Player Discussion Dustin Wolf

[Figgy44]

If anyone wants to see textbook goalie development it's right here. Flames did an amazing job letting him cook in the AHL. Wish more teams had this kind of patience.

How's Levi doing? I think he can still work out if they go back to basics for his development.

 

[sabresfan129103]

How's Levi doing? I think he can still work out if they go back to basics for his development.

I think when it's all said and done he'll be a decent NHL goaltender. The issue is that any time he has a good game at the NHL level our GM leaves him on the roster for 2 months in the hopes that he can replicate that great performance and he never can. He's 22. He needs to play and UPL is better than him. They begrudgingly sent him to Rochester earlier this week which is where he needs to be because he needs to play.

One of the reasons I've been following Wolf's development is because it's similar to Ryan Miller's who played like 170 games in the AHL before he was ready for full time NHL duty, but because they let him develop his game he became a great NHL goaltender. Wolf looks like a beast now and it's a credit to Calgary who left him on the Wranglers as long as they did. Patience is a virtue when it comes to goalies.

 

[JPeeper]

7-2-1

GAA 2.36
SV% .925

Guy is legitimate a top goalie in the league already. Once again the Flames find gold in picking a guy who is better than his peers but gets passed on because he is undersized.

8-2-1
GAA 2.33
SV % .926


Sorry, but if Wolf isn't the leader right now the Calder then hockey media has gone full Simple Jack.

Guy should be in the conversation for the Vezna for crying out loud.

 

[Backlund]

I think people have been giving Calgary too much credit for his development. Wolf was going to be good wherever he went as long as you didn't rush him. Calgary has practically f***ed up every goalie they've ever drafted. Wolf had a chip on his shoulder, great technical skills and a great work ethic. His size was the only problem. He was going to be good regardless of what Calgary did, not because they finally figured out how to develop a goaltender properly.

 

[Anglesmith]

I think people have been giving Calgary too much credit for his development. Wolf was going to be good wherever he went as long as you didn't rush him. Calgary has practically f***ed up every goalie they've ever drafted. Wolf had a chip on his shoulder, great technical skills and a great work ethic. His size was the only problem. He's good in spite of Calgary, not because they finally figured out how to develop a goaltender properly.

With you until you said "in spite of Calgary."

Calgary has basically just made the easy, low-risk decision at every step. They haven't done anything out of the ordinary. They let him cook in the AHL for asset management reasons as much as anything else.

But saying "in spite of Calgary" implies that something the Flames did along the way hurt his development.

 

[Backlund]

With you until you said "in spite of Calgary."

Calgary has basically just made the easy, low-risk decision at every step. They haven't done anything out of the ordinary. They let him cook in the AHL for asset management reasons as much as anything else.

But saying "in spite of Calgary" implies that something the Flames did along the way hurt his development.

Yeah I didn't phrase that properly, I'll fix it but the point still remains.

 

[Mobiandi]

Well no one picked him except for Calgary and that’s half the battle

 

[Rubi]

Well no one picked him except for Calgary and that’s half the battle

More than likely dumb luck than anything else. A 7th rnd real long shot where they couldn't see a better choice. Calgary has a terrible record when it comes to drafting goalies but even a blind squirrel gets lucky and finds the occasional nut.
As for development, letting him play in the AHL really was their only option with Markstrom and an untradeable Vladar playing for the Flames.

 

[Yepthatsme]

people here do realize there’s more to development than just choosing what league a guy plays in and how many starts you give him, right? Honestly best development move we’ve done is make Jason Labarbera our goalie coach and promoting Sigalet to pretty much just our goalie scout. Labarbera is respected around the league as one of the best and his impact seems obvious.

 

[Backlund]

people here do realize there’s more to development than just choosing what league a guy plays in and how many starts you give him, right? Honestly best development move we’ve done is make Jason Labarbera our goalie coach and promoting Sigalet to pretty much just our goalie scout. Labarbera is respected around the league as one of the best and his impact seems obvious.

Thomas Speer probably deserves more credit than Labarbera.

 

[Yepthatsme]

Thomas Speer probably deserves more credit than Labarbera.

I don’t have any proof of this, but I honestly believe since our AHL team moved to Calgary a lot of our prospects have been getting a lot more access to the Flames development coaches. The reason I started believing this is ever since they moved, all our prospects seem to make leaps and bounds with their skating. Neither of Zary or Pospisil were particularly known for their skating beforehand, and Coronato’s skating looks much improved too. Before when they were in Stockton, I can’t remember a single prospect that really turned their skating around in meaningful ways (which is a shame because it’s definitely the reason a guy like Phillips will never be an NHLer).

So all anecdotal, but I really do think LaBarbera deserves a lot of credit. Especially considering Spear is gone and we still seem to get the most out of goalies like Cooley currently.

 

[super6646]

I don’t have any proof of this, but I honestly believe since our AHL team moved to Calgary a lot of our prospects have been getting a lot more access to the Flames development coaches. The reason I started believing this is ever since they moved, all our prospects seem to make leaps and bounds with their skating. Neither of Zary or Pospisil were particularly known for their skating beforehand, and Coronato’s skating looks much improved too. Before when they were in Stockton, I can’t remember a single prospect that really turned their skating around in meaningful ways (which is a shame because it’s definitely the reason a guy like Phillips will never be an NHLer).

So all anecdotal, but I really do think LaBarbera deserves a lot of credit. Especially considering Spear is gone and we still seem to get the most out of goalies like Cooley currently.

Andersson’s skating seemed to improve from junior to the pro level

 

[Yepthatsme]

Andersson’s skating seemed to improve from junior to the pro level

While true, a lot of that can probably be also attributed to him fixing his fitness issues and shedding some pounds.
Regardless, even with an exception or two our prospects by large seem to be fixing or improving their foot speed in the minors more than they were.

 

[Backlund]

I don’t have any proof of this, but I honestly believe since our AHL team moved to Calgary a lot of our prospects have been getting a lot more access to the Flames development coaches. The reason I started believing this is ever since they moved, all our prospects seem to make leaps and bounds with their skating. Neither of Zary or Pospisil were particularly known for their skating beforehand, and Coronato’s skating looks much improved too. Before when they were in Stockton, I can’t remember a single prospect that really turned their skating around in meaningful ways (which is a shame because it’s definitely the reason a guy like Phillips will never be an NHLer).

So all anecdotal, but I really do think LaBarbera deserves a lot of credit. Especially considering Spear is gone and we still seem to get the most out of goalies like Cooley currently.

The Flames hired Danielle Fujita as the full time skating coach in 2018-19 so that's probably why it's been noticeable with Zary and Pospisil since they would've had more time to work with her than prospects that came before them.

Speer is gone but he was the goalie coach in the AHL where Wolf spent most of his time. Wolf also spent 3 months living with him and thinks of him as family so I'd still give him more credit than LaBarbera. I still think he isn't where he is because of how great the coaching was though, it's much more to do with Wolf personally but they both have helped him.

Preview/Lines #53: For Dustin Wolf, Sharks Goaltending Coach Thomas Speer Is Family

In Thomas Speer’s house, Dustin Wolf is known as “Uncle Wolfy”. It was a challenging time when Wolf, the Calgary Flames’ 2019 seventh-round pick, landed in Stockton in 2021. The Stockton Heat was the Flames’ AHL affiliate from 2015 to 2022. “Coming into my first year in Stockton and COVID...

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InGoal Radio Episode 156with Dustin Wolf and Thomas Speer - InGoal Magazine

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