Problems with backup goalie performance

[Kekkonen]

Does anyone else have problems in getting the back-up goalie to perform?

I first had LaBarbera as my back-up for most of the first season, and he didn't play well. I thought that was simply because he wasn't a very good goalie. However, then, in my second season, I traded LaBarbera and promoted the 2006/07 AHL goalie of the year Andy Chiodo, and he sucked. He was bad his first season and got just awful ratings at the start of the next; his ratings didn't make him look like an all-star but they weren't really *that* bad.

However, I was tired of losing every game where I had to rest Nitty (who had a GAA of about 2.8, Chiodo's was over 4), so I traded Chiodo and signed the 38-year-old UFA Olaf Kölzig, who was slowing down but still had good physical and excellent technical ratings. He was better than Chiodo, but inconsistent and performed far, far below of what I would expect from someone with his ratings. Now, in the start of the 2009/10 season, I have Marek Schwarz as my back-up; he's had two good seasons in the AHL and his ratings have steadily improved, yet he is horribly, horribly inconsistent as a back-up netminder.

[Alessandro]

Train them harder, or try to make them play more in order to avoid them losing "game-tempo" lol i hope i am clear

[redwingsfan]

yeah. you have to play them more for them to be consistent. i usually play my backup 20-25 games pr. season.

[Kekkonen]

That's what I'm doing; that's actually the minimum I give them, especially if they're young goalies I'm looking to develop. My back-ups always play a lot in the pre-season, so they get rid of that 'lacking match practice' tag, and regardless of whether they're prospects or veterans, I make sure that they don't get it back at any point of the season (except for the play-offs, when my goaltending switches to a one-man show).

I initially thought it was a nice touch that a young goalie would struggle when faced with that kind of limited playing time, but Kölzig, a 38-year-old veteran with starter-level attributes, couldn't find his groove either.

[noctambulist]

It seems like you are giving the backup decent playing time, so it might be a practice issue.

I set my goalies practice this way:

Conditioning - Intensive
Skating - Intensive
Tactics - Medium
Shooting - None
Off. Skill - Medium
Def. Skill - Medium
Goaltending - Intensive

This way even if they aren't playing in a game they are moving their butts up and down the rink in practice and staying fit. Also, I assume you have a good Goalie Coach and a good Conditioning Based Coach?

[Kekkonen]

I'm not giving Schwarz intensive conditioning, because that tends to drop his fitness level pretty soon, but otherwise my training schedule for back-ups is identical to yours. My coaches are fairly good too.

It may be a playing time issue to a degree; Nitty was day-to-day for a week in which I had 3 games, and Schwarz put together a series of strong games: ratings 8-7-8, 3 wins, GAA 1.67, and in the final game he came within about 2 minutes of his first NHL shutout. Maybe it's working out -- it could be a confidence issue, and a back-up could get stuck in a low-confidence rut easier than a starter because he seldom gets to try and play himself out of it. And as I said, my first two long-time backups (LaBarbera and Chiodo) just weren't very good goalies, and Kölzig was getting old and a bit slow. He could still sling a mean glove, but he apparently wasn't good enough for the Caps to sign him at $1.7 million a season; he also retired a couple of weeks after his contract with me ran out.

[Shadd666]

I'm not giving Schwarz intensive conditioning, because that tends to drop his fitness level pretty soon

Strange... I use exactly the same practice schedule as noctambulist for my goalies and never had any fitness issue...

[Minstrel]

I'm not giving Schwarz intensive conditioning, because that tends to drop his fitness level pretty soon

Strange... I use exactly the same practice schedule as noctambulist for my goalies and never had any fitness issue...

I can't know for sure without seeing both of your coaching lists and exactly how you both have setups done but what this makes me think of is that some coach "drive" players harder than others, coaches that are high on motivating players could cause them to work harder in practice than a coach that doesn't inspire his players to push it as hard in practice. Also possible factores: coaches that don't have high values for coaching youth would be harder on young goalies put in their care and coaches that have a low rating in adaptability would be "my way or the highway" type coaches that have a very rigid view of how their players should practice and that lack of flexibility can wear on players as well.

So for some coaches their "intensive" levels aren't that taxing; others are like a living hell.

So any time we are discussing these kind of things remember it's a very complex game and there are a lot of factors that can be affecting any area of the game.

[Shadd666]

I think that their level of discipline is important too... Else, players will be fed up with an intensive practice and start to become lazy, as the coach doesn't say anything about it... But maybe i'm wrong on this one

[Kekkonen]

Well, now I'll see what a coaching change will do. Out with Ranford, in with Clint Malarchuk, who has superior ratings in man management, motivation, and working with kids. It could be just a coincidence, but in his first start under Malarchuk, Schwarz saved 16 out of 17, got rating 8 and came within 2 minutes of his first career shutout.

[Kekkonen]

Well, Schwarz's season soon went down the drain. So, about 10 days before the trade deadline, I noticed that the Rangers were suggesting trades where they'd send Montoya out of Manhattan. So, I made my move; they didn't much like Schwarz, but they did take a 4th-rounder + a defensive prospect who looks like he's just undergoing the transition from 'project' to 'bum'. Montoya had time to make 11 starts, netting 3 shutouts, 7 wins, 1.80 GAA and .935 save percentage, and he signed a two-year extension for about $1.2 million per season.

So, I just thought I'd toss out a radical idea for discussion: What if my back-up goalie problems were all because my back-ups have been lousy goalies?