don’t recall as many NCAA products in the past.

The European style of play is much closer to the post-lockout NHL, but with wider rinks. Wider rinks require much better lateral movement, think Tim Thomas before his season in Finland, and compare to TT after. In addition, shooters have much more time and space, presenting the goalie with a bigger challenge. The emphasis on this style of play has made the Allaire/Quebec/Blocking Butterfly saves less state-of- the- game, replaced by the Hybrid/Athletic/Active Butterfly.

by cubanpuckstopper on Nov 10, 2009 2:05 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

No love for the Islanders mid 90s imports, Soderstrom and Salo?

by WebBard on Nov 10, 2009 4:32 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

All eyes on the Monster?

Nyet, Nyet to that noise

All Central Universian eyes, maybe

All eyes [4 of them] over here on JDD & his .957 save %

by Mr DeBakey on Nov 10, 2009 5:21 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Scouting

Some of this can be attributed to scouting patterns. When Patrick Roy was so successful with his butterfly save technique, using it well when others would stay up and get beat low, suddenly all scouts were looking to Quebec to find the next great butterflier or next Roy. So then we saw many Quebec born goalies in the league. It’s not that they were better than their English-Canadian brethren, it’s just they got that extra look that got them the shot in the show. I think there is something like that happening here. With the success of Hasek, Kipprusoff and others, the scouts are mining for goalie gold in Europe. There is definitely a Finnish craze, too. Lundqvist is really the only Swede who has had long success and is still playing. There seems to be more successful Finns. I’m sure the majority of these European goalies deserve this shot they are getting but, I think there is something to be said about them getting a first look over some domestic guys.

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by Urban Sombrero on Nov 11, 2009 6:04 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

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