Latest news with #goaltenders
Yahoo
26-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
From McDonald's To The NHL: How ‘Undersized' Jaroslav Halák Became The Best Slovak Goalie Ever
When you look back at the history of Slovak hockey, elite goaltenders have been few and far between. There used to be a common joke: Slovakia had A-level forwards, B-level defensemen, and C-level goalies.
Yahoo
24-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
NHL Rumor Roundup: The Latest NHL Goalie Speculation
Pickings have been slim thus far for quality NHL goaltenders in this summer's free-agent market.
New York Times
18-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
NHL goalies see big benefits in changes to EBUG system: ‘A long time coming'
Over the grueling NHL season, goaltenders are often caught in a specifically tough predicament of balancing the needs of their team with their personal well-being. The scenario: In the middle of a road trip, the team plane lands in the next city at roughly 3 a.m. local time. The team is holding a skate the following morning, beginning at 10 a.m, but it's optional. Many of the top players won't be partaking, using the time to rest and recover, but the few skaters who do practice would love to have a goalie in the net. So, as most hockey players do, the goalies typically prioritize the good of the group, suck it up, and strap on the pads. Advertisement 'There are eight guys going, and you want to go because you want these guys to have a goalie to shoot on, but you also know that for your body, you probably should stay off the ice,' Stars goalie Jake Oettinger explained. 'We don't want to leave our guys hanging. We want them to have a guy to shoot on.' Due to the demands and the toll of the position, we've seen a decline in the number of starts for workhorse goalies over the last five or six years. Some argue these factors have reduced the value of a top-flight netminder. And with the new, recently ratified collective bargaining agreement beginning in 2026-27, the seasons will only get longer, extending to 84 games. But another tweak to the CBA might help lessen the overall workload: The system for emergency backup goalies is changing. Under the new CBA, the parameters for EBUGs will remain largely unchanged. The goalie cannot have any NHL experience, nor can they have played in more than 80 professional games in their career or played any professional hockey in the previous three years. The big difference is that now every team will have one who travels and practices with the team throughout the season, as opposed to only appearing on standby at home games. Much attention has been paid to how this will affect future storybook moments in games, like when David Ayres, the Zamboni driver for the minor-league Toronto Marlies, was thrust into action in 2020 and helped the Hurricanes beat the Maple Leafs. The actual NHL goalies are focused on the impact it will have on practices. The number of times an EBUG actually sees meaningful action is minuscule; it's happened only six times over the last decade, roughly once in every 2,178 games. But now these goalies will be available for every skate, offering starting netminders the opportunity to pick their spots. Advertisement Oettinger – who has played more games than any NHL goalie over the last three seasons – believes the benefits of this minor rules change could be substantial. 'This is a long time coming, and I think longevity-wise I think it could help goalies stay healthy, and goalies play longer into their career, because they have a guy there to take the load off sometimes,' he said. From the late 1990s through the mid 2010s, it was relatively commonplace for starting goalies to exceed 60 starts. Eleven netminders reached or surpassed that mark as recently as the 2016-17 season, led by the Oilers' Cam Talbot, the NHL's last 70-game goalie. Since then, the number has plummeted. This season only five goalies hit 60 starts: the Jets' Connor Hellebuyck, the Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Canadiens' Samuel Montembault, the Rangers' Igor Shesterkin and the Islanders' Ilya Sorokin. Several factors contribute to this trend. The position has become more physically demanding, between the rise of post-integration techniques and increased time spent in the butterfly. As skaters on the ice get faster and more skilled, the margin for error in the net keeps shrinking; being a half-step behind is the difference between saves and goals. Finally, training has improved to a point where the goalie talent pool is considerably deeper. A starter at 90 percent capacity may no longer be a better option than the backup like in the past. As a result, teams are resting their No. 1 options more often. But with the current practice structure, Oettinger believes goalies aren't even getting the true benefit of those games off. 'Some of the hardest skates for me are when (Dallas backup goalie Casey DeSmith) is playing and I'm not,' he explained. 