As fans, goalie coaches are one of the toughest jobs to gauge from a distance. What is being said? What if the goalie just isn't responding to what the coach says?
We likely have no idea whether a goalie coach is good or bad. The good news on this? Sometimes when a goalie coach is bad, former players will complain as has happened on a few other teams. I haven't heard a peep of that towards Sigalet. In fact, the only peep I have heard at all was from Ramo in this article, in which he agreed with the adjustments that Sigalet suggested and said himself that it seemed to be paying off, and then started showing in his stats:
http://www.flamesfrom80feet.ca/2016/...stment-to.html
Quote:
Proof that the adjustment has worked can be found in the numbers. At the end of November, Ramo's save percentage was .899 and six times he had surrendered at least four goals. Since the start of December, he's posted a .930 save percentage and given up four goals in a game only once.
"By being a little deeper in his net now, it allows him to come across his net more controlled, more calm and compact and it's made a big difference in his game, especially in his rebound recovery," said Sigalet. "Even last game, the rebound when Max Domi had that great chance. Because he was a little bit deeper on the original shot, it was a lot easier for him to get across and make that second save."
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We have to remember that there are exit interviews for players. That's a lot of goalies that have been let go over the last few seasons. I am sure they would have no problem letting the Flames know that Sigalet was a problem, or didn't help matters, or whatever it was. The fact that Sigalet is still around in the organization makes me believe he is (rightly or wrongly) more well thought of than not.
Who knows? Maybe Treliving makes a change this season, maybe he doesn't. All I am saying is that we as fans are speculating without any real information. We have no visibility on what Sigalet is really doing with the goalies, what adjustments (other than that one single one I posted above) is being asked of the goalies (and if they are following-through on adjustments or not), how good of a head-shrink he is with them, etc.
All we see is a bunch of goalies that haven't panned out.
My personal theory? In a way, maybe it is like what Dubynk was facing in Edmonton. Coming into the league, Dubynk was a fairly well thought of prospect, and he did fairly well at first. Then he started declining over the years there to the point that he really couldn't stop that proverbial beach ball. Why did that happen? Because of the goalie coach giving him poor instructions? It was actually because he started not trusting the team in front of him, and continually felt the need to over-compensate on shots and angles, thinking that the skaters wouldn't be in proper position to help him out on rebounds, or would pick up the opposing team's trailer for that cross-ice pass.
Flames do have a propensity to somehow allow prime opportunity chances. Elliott was garbage to start the season, but so were the Flames at playing defence. When the Flames tightened up a bit more, Elliott suddenly found a resurgence on the Flames, and backstopped them solidly into the playoffs.
I think goaltending and defensive acumen are more interrelated than the goalie coach, to be honest.
Think of it this way. The goalie doesn't HAVE to listen to the goalie coach. Neither Elliott nor Johnson were fresh rookies who would blindly follow the instructions of a goalie coach for fear of not playing another game. They were two very established goalies in the league (whether starter or backup, they have both been around for a while, and I would consider them both established veteran goalies). If Sigalet wasn't helping (or, at the very least, giving them instructions that they disagreed with) Sigalet probably would have been canned by now, and there might be a good chance that we would have heard something by now.
I am not saying Sigalet deserves to stay or deserves to be let go. I am just saying that we as fans probably don't have an ounce of visibility in the situation, and simply formulate our own opinions on way too limited information. He may be fantastic, or he may be horrible. We as fans have little to no insight either way, as we have no idea what he is trying to get them to do or what his suggestions are.