Article: Filip Gustavsson Offers a Unique Perspective on Why Goalies Play Better Behind Good Defenses

[Justin Hein]

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[Enforceror]

Nice article. I wonder if there's any crossover here to Wally's game. I attributed his rough start to leaky D and blowback from being not given a chance in the NHL.

[IllicitFive]

17 minutes ago, Enforceror said:

Nice article. I wonder if there's any crossover here to Wally's game. I attributed his rough start to leaky D and blowback from being not given a chance in the NHL.

Its well known goalies are different between the ears, I mean you have to be to stand in front of a rubber disc flying at you. I worry that Wall may have developed poor qualities trying to cover up for the defense in Iowa. I would like to see him up, work with Gus, and have a few games to make sure nothing broke. Mentoring from Gus and Flower should go a long way to making sure he sticks to what got him drafted 1st round, being quiet and controlled in the crease, similar to Gus when he is on. The biggest concern would be his confidence being shaken. That can be tough to come back from as we saw with Gus last year.

[Sam]

Yea I think that’s a big factor to Gus’s success. I think the good defense in Winnipeg is also helping Hellebuyck out. It seems like goalies play better when their confidence is high and I’m pretty sure there’s been a lot of odd man rushes and “high danger” scoring opportunities for the Wall in Iowa. It would be nice to get him up here but I think it’s because of the injuries there.

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

59 minutes ago, Enforceror said:

Nice article. I wonder if there's any crossover here to Wally's game. I attributed his rough start to leaky D and blowback from being not given a chance in the NHL.

I think there is a lot to be said for trusting a defense. After the peppering Wallstedt took last year, he may have taken to putting the team on his back and could have many of the same pitfalls trying to do so. It looks the defense in Iowa has improved marginally so this could be the case. Also, he admitted that getting back in a good mindset was tough after he was promised time in the big club this year and had the rug yanked. Hockey is a mental game and I can see how it would be easy to not be at your best after a bit of a rollercoaster of an offseason for the young man.

[mnfaninnc]

Excellent article Justin.

There are several things here I think we need to digest.

1. Coming over from Ottawa, Goose's tendency was to drop back into his net too far. Last season it was due to coming out too far? There is probably a sweet spot in there. Now, if Goose found this in the tape, why didn't his coach? Did other coaches find this out too and exploit it making it even worse? I like the adjustment, but am recommending he do this more often.
2. Trust. Who ya gonna trust, hubba, hubba, hubba! In life, there seems to be a connection between Hope, Trust, Faith and Confidence. Regardless of your beliefs, you're at your best when all of these elements are clicking. Why wouldn't this happen in hockey? Was the Wild defense even worthy of trust last season? For much of it, I'd have to say no. For The Wall as I5 has suggested, I'd say no too. Is there reason this season? I'd have to say a resounding yes, and will answer that in the next section. In Iowa, the defense was playing with structure which surprised me. I thought they'd be all over the place, they weren't and had plenty of opportunity to do so. The Wall didn't play, but McLean has adopted Hynes' system.
3. When Hynes took the job last season, he had seen them play for a couple of weeks from his couch. He tried to simply help them do better in the Evason system giving them some tweaks. This season, the Wild have played a pack it in defense, much like what Scott Stevens was doing years ago. But it's more than that, last season, it seemed like many times the players were playing a man to man defense, with defenders following their guy back up to the blueline and around the horn. This season it is more of a zone where they will pass that guy off. It still happens occasionally (following a guy), but not with the frequency of last season. The result is that a goalie should be able to trust that the correct defense has his back. So, let's test it.
4. If this difference has affected goalie play, then the new system should be friendlier to all goalies playing, not just Goose. Are Fleury's numbers better? Last time I saw them, they were. In the defensive end, Heinzy has found something that makes this defense play way better. Spurgy and Brodin are the only guys left from the Stevens' era, could they have suggested it? Or, did Hynes figure this all out on his own? Perhaps the head shaking over last season was more of an "I can't wait to fix this" type of head shake because he knew the problem? One more thing, it appears that the defense can pinch in the offensive zone fully being able to trust a forward is up top. Does this help too?
5. It's the combination! As in life, many things are complex. It's not just 1 thing, it's a combination of everything. Everybody's playing better, and they're playing well within this structured system. Defenders can pinch down to save pucks and forwards, especially like Kaprizov and Boldy are covering. Defenders are playing well on defense packing in and blocking a lot of shots from the perimeter, not allowing a lot of high danger chances. The goalies are playing within themselves not trying to do too much....and occasionally scoring PP goals. 

I would also venture to say that Goose's interview where he opened up probably takes you inside of the head of most goalies out there. It's not just poor defenders that make the problem, it's more about not being able to trust where those poor defenders are going to end up. Now, if we look at the Addison era, we can certainly see that he was caught countless times out of position, many times because he was composing himself after getting hit on the end boards. Addy was a perfect candidate to head to the spritzer leagues!

[mnfaninnc]

11 minutes ago, TheGoosesAreLooses said:

Also, he admitted that getting back in a good mindset was tough after he was promised time in the big club this year and had the rug yanked.

Had he really admitted this? I had speculated about it, but have never heard it actually happened.

[TheGoosesAreLooses]

8 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

Had he really admitted this? I had speculated about it, but have never heard it actually happened.

 Joe Smith’s “Fellowship of the Rink” podcast, Wallstedt said he had trouble accepting the demotion in his first couple of games. After all, promises were made in the offseason — to the point that on the eve of the season, he signed a two-year, one-way extension starting in 2025-26.

This is from an athletic article but Jesper got a bit more into it on the actual podcast. He wrestled with it and a wrong mindset in starting the season can definitely cave in confidence if he plays badly. It spirals from there. 

Jesper is a good kid, that put in a ton of work this offseason to try to make the big leagues. I have confidence he will find his groove again and settle things down.

[MNCountryLife]

Going to be a tough night tonight without Ek and Brodin.   Our best D man and our best 200 foot center big man.  Good luck Wild.