Quote:
Originally Posted by Vulcan
Irving's doing pretty well there.
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Irving also had eye surgery at the end of his tenure with the Flames. I suspect that may have helped his game out a lot.
Re: Thomas. True, but we have to remember Thomas pretty much breaks every law of goaltending in the league from style down on down. It would concern me if we're relying on Thomas to lie down an example.
The thing that concerns me about thinking Finland is a "goaltending factory" is the way goaltending is taught. Finnish goaltending often comes down to active glove and foot shuffling as the core fundamental talent to keep control of their positioning. I'm not convinced these play into Gillies' style. Gillies plays a traditional butterfly with aggressive movements. Is it true some goalies shift style over career? Of course. We saw Vernon go from a hybrid to a butterfly. But I'm not convinced that giving him lessons in that helps as much as letting him keep what he finds success in.
Now, if the Flames had drafted a 10 year old Gillies and told him to go overseas and learn how to play this style from the ground up, I'd probably agree. Traditional Finnish goaltending is a beautiful art.