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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
TINSTAAGP - (the ending is “goalie prospect")
One of the great things about the NHL is goalies. I love everything about goalies. Goalie stories, goalie website, goalie whatever. You get lots of stories of goalies who were longshots, and goalies that are roundly praised, and they both produce at a high-level. You simply don’t get this at any position as often as with goalies.
Richard Pollack quantifies it for us.
One thing that has happened, as a direct legacy of Patrick Roy, is how often goalies are selected in the early rounds. I don’t have the numbers, but I would bet that the number of goalies selected in the first two rounds shot up, between 1986 (Roy’s first Cup as a rookie), and 1993 (his second one). Roy was creating a legacy that has inspired a generation of hockey goalies (boys and girls) from Quebec, and around the world. This is similar to the effect that Bobby Orr had on the defense position.
Anyway, pre-Roy, teams had already figured out that it’s hard to scout goalies, and so, TINSTAAGP. Well, not literally. There are goalie prospects, not the least of which was Roy himself. He was the third goalie drafted in 1984 (remember, he won the Cup two years later!), 51st overall. But, ahead of him were Craig Billington and Daryl Reaugh (by the Oilers, even though they already had Moog and Fuhr… must have been considered one special kid). It’s not necessarily flipping a coin, but it sure is tough. Even Roy being drafted must have been a pure scouting decision: his team, with Roy principally in nets, gave up 428 goals, while every other team in his league gave up 255 to 368 goals.
So, at some point, teams went from properly (mostly) avoiding drafting goalies in the first two rounds, to being brash and bold about drafting them early in the first round. I think that the instincts of the scouting departments were probably more correct in the 1970s than they were in the 1990s. I think Roy emboldened some in drafting goalies higher.
Anyway, goalies are cool.
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