Jets' Flaherty a humble, one-of-a-kind goalie coach

Winnipeg Free Press

07-05-2025

Wade Flaherty is the goalie whisperer.
He is a man who prefers to remain in the shadows, calmly going about his business.
He's the answer to a trivia question that became even more relevant last month when Alex Ovechkin passed Wayne Gretzky for the all-time goal lead in NHL history.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Wade Flaherty is the only goalie coach in Winnipeg Jets 2.0 history, and has helped starter Connor Hellebuyck to his best regular season and through a wobbly first round post-season performance.
He's also one of the few professional hockey players to drink from the Stanley Cup, the Calder Cup, the Turner Cup and the Kelly Cup. Yet, you won't ever see Flaherty flaunting his resumé or seeking the spotlight.
As the only goalie coach in Winnipeg Jets 2.0 history, Flaherty has worked closely with one of the best netminders of this generation and forged a strong relationship with Connor Hellebuyck, who is up for both the Vezina Trophy and Hart Trophy after his remarkable regular season.
With the Jets preparing for a second-round matchup against the Dallas Stars that opens on Wednesday night at Canada Life Centre, Flaherty's ability to connect with his goalies remains an important storyline. Hellebuyck was able to step up mid-game to backstop his team to a Game 7 victory Sunday after wobbly road losses in a series he admitted put his mental abilities to the test. The Jets netminder now prepares to battle with his Team USA teammate Jake Oettinger.
'When I first met him, I could tell that he believed in me and he really cared a lot about me and my game,' said Hellebuyck. 'That's a lot more than you can say about a lot of guys. For a lot of guys, it's just a game and they're there to improve their goaltender and that's it. He really cared about everything: off-ice, feelings, energy level. He cared about it all.'
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Flaherty was forced to do a lot of self-diagnosis during his playing days and the quest to do things better is something that has continued to serve him well as he advanced to the coaching ranks.
'It's his understanding of the relationship in what a goalie needs,' said Jets backup goalie Eric Comrie. 'He doesn't try to change your game, he tries to add to your game. It's a dialogue here. All three of us are sharing together. Helly, myself and Flats.'
A lot of that sharing comes through video sessions. And unlike in many other places, it's not just Flaherty and Hellebuyck bouncing ideas off one another and breaking things down. Because of Comrie's unbridled passion for the sport and the position, he's involved in the process as well.
'It's awesome, listening to them talk about the situations,' said Flaherty, noting the importance of feedback. 'What it does is that it gets the dialogue going. It's a hot stove of three goalie nerds.
'It's such a benefit for Comrie to be learning from Connor Hellebucyk. On the flip side, Eric Comrie's breakdown of plays can benefit Hellebuyck. It's hugely beneficial for all three of us.'
'When I first met him, I could tell that he believed in me and he really cared a lot about me and my game … he really cared about everything: off-ice, feelings, energy level. He cared about it all.' –Connor Hellebuyck
Those benefits have been on display all season long, with both Hellebuyck and Comrie enjoying the best individual results of their respective careers on a team that captured both the Presidents' Trophy as the top team in the NHL and the William Jennings Trophy as the team that allowed the fewest goals.
'This whole time, it's not that I have the right answers. We're going to learn together. We've built our game together,' said Hellebuyck. 'He knows the mental side of things as well. He knows the whole 360 of it.
'He's never just jamming it down your throat. He's suggesting things here, suggesting things there. Working things through with me. That's when we both improve. I know I'm not alone. When I see things, he also sees things.'
As for his philosophy, Flaherty tries to cater to the strengths of each goalie he works with.
'I don't have hard and fast rules. Not one size fits all. But there are some non-negotiables in some aspects of it,' said Flaherty. 'There are things that we incorporate to make your game more efficient — and better. What it comes down to is doing reps on it until you get comfortable is the idea. I'll never force anything on the goalie, that 'you have to do it this way.' I'll strongly make suggestions, but I'll never force it on anybody.'
The ability to see things and dig into them is what has helped each of Hellebuyck, Comrie and Flaherty grow together.
