Dustin Wolf, Juuse Saros, and Being Small in Net

Kielbasa

Registered User
Mar 28, 2023
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Kevin Woodley wrote a really interesting article on Wolf and how his game has developed, I suggest you give it a read here:


What really caught my eye was the quote that Saros gave on Wolf, who he has been following since the 2018 Ivan Hlinka Gretzky Cup apperently.

"Obviously there's not many of us," said Saros, who at 5-foot-11 is the smallest goalie in the NHL this season. "But I don't really pay much attention to the size. I pay attention to how goalies play. There's a lot of saves you notice how he controls his body and how fast he changes direction, so all those little things as a goalie you really appreciate when you see that. His technical, his skating and all those little details are, I feel, better than anybody in the League, so that's what I feel all goalies can look up too."

That's some pretty darn high praise from a guy most people see as an annual Vezina candidate.
 
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GeeoffBrown

Registered User
Jul 6, 2007
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I do wonder if they benefit from being a different matchup than most goalies. Teams prepare for 6'4" goalies, not 5'11" goalies
 

DJJones

Registered User
Nov 18, 2014
10,801
4,125
Calgary
He's clearly way faster than most goalies, especially laterally.

So much offense is based on cross ice passes in order to beat the giant goalies he seems to have an advantage there.
 

Bounces R Way

Registered User
Nov 18, 2013
37,125
59,770
Weegartown
Hockey IQ doesn't get talked about much when it comes to goalies but these two have it in spades. Process and anticipate extremely well.
 

Sheppy

Registered User
Nov 23, 2011
59,065
65,578
The Arctic
It's kind of crazy how that position changed so much. In the 80's it seemed like 5'10 was a big goalie, haha.
 

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