Allaire Positive for Pogge, Toskala and Monster
Justin Pogge
Newest goaltending consultant to the Leafs, Francois Allaire, father of the modern butterfly with exceptional credentials including working with Patrick Roy, Brian Hayward, as well as the guy who morphed Guy Hebert into an All Star in 1997 and J.S. Giguere. Most recently he worked with Ducks back up-turned-starter, Jonas Hiller to backstop the Ducks to a seven-game Round 2 of the 2008-09, Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Fine credentials indeed, but what can he do with the batch of Leafs goaltenders?
I won’t mince words and openly admit my admiration for Vesa Toskala. Inconsistent and difficult season aside, I believe he could be one of the NHL’s best entering the final season of his two-year contract.
In another post, I pointed out the notion of goaltender predictability after a drubbing of the Montreal Canadiens at the hands of the Maple Leafs, in light of the disastrous season of Carey Price.
In an interview on the FAN590, Allaire shirked talk about specific goaltenders before training camp, and also revealed something that had plagued my mind ever since the announcement of his hiring into the Leafs ranks.
Would he try to force the butterfly style on the Leafs stable of goalies?
The first reaction was that he would force improvement onto Vesa Toskala, and Justin Pogge using the butterfly style. It was comforting to hear him talk about working on speed and comfort level, as well as recovery.
It wasn’t the butterfly style that made Roy a hall of fame goalie – despite its effective way of taking away the lower part of the net – it was his ability to recover and get back into position with ease.
This is how Allaire worked and helped mold him into a legendary goalie. The pattern was evident with his other goalies, and what Price missed in Montreal last season – and partly why Roland Melanson was let go.
The Pogge era in Toronto was dead according to Steve Buffery’s article in the Toronto Sun. Brian Burke was quick to point out how a decision on the future of the 23-year old goaltender had not been made, noting this process as one of the unglamorous aspects of being a professional athlete, while management decides whether the athlete falls into the organization’s plans.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the 23-year old netminder, but it wasn’t a death knell, yet.
The hiring of Allaire may prove to be a sign indicating Pogge will be return in Marlies silks; not a bad decision, given the alternative should he be cut loose. Unlikely the Fort McMurray, Alberta native lands a back up role with another NHL club – let alone a starting position – and likely to continue development in the minor ranks. To qualify him, the Leafs will have to offer his contract with a 10-percent increase. So why not keep him in the fold as an asset, allowing him to further develop as a homegrown talent in their revamped minor ranks?
The question remains; will Pogge develop into a viable NHL goaltender?
If Burke can hire just as good a candidate for the Leafs AHL affiliate, Pogge’s retention falls under different circumstances with the Marlies; a new coach, new outlook, different, more complimentary style to that of Ron Wilson, with a crop of different more homegrown prospects to collectively develop.
Toronto will have to make a decision and soon, and the hiring of the ‘Goalie Guru’ is as good as it gets as a positive indication for the Leafs. Competition breeds Champions, and furthers along the development curve.
Along with infrastructure, the availability of Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson still out there, the added incentive to entice the goaltender by the hiring makes a lot of sense.
Joe Resnick, the agent for ‘The Monster’ was on Hockeycentral last week and indicated how the goaltender would be visiting, Colorado, Dallas, San Jose and Toronto this week as part of a tour to make a decision on where he would like to sign.
There have been preliminary discussions with all teams, with the expectation he plays in the NHL next season. Burke indicated this would be the case in Toronto.
San Jose, with one of the best defenses in the league would surely help him, in particular, masking any deficiency.
However, mentoring under Toskala would be a plus, and while Gustavsson has worked with Allaire in the past, it isn’t the main factor to have him sign in Toronto.
But it sure must be enticing, short and long term.
The tour starts this week, and could last about 8-9 days; the agent wants to have his placement sooner rather than later, so Gustavsson could attend summer camp working with goaltending coach.
Under the current collective bargaining agreement, The Monster falls under the definitions of the entry-level contract and will only get a one-year deal for the following season.
The vision, and components to make the vision a reality are being put into place, an encouraging overall development in the management staff and execution of the vision, and in Leafs development. Part of the reason late round picks develop into valid NHLers is how they challenge their players providing tools to grow.
The infrastructure is being slowly assembled, and from early indications, the 2009 NHL Entry Draft seems to be the only viable milestone to have it firmly in place, with assets ready to be dealt should the opportunity arise.
Interior management is being molded into the vision for the future Buds. With the addition of the legendary Allaire, a solid piece of development and affirmation of one of the most important positions, goaltending, is shaping up.
