Penton: Canadian goaltending talent falling behind
By Bruce Penton
The days of Canadian goaltending dominance in the National Hockey League are long gone. The Europeans have taken over the position made glamorous by the likes of Canadian stars Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, Ken Dryden, Jacques Plante, Carey Price and Roberto Luongo.
Check out the most recent NHL goaltending stats and you’ll find a preponderance of European stars, a few Americans and then a couple of Canadians in the latter half of the top 10.
At the top of the list is the Winnipeg Jets’ American goalie Connor Hellebuyck, who will likely win this year’s Vezina Trophy as the league’s best. The Russian, Andrei Vasilevskiy, is generally regarded as No. 2 while Russian Sergei Bobrovsky of the defending Cup champion Florida Panthers, Swede Filip Gustavsson of Minnesota, American Jake Oettinger of Dallas and Russian Ilya Sorokin are scattered among the top 10.
A couple of Canadian netminders show up on this list (Adin Hill of Vegas, Darcy Kuemper of Los Angeles and Logan Thompson of Washington), but none are regarded as game-changers the way Czech star Dominik Hasek was for the Sabres and Red Wings in the 1990s when he compiled an amazing career save percentage of .922. Hellebucyk at .925 was the only goalie surpassing Hasek’s career record this season.
How dominant are non-Canadian netminders? Seven of the last eight Vezina winners — Marc-Andre Fleury broke the streak in 2021 — have been either American or European. It’s almost enough to make Glenn Hall throw up.
(For you youngsters out there, Hall was a Saskatchewan-born goaltending star for the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1960s who reportedly vomited prior to every game when his nerves got the better of him.)
In the regular season just completed, more than half the games, 52 per cent, featured a European goaltender, according to a report in The Athletic. Canadian goalies played in 26 per cent of the games, while 23 per cent of the games were covered by a U.S.-born goalie.
Jon Elkin, who works with Pittsburgh Penguins’ goalies and runs a summer goaltending school in Toronto, told The Athletic the situation isn’t dire. “It's not the end of the world here,” says Elkin. “It's not as bleak as I think it's made out to be.”
“There's really no focus on goaltending development in minor hockey at all,” said Rob Gherson, a former Washington Capitals’ draft pick, in The Athletic story. “That’s one area we've definitely fallen behind. Other places — Sweden, the U.S., Russia — they've put money into goaltending, and they've put a focus on trying to develop goalies.”
There was grave concern about the goaltending situation among Canadian hockey fans in February when the 4 Nations FaceOff was held. How could we ever stack up against the Americans when they had Hellebuyck in goal and Canada was stuck with Hill, Jordan Binnington or Sam Montembault? Well, we know how that played out. Binnington was absolutely sensational and Canada took the title.
Perhaps, like Elkin said, it’s not as bleak as it’s made out to be.
Super 70s Sports: “‘And now let’s go over to 15, where it looks like our co-leader is going to have to shape one around a brick. What’s he got, Verne?’ ‘A putter, Jim. They all have putters.’”
Comedy writer Torben Rolfsen of Vancouver: “Duke’s Cooper Flagg received the John Wooden award, which fittingly consists of a manila envelope filled with large, unmarked bills.”
Sportswriter Ray Ratto of San Francisco, in a pre-Kentucky Derby story: “Kids just don't go to the track anymore, which is a shame because it remains a great place for young people to learn to smoke cigarettes and leave the butts in someone else's beer.”
Torben Rolfsen again: “What’s with that harmonica group playing the national anthem in Los Angeles? The Oilers should have countered with the Schmenge Brothers.”
One more from Rolfsen: “The NFL held its draft in a Green Bay parking lot. Shedeur Sanders got a ticket for staying too long.”
A little bit of Canadian sports and politics, from the parody website The Beaverton: “Op-Ed: ‘Say what you will about us, at least we never blew a 27-point lead,’ by Auston Matthews.”
Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “Two favourites in Kentucky Derby: Journalism vs Sovereignty. Seems a little too on brand for our country right now.”
RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “In just their fifth win of the season against 25 losses, the Colorado Rockies snapped an eight-game losing streak by beating the Braves 2-1. After the win, players had to ask each other how to celebrate.”
Headline at fark.com: “Bill Belichick’s girlfriend instructs him to deny that she’s too controlling.”
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, on the Mount Rushmore of coaches from all sports, naming basketball’s Greg Popovich and hockey’s Scotty Bowman: “Bill Belichick would probably be alongside them, so long as he gets permission from his girlfriend to be included.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca