Dustin Wolf, Juuse Saros, and Being Small in Net

[JPT]

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

Why don't they prepare for goalies of various sizes instead of just 6'4" goalies?

 

[joestevens29]

Why don't they prepare for goalies of various sizes instead of just 6'4" goalies?

Teams shouldn’t prepare for anyone like that

Should be preparing for the goalie you are playing next skill set, not their size

 

[Armourboy]

Having watched the two extremes recently, Rinne at 6'6" and Saros at 5'11", the difference is, well, pretty big?

Saros is very smooth, he always seems to be where he should be. His angles are really good, and his agility is insane. His downsides are that because he is smaller you will get some of those crazy bounces and tips that would catch a taller goalie in the shoulders going in. Obviously more room to shoot up top as well. His glove isn't anything special and his rebound control can get a little nasty, especially to start the season.

Rinne was much more choppy, more of a fish out of water. He was athletic but it didn't show up in smoothness. Now as he got older that got better, he settled down much more in his later years and did become much more smooth. His ability to move the puck was much better than Saros and his glove hand was so good it could actually get him into trouble. He tried to catch everything early in his career.

I'd say the advantage being big gives you is that you don't need to be as precise. When you are smaller you gotta be agile and things like angles need to be dead on or you will just leave even more space for shooters.

 

[evdog]

Here's the link again.

Unmasked: Wolf of Flames impressing as undersized goalie | NHL.com

Rookie performing well despite atypical positioning, depth in crease

www.nhl.com

If it doesn't work, just search "unmasked wolf"

 

[Frank Drebin]

I don't think teams prepare for goalies size, rather than style. ie if he plays the puck well, rebound control and where to shoot for said rebounds, tendencies, etc.

I love watching wolf and saros play. They just move around so athletically its nice to watch. Rask was a lot like that too.

 

[NotCommitted]

Having watched the two extremes recently, Rinne at 6'6" and Saros at 5'11", the difference is, well, pretty big?

It's funny because you have a small guy playing whose game is based a lot on positioning and angles and a big guy who relied on his agility. Some nights watching Rinne was like a watching a run of "big save" highlights. Some of that because he was just that great when he was on, some of it was because he had a tendency to get out of position and just rely on his agility to make the save. He was one of the more entertaining modern goalies for sure. I think someone like Hellebuyck is more like people expect big goalies to be like, just let pucks hit you. Sometimes Hellebuyck makes it look so easy.

Not saying Saros is not agile or athletic, just that I think sometimes people overlook his angles and positioning.

 

[JianYang]

Having watched the two extremes recently, Rinne at 6'6" and Saros at 5'11", the difference is, well, pretty big?

Saros is very smooth, he always seems to be where he should be. His angles are really good, and his agility is insane. His downsides are that because he is smaller you will get some of those crazy bounces and tips that would catch a taller goalie in the shoulders going in. Obviously more room to shoot up top as well. His glove isn't anything special and his rebound control can get a little nasty, especially to start the season.

Rinne was much more choppy, more of a fish out of water. He was athletic but it didn't show up in smoothness. Now as he got older that got better, he settled down much more in his later years and did become much more smooth. His ability to move the puck was much better than Saros and his glove hand was so good it could actually get him into trouble. He tried to catch everything early in his career.

I'd say the advantage being big gives you is that you don't need to be as precise. When you are smaller you gotta be agile and things like angles need to be dead on or you will just leave even more space for shooters.

I've also wondered about the bishop sized goalies and whether the 5 hole would be more difficult to manage for them as opposed to the smaller guys.

I have had a theory of goalies being too big for the position although being too small seems to get more attention.

I'm not saying bishop was bad though. I actually thought he was pretty good but also an exception to the size theory.

 

[Armourboy]

It's funny because you have a small guy playing whose game is based a lot on positioning and angles and a big guy who relied on his agility. Some nights watching Rinne was like a watching a run of "big save" highlights. Some of that because he was just that great when he was on, some of it was because he had a tendency to get out of position and just rely on his agility to make the save. He was one of the more entertaining modern goalies for sure. I think someone like Hellebuyck is more like people expect big goalies to be like, just let pucks hit you. Sometimes Hellebuyck makes it look so easy.

Not saying Saros is not agile or athletic, just that I think sometimes people overlook his angles and positioning.

Saros is more agile than Rinne was, the difference is in how they use it. Rinne used his more in a diving manner, and yes sometimes he had great highlight saves because he created them being out of position to start with.

Rinne's overall game became much more like Saros' did as his career went on. I'm sure some of that was age and injuries, but he became much more fluid and became much more about less movement. I think in some ways its why he always seemed to get better even as he got older. He actually became much better on the technical side as the athletic side started to go.

I've also wondered about the bishop sized goalies and whether the 5 hole would be more difficult to manage for them as opposed to the smaller guys.

I have had a theory of goalies being too big for the position although being too small seems to get more attention.

I'm not saying bishop was bad though. I actually thought he was pretty good but also an exception to the size theory.

I don't recall it being any different with Rinne for example, but he was always really good with stick work so that may have played a part in why. Never watched Bishop much so can't really say.