Let the player additions begin.
katshockey@mapleleafshotstove.com
June 16th, 2009 at 11:52 am
I am starting to gain more and more respect for Burke and Nonis. It has been my view that the goaltending issue last year was all about coaching. Toskala had a bad year due to injuries but also due to the fact he was asked to alter his style to be more of a butterfly type goalie and Pogge got into the habit of going down too early and over committing to shots putting him out of position for rebounds. I am positive Allaire will see this and rectify the situation. He has the credentials to do so and look at his past pupils. Giguere was very much like Pogge failing to show he belonged in the NHL when Allaire became the coach. I say this was an excellent move by the Leafs and the next move should be signing Gustavsson who by the way has worked with Allaire in the past and credits Allaire for his success.
June 16th, 2009 at 11:59 am
@Paynter Graham
Olivier Roy
June 16th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
whatever happened to guy herbert
June 16th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
lol Herbert retired in like 2001, hes in his 40′s now
June 16th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
ya he was good but it just seemed like he fell off the map.. like hes a player that i just completely forgot about.
hes like the cliff ronning of goalies.. like i thought cliff retired in the 90s but he played till about 03 i think.
anyways
can someone explain to me how these mock drafts work like the juniors besides the memorial cup have been done for sometime now how does hedman jump taveres and how does kane fall behind schenn
June 16th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I think its all based on rumours and who is the better player in whoevers opinion. You just have to remember its all BS until it happens though.
@Joshua
haha i got ya. Remember Kirk Mclean….or Jim Carey….those were the days lol
June 16th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
@jq – only problem being is that it is very doubtful that Oliver Roy will be available when the Leafs draft in the second round.
I’m sure the Leafs would have to move up to draft Roy. If unavailable perhaps a goalie like Robin Lehner, rated 52nd, or Benjamin Conz (rated 53) might be more available at our pick. This is when Allaire’s knowledge of these goalies shall be invaluable. Perhaps there is a diamond in the rough rated much lower, who has just as much potential?
June 16th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
remember donald audette haha..
this is what i dont get though.. the nfl has guys like the bus, julius irving, and shannon sharpe among others greats
the nba, has reggie miller in broadcasting charles barkley kenny the jet and chris webber all greats of the game
baseball has joe morgan and a few others
now we as fans of the nhl have to listen to baraby, pj stock, mike milbury nick kypryos(who i actually like) but why do players who were greats or even just good players in the nhl not get into these halftime shows and stuff like shouldnt i be able to sit down and watch the first intermission and listen to al mccinnis paul coffey and dougy gilmour… but the thing is it seems like the other three sports there players are more educated to talk to the media when you listen to a hockey interview its “ahh were ahh working hard ahh that ahh how we scored the goal ahh”. also the other three sports make way more money then hockey players and they still get into it. like shaq is rich but i bet when his career is over he’ll be on tv with charles and kenny. and for nhl fans were just waiting for georges and mayday to hand up the skates… i hope shanahan gets into broadcasting hes hillarious
June 16th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
just one more thing while im in my rant mode… another thing that i miss as a kid in the nhl is what happen to nicknames in hockey all we do now is thorw “er” or “zy” on the end of there last namer. like we had cujo, eddie the eagle, saint patrick, the russian rocket, finnish flash, golden jet, stevie wonder, the big e, the great one, the magnifacent one, felix the cat and grapes… now we have steener, kabs, grabs, sid the kid(wtf is that hes one of the best in hockey), the great 8 (lame). like martin brodeur is the one of the greatest alltime and his nickname is marty… woo clever one. i guess we got malkin = geno and pavel datzyuk = the datzyukian one
June 16th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
@ Joshua
It may be because the other sports TV revenue is so much higher than the NHL they can offer their former stars much more money. The NHL doesn’t even have a legit american tv contract. The NFL for example is massive and they can likely afford to pay their former starts millions for 20 weeks of work, 1 day a week. It’s likely not worth it for Paul Coffee or Dougie Gilmour to work 5 or 6 days a week, 40 wks a year for $100,000.
June 16th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
im not saying they have to work everyday out of the week, grapes does it once a week for 5 minutes and tsn im sure have some cash there affiliated with espn. and dougy is coaching in the minors which is a lot longer haul then going to the booth every couple days. and im sure he isnt getting paid millions to coach jr
June 16th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
@ joshua
all the greats in the NHL want to either coach or gm
all greats in the NBA and NFL jus want to relax and enjoy the games
the NHLers wana be part of it
June 16th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
dunno about that the nba is full of former players who are gm’s and coaches
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Public sector tender specialists – ways2win…
The government this month have announced that they are making more low value contract opportunities for free…