'He's just an easy going guy. We see the game the same way. His understanding of the game is something I'm a big fan of. With how much we help each other. It's a two-way street and it's great,' said Comrie. 'The big one is the calmness. He's not riding waves. He's done an amazing job of making sure that he stays even keel. It's a process, not a sprint. He's one of the best in the world at that.'
So, how did Flaherty get here, to a point in his career where he's highly respected and widely regarded as one of the best in the game at his position?
Let's just say it has been an incredible odyssey — one that includes a slight doctoring of a birth certificate.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS
Winnipeg Jets backup goalie Eric Comrie (left) works with goalie coach Wade Flaherty at Canada Life Centre. Comrie says Flaherty 'doesn't try to change your game, he tries to add to your game.'
Flaherty, now 57, grew up in Terrace, B.C., a relatively small city in the Western part of the province.
He started playing goal himself before he even started skating, the byproduct of growing up with two older brothers.
'My dad always built an ice rink in the backyard. I had two older brothers and I always joke, but at the end of the day, they needed a target and I was the youngest by four or five years,' said Flaherty. 'Once I got into organized hockey, it was just something that I was drawn to.
'If you go back to that era, I had the Mike Palmateer mask. I painted it myself with the Toronto Maple Leafs logo and, when he went to the Washington Capitals, I did it that way. I was drawn to the goaltenders, visually. That's where it started. All my friends were a year older than me, so my mom altered my birth certificate so I could start minor hockey a year early.'
After playing on a number of provincial championship squads and getting some valuable experience playing in the senior leagues as a teenager, Flaherty eventually worked his way up to the Western Hockey League with the Seattle Thunderbirds.
But being in a big city away from home brought its challenges and he bounced around a bit before finding his footing with the Victoria Cougars.
'Everybody wants to play in the NHL,' said Flaherty. 'You thought of it, but it was such a big dream coming from such a small town.'
Although Flaherty was chosen by the Buffalo Sabres in the ninth round of the 1988 NHL draft, he never signed with the organization.
After completing his overage season with the Cougars, Flaherty signed a minor league deal with the Minnesota North Stars and ended up with the Greensboro Monarchs, who were an expansion team in the ECHL.
'He's done an amazing job of making sure that he stays even keel. It's a process, not a sprint. He's one of the best in the world at that.' –Eric Comrie
Coached by Jeff Brubaker, that Monarchs team went on a remarkable run to the Kelly Cup championship in 1990.
Flaherty was in a job share with Nick Vitucci that season and started the playoffs as the No. 2 guy on the depth chart.
'He was a great teammate, a great goalie partner,' Vitucci, now a pro scout with the Nashville Predators, recalled. 'It was funny, we went into the playoffs and I got the start in Game 1. We had a big win on the road, we upset the first-place team in the league and then, in Game 2, we lost in overtime and a brawl started. I ended up getting a one-game suspension.
'Wade came in and never gave up the net again. I was his biggest cheerleader the rest of the way, and he was fantastic in that playoffs and brought us a championship.'
That ability to raise his level of the play when the games mattered most would become a calling card for Flaherty at the minor league level.
'He made clutch saves, timely saves. A big-moment goalie is what he was at that level. It didn't surprise me the success that he had after that,' said Vitucci. 'He was a great goaltender. He was very dialled in, focused and all of that, so you would think those would be great traits moving forward to get into coaching, for sure. It doesn't surprise me at all.
'At the rink, you could tell early on that he was a pro's pro. The way he went about practising and his preparation, all of that.'
Flaherty eventually got to live his NHL dream, making his debut for the San Jose Sharks and turning aside 43 saves in a 6-4 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on April 12 of 1992.
His time in the NHL included a total of 120 games with the Sharks, Predators, New York Islanders, Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.
KEN GIGLIOTTI / FREE PRESS FILES
Jets goalie coach Wade Flaherty spent three seasons with the Manitoba Moose, helping the club reach the conference final.
With the Islanders, Flaherty was between the pipes when Gretzky scored the 894th and final goal of his illustrious career, on March 29 of 1999.
In March of 2003, Flaherty was traded to the Predators and appeared in his final NHL game.
Flaherty was re-signed by Nashville that summer, partly to serve as a mentor for Brian Finley, who was chosen sixth overall in the 1999 NHL draft. That job share was a successful one, but when it came to the playoffs, Flaherty once again got the starting job and helped lead the Predators affiliate Milwaukee Admirals to the Calder Cup.
