Game 60. Devs versus Leavs. Criticality.

[Guilt Trip]

Yes he's struggled but Gus has never played as good as Reims did, ever.

IIRC, that's been proven incorrect on here more than once.

Really? Like I said, Gus has never had a run like Reims did last year.....
37GP 20W 10L 5OT   2.60AVG .921% 3SO

Now show me any stretch of 30 plus games where Gus has had close to the same numbers.
Reimer is the guy they need to go with, and hope he regains his form.

lamajama......I think Allaire has been passed by, I really do.

[Tigger]

I think Allaire has been passed by, I really do.

Passed by how?

[Brian Glennie]

Anyone else starting to think Allaire is doing more damage then good for these guys

No.

Yes.

[Potvin29]

Yes he's struggled but Gus has never played as good as Reims did, ever.

IIRC, that's been proven incorrect on here more than once.

Really? Like I said, Gus has never had a run like Reims did last year.....
37GP 20W 10L 5OT   2.60AVG .921% 3SO

Now show me any stretch of 30 plus games where Gus has had close to the same numbers.
Reimer is the guy they need to go with, and hope he regains his form.

lamajama......I think Allaire has been passed by, I really do.

Like I said, going from memory, so I'd have to take some time to look it up and see.

[Guilt Trip]

I think Allaire has been passed by, I really do.

Passed by how?

His teachings on position. He plays the percentages but everyone knows where to shoot on Allaire type goalies. There's no adjustment to their game. These guys drop as soon as a shot comes....heck even before it. There are so many times a goalie can just stand there and let it hit him but they've been taught to drop on everything. I think he's set in his ways and teaches "his" style instead of tweaking the way they play already. I found Gus to be more reactionary before Allaire and now he and Reims don't even move on some goals because they're in position "A".  He's turned them into shot blockers instead of trying to utilize all their strengths. For 2 big guys, Reims and Gus look small in there to me, and Reimer looks like Giggy this year, all bent over and stuff.
That's just the way I see it.....

[Potvin29]

Yes he's struggled but Gus has never played as good as Reims did, ever.

IIRC, that's been proven incorrect on here more than once.

Really? Like I said, Gus has never had a run like Reims did last year.....
37GP 20W 10L 5OT   2.60AVG .921% 3SO

Now show me any stretch of 30 plus games where Gus has had close to the same numbers.
Reimer is the guy they need to go with, and hope he regains his form.

lamajama......I think Allaire has been passed by, I really do.

Like I said, going from memory, so I'd have to take some time to look it up and see.

I was probably wrong about remember that, but this season Gus has had a stretch of 20 games where he put up a .922 SV%, so he's shown for a long stretch this season that he can play at that level.

[Brian Glennie]

I think Allaire has been passed by, I really do.

Passed by how?

How badly the Leaf's goalies have played this year?

[Erndog]

FWIW, I cant remember where I read it today (and I'm paraphrasing here), but Chico Resch said that he sees the Leafs goalies as being fundametally out of position.  He said he analyzed a bunch of the goals Reimer let in and that he was way too deep in his net and thats something Allaire preaches.  He said if Reimer was out more he'd make the save.

Anyways, like I said I can't remember where I read it but more and more it's becoming increasingly clear that the Leafs have some MAJOR goaltending issues... once again.

[Sudafederov]

I think Allaire has been passed by, I really do.

Passed by how?

His teachings on position. He plays the percentages but everyone knows where to shoot on Allaire type goalies. There's no adjustment to their game. These guys drop as soon as a shot comes....heck even before it. There are so many times a goalie can just stand there and let it hit him but they've been taught to drop on everything. I think he's set in his ways and teaches "his" style instead of tweaking the way they play already. I found Gus to be more reactionary before Allaire and now he and Reims don't even move on some goals because they're in position "A".  He's turned them into shot blockers instead of trying to utilize all their strengths. For 2 big guys, Reims and Gus look small in there to me, and Reimer looks like Giggy this year, all bent over and stuff.
That's just the way I see it.....

Yep. Tampa Bay players validated this observation in interviews earlier this year I believe.

Ironically enough, Brodeur apparently isn't really a fan of Allaire's style.  They had a special on Brodeur on the NHL Network at one point, and Brodeur's father recounted a discussion they had about Martin not being to keen to adopt the style after attending an Allaire camp.

Probably nothing to this, but I found it anecdotally interesting that Gus brought over his old goaltending coach for the 2010 Olympics.

[Potvin29]

Isn't it funny when Reimer was being heralded last season...

Reimer credits a subtle change in his game made by Leaf goalie coach Francois Allaire, back in September 2009, with making a big difference in his game. Allaire urged Reimer to play a step deeper in his crease, challenging less and controlling more rebounds.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/nhl/mapleleafs/article/933206--cox-time-for-leafs-to-run-with-reimer


And Mark Owuya seems to be adjusting alright to Allaire's teaching in the AHL.