'Then you're doing the morning skate and skating with the scratches.' Whereas that night's starting goalie typically leaves the morning skate early once they get their body moving a bit and feel prepared for the game, the backup goalie stays out much longer, giving the rest of the players someone to try to score on. They'll even stay out long after the regulars leave the ice to work with the healthy-scratched players. Advertisement 'You're backing up because they want to give you rest, but then if you're getting killed at morning skate, you're like, 'Did I actually get rest, or am I actually just as tired as if I played in a game?'' Oettinger said. Even a short skate on an off day is more taxing for goalies than skaters. And besides, the vast majority of practice time isn't beneficial to the goalie in the first place. They spend very little time working with the goalie coach on improving technical aspects of their game and far more serving as a target in shooter-focused drills. 'No offense to the players, but a lot of them can just throw their gear on and go out there on the ice,' Oettinger said. 'For a goalie, there's a lot more warming up. It takes me half an hour to get my body ready to feel like I won't hurt myself when I go on the ice. 'The cumulative buildup of all of that preparation and the cumulative tax that takes on your body and on your mind throughout the course of a season can be pretty big when you add it all up at the end.' Enter the full-time EBUG. These ordinary puck-stoppers are more than happy to step in and face shots from the best in the world. Ayres, who is the only emergency replacement to ever win an NHL game, also served as a practice goalie with the Marlies and Maple Leafs for eight years. He can remember former Leafs goalie Freddie Andersen once telling him with a laugh, 'I'm glad you're going in for this drill and not me.' Continued Ayres, 'They would put me in for 5-on-0 drills, and (then Toronto coach) Sheldon Keefe would say to me, 'We're putting you in this drill because we don't want our goalies to get hurt.' That's fair. They were straight up with me. 'I loved it. I'll take a puck off the head or collarbone to be out there with the guys. I didn't care what it was.' Ayres, now working as a train conductor driving freight trains back and forth from Canada to the U.S., said the experience of getting into an NHL game in 2020 completely changed his life. 'I would go to the store and people would take pictures of me while I was getting groceries or eating food,' he said. 'Even to this day, I cross the border fairly often for work, and I'd say once or twice a week I'll get someone who will recognize me.' Advertisement Ayres used his platform to speak at charity events and raise awareness about organ donation, drawing inspiration from his mother's 2004 donation of a kidney to him. And while he's disappointed many of his EBUG brethren may not get to experience the thrill of NHL action under the new CBA, he understands why the overhaul is happening. 'Not that I wanted it to change, because there are a lot of guys in the EBUG fraternity who put their heart and soul into it,' he said. 'I knew it was only a matter of time until they changed it at some point.' With the stipulations on professional experience remaining relatively similar, there's a chance the dream won't end for every current EBUG. These changes won't take effect for a full year, leaving teams with plenty to still iron out. 'When I first saw it come out, I thought it was done, but now I'm not as sure,' said Connor Beaupre, who has served as EBUG for the Minnesota Wild since 2016-17. 'I'm curious as to what teams think their prototypical EBUG will be.' Beaupre has practiced with the Wild extensively over the years. He has seen the relief on goalies' faces when they realize they can take a few drills off, and the elation on skaters' faces when they see they have a goalie — any goalie — to shoot on. 'With a goalie, they can be a little more competitive and push themselves a little bit more, instead of doing the drill around the dot and shooting into an empty net,' Beaupre said. Providing teams with a full-time practice goalie is a minor adjustment that could have significant consequences, allowing NHL goalies to focus their practice time on improving their own technique. 'The goalies love it,' Ayres said of his practice time with the Leafs and Marlies. 'They would actually get to spend time at one end with the goalie coach to work on some things to tighten their game up, and I'd be at the other end taking a beating.' Advertisement It could also lead to healthier NHL goalies playing games, an obvious win for both league and sport. 'Even if it's three skates a month that you take off, throughout the course of a season you put your pads on 20 less times, and that could be five more games you can play,' Oettinger said. 'It gives you the opportunity to be more fresh, and gives the performance guys more opportunity for you to pick your spots.' Some of the changes to the CBA sparked contentious debates between the NHL Players' Association and the owners. But not when it came to revamping the EBUG system. 'I don't think there was any pushback,' said Oettinger, the Stars' alternative player representative on the NHLPA executive board. '(The owners) understood why we were asking for it. It's a win-win for both sides, and a no-brainer.' (Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Photo: istock)