That summer, Flaherty signed with the Vancouver Canucks, who had the Manitoba Moose as their primary affiliate.
Flaherty spent three seasons with the Moose, helping them reach the conference final in the first season before bowing out to the Chicago Wolves, while also aiding in the development of Alex Auld before Auld graduated to the NHL.
Sharing the crease with a prized prospect was something Flaherty would do for one more season in 2007-08, when he was signed by the Chicago Blackhawks, who had Corey Crawford beginning his pro hockey journey.
'Chicago calls on July 1. I had a conversation about Dale Tallon and he said 'listen, if there is a call-up, it's not you,'' said Flaherty. 'Your job is to teach him professionalism on and off the ice. I was like '100 per cent.' It was awesome because he threw all of the cards on the table.
'I was there as a mentor.'
Flaherty admits this is where the idea of coaching entered his mind.
Much like he did with the Admirals, at the end of practices, he's organizing and running some of the extra drills.
'He's very, very competitive. He does not like to get scored on. He wants to get better every day and his standard of his game is above anybody else's.' –Wade Flaherty on Connor Hellebuyck
'I'm already kind of going into that mode a little bit,' said Flaherty. 'Some of the drills I would take, but I'm 38 or 39. I don't need extra reps. That's where I got the coaching bug, I guess you would say.'
Flaherty was pondering retirement when an opportunity arose to join the China Sharks in a player/coach capacity on a team that was funded by the San Jose Sharks.
'I was going to retire, but I thought this would be a good way to go out,' said Flaherty. 'Have some fun. See a part of the world.'
Near the end of the season in China, Flaherty was contacted by the Blackhawks about a position as a developmental goalie coach to work with Crawford and Antti Niemi.
The problem was that the Blackhawks wanted him to rejoin the organization right away, but Flaherty wanted to honour his commitment to the Sharks before accepting the position.
Eventually, the Blackhawks relaxed the timeline, allowing Flaherty to finish out the season and transition full-time into coaching in February of 2009.
'Now, everybody does it, but I was one of the first in that role,' said Flaherty. 'I would say I walked into a perfect storm. Corey Crawford and Antti Niemi were the first two goalies I was working with (as a coach officially). Pretty skilled goalies to begin with.
'I did that for two years and got a Stanley Cup ring.'
In the summer of 2011, Flaherty was hired by the Jets to be the NHL goalie coach and he's been doing that job ever since.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (left) reviews footage with goalie coach Wade Flaherty during practice at the Hockey For All Centre. Hellebuyck says one of Flaherty's greatest assets is that 'he knows the mental side of things.'
'It's no different than playing. I played until I was 39 or 40 and I was still learning. I always said that I would retire if I knew everything — and it's no different in coaching,' said Flaherty. 'You're always trying to develop yourself. I'm constantly reading or watching videos and looking for different things to incorporate.'
The opportunity to work with a thoroughbred like Hellebuyck is something Flaherty takes great pride in.
'It's amazing. I always knew Connor Hellebuyck was going to be a good goalie,' said Flaherty. 'To do what he's doing and has accomplished to this point in his early career, I'm not being honest if I say to you 'I knew he was going to be the best in the world.' I always knew he was going to be a hell of a goalie. But even with that being said, there are a lot of things you've got to get through when you turn pro. There are a lot of mountains you've got to climb, hills that you're going to slide down and he handled them very well.
'He's very, very competitive. He does not like to get scored on. He wants to get better every day and his standard of his game is above anybody else's. So, watching him grow from a rookie pro coming out of college to being one of the best in the world, but also becoming a man and a father and a husband, is special. It's cool to see the whole thing.'
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Ken Wiebe
Reporter
Ken Wiebe is a sports reporter for the Free Press , with an emphasis on the Winnipeg Jets. He has covered hockey and provided analysis in this market since 2000 for the Winnipeg Sun , The Athletic , Sportsnet.ca and TSN. Ken was a summer intern at the Free Press in 1999 and returned to the Free Press in a full-time capacity in September of 2023. Read more about Ken.
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