"When I signed here there were a couple of other teams that I was talking to but the biggest reason for signing was Francois was here and that would help me," said Owuya, who first met Allaire at a camp held in Switzerland prior to signing with Toronto. "What I felt is that out of all the teams I could sign with, this was the one that could get me places. Here I knew for sure I could get to work with him and I for sure would be be a better goalie."

http://kylethereporter.com/2012/02/17/mark-owuyas-game-keeps-improving/

[Sudafederov]

It's interesting with goalies.  They have to prove themselves when they first enter the league.  Then, they have to do it all over again when the 29 other NHL teams amass a good sized video library and try to exploit the goalie's weaknesses.

[Bender]

Can we bring Scrivens back up? Or maybe scrap going for Nash and get a goalie? Bernier anyone?

Why do people want Bernier when he's in the same boat as Reimer and Gus? Halak is where it's at, his numbers have always been good and looks to be expendable with the emergence of Elliott

[Tigger]

I think Allaire has been passed by, I really do.

Passed by how?

His teachings on position. He plays the percentages but everyone knows where to shoot on Allaire type goalies. There's no adjustment to their game. These guys drop as soon as a shot comes....heck even before it. There are so many times a goalie can just stand there and let it hit him but they've been taught to drop on everything. I think he's set in his ways and teaches "his" style instead of tweaking the way they play already. I found Gus to be more reactionary before Allaire and now he and Reims don't even move on some goals because they're in position "A".  He's turned them into shot blockers instead of trying to utilize all their strengths. For 2 big guys, Reims and Gus look small in there to me, and Reimer looks like Giggy this year, all bent over and stuff.
That's just the way I see it.....

Everyone knows where to shoot on 'Allaire type' goalies? That doesn't ring true to me at all, I've read stuff like that, Reimer was offended by Tampa saying that last year to which Gigeure answered...

"I've heard that stuff before," he smiled. "Francois' goalies have a style. We are more shot blockers. We play the odds and it's an extremely tough way to play. You really have to use your legs.

"But just look at Francois' resume. He's a future Hall of Famer. He changed the entire way the game is played for goalies — the equipment, the style, everything."

I think that was more gamesmanship from the Bolts than anything else, I haven't seen anything solid about a school of goaltending, individual goalies, sure.

I think there might be a little bit of a case to be made with Jonas as he has more of a reactionary ability that seems to get suppressed when just playing the odds but if you noticed Luongo the other night he was way deep in his crease and making pretty good saves, positioning is one thing, being able to battle and stop the puck is another.

Luongo is a long time student of Allaire and started to play deeper in his crease to control rebounds as well, something attributed to Melansen but which, curiously, Francois was urging Reimer back in '09. ( Melansen was hired in the summer of 2010 )

Jonas himself had this to say back in February...

He said Leafs goaltending coach François Allaire has worked with him on "pretty much everything," but especially on the importance of positional play.

"The best game you have is when no one really thinks there are any scoring chances, because you stop them on your chest all the time instead of being all over," Gustavsson said. "Try to make the game more simple by being in the right position."

We weren't questioning Allaire a whole bunch back then either.

Also Reimer was way out on a couple goals in that game against Vancouver too and it didn't seem to matter.

It's not surprising to me at all that the goalie coach is being questioned here after a string of bad starts, though that has more to do with Leaf fans than anything else, but I have a hunch that Allaire isn't the root cause.

This is a nice little interview with Ulmer and Allaire from back in 2010...

ULMER: Your coaching style is sometimes called rigid.
ALLAIRE: I coach different goalies differently, but I work with a definite set of principles. I explain my principles but I am open to different ways of doing it. Goalies come in all different sizes, body types, backgrounds and with different histories. There are different ways of getting things done. Jonas Hiller and Jean-Sebastien Giguerre, for example, had two different ways of operating.

The cornerstone of everything is this: if there is a pass inside the zone my goalie has to be able to push and stop and be ready at the same time the guy receives the puck. That's not easy, especially on the power play where a goalie has six, seven, eight passes before the shot. The way you skate and move determines a lot of what happens after the shot.

[Tigger]

This is a nice interview with Giguere from last November on After Hours, around 7 minutes in they show some horrid goals he let in before he went to Anaheim and he credits Francois with saving his career. Food for thought in terms of development for two relatively inexperienced goalies with the Leafs right now.

[hockeyfan1]

FWIW, I cant remember where I read it today (and I'm paraphrasing here), but Chico Resch said that he sees the Leafs goalies as being fundametally out of position.  He said he analyzed a bunch of the goals Reimer let in and that he was way too deep in his net and thats something Allaire preaches.  He said if Reimer was out more he'd make the save.

Anyways, like I said I can't remember where I read it but more and more it's becoming increasingly clear that the Leafs have some MAJOR goaltending issues... once again.

This thing about positioning, I began to notice it myself, and wondered if Reimer's and Gustavvson's problems stem from their positional, or rather, non-positional goaltending stance.


If Resch is right, then, the Leafs organization needs to do something about Allaire....our goaltenders are simply too predictable.  Teams seem to know how to score on them, considering that it's all too often that Reimer and Gus allow a questionnable (or 'soft') goal.


Not only do the Leafs have a "MAJOR goaltending issue", they definitely have one in Allaire!