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G Zach Fucale (2013, 36th, MTL)

He will be tested tonight by some really good shooters. If Canada wins he will have to make some big saves and if that does happen there is no doubt he has a winning pedigree. This is the biggest game of his career and will go a long way in how he is looked at as a prospect.
 
bert said:
He will be tested tonight by some really good shooters. If Canada wins he will have to make some big saves and if that does happen there is no doubt he has a winning pedigree. This is the biggest game of his career and will go a long way in how he is looked at as a prospect.
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For me, he has to work on rebound control. But otherwise, he has been very good. And yes, he has been tested.
 
Tim Wallach said:
For me, he has to work on rebound control. But otherwise, he has been very good. And yes, he has been tested.
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He has faced an average of 17.25 shots per game but if it's anything like the excuses in Halifax, every shot was an incredible scoring chance.
 
Yeah, I'm the idiot who's eating crow right now for thinking Fucale is trash - not!

Should have started Comrie. Fucale is a shaky goalie with terrible rebound control and broken fundamentals.

Comrie is a much more fundamentally sound goaltender.
 
Yeahhhh probably should've started Comrie. They decided to start the goalie with a career .900 sv% over the goalie with a career .918 sv% in a back-to-back, now it's biting us in the ass.
 
Typical Hfboards overreaction here again.

First poster makes a fair statement by saying he has to work on his rebound control. Constructive and smart comment. And then, the useless "trash talk" begins. And the reaction by his fanboard...

Why is it that after a prospect is drafted, there can no longer be a healthy discussion about a player ? What does it bring you guys to overhype or to trash a player ?

Human nature is quite difficult to understand sometimes.
 
kglink5 said:
Yeahhhh probably should've started Comrie. They decided to start the goalie with a career .900 sv% over the goalie with a career .918 sv% in a back-to-back, now it's biting us in the ass.
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ive never been high on Fucale but to be fair almost every all star/good goalie that came out of the Q had similar/worse numbers

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=587 Marty
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=4688 Roy
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=26791 Lou
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=80398 Bernier (more recent)
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=55016 Fleury (1st OA pick with a .910 save %)
 
peen said:
Fucale is a shaky goalie with terrible rebound control and broken fundamentals.
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That is exactly the wrong description of Fucale, lol. Mentally unflappable is what you were looking for, with better rebound control than most of the goalies I've ever seen him face. In multiple games now at this tournament alone, despite being relatively untested, they've commented on his demeanor, and ability to absorb and direct pucks into corners, to backchecking teammates, etc. I'm always curious to hear what people come up with when they're asked about opinions like "broken fundamentals".
 
He was solid last night, bent but didn't break and made some key saves in the 3rd period to protect the lead.
 
Ohashi_Jouzu said:
That is exactly the wrong description of Fucale, lol. Mentally unflappable is what you were looking for, with better rebound control than most of the goalies I've ever seen him face. In multiple games now at this tournament alone, despite being relatively untested, they've commented on his demeanor, and ability to absorb and direct pucks into corners, to backchecking teammates, etc. I'm always curious to hear what people come up with when they're asked about opinions like "broken fundamentals".
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There are 2 kinds of rebound control in play here, perhaps... he does seem to be good at directing the puck, when he sees it. But he does also seem to bobble a lot of shots and not necessarily track where the puck goes very well when it "just hits him". A lot of loose pucks on his doorstep. Sometimes he grabbed them thereafter, sometimes his D did, and a couple times those go in the net if the opponent is jamming him. I'd definitely come up with a gameplan of throwing pucks at the net from everywhere and sending guys at him hard.

He does usually get praised for being calm and mentally unflappable/poised, etc, though by those who know his personality and interract with him. It doesn't seem to be evident to some just watching him play, I guess.

I also think he could stand to make himself a little bigger in the net and challenge more.

Anyway, he's a young goalie heading on another Memorial Cup run and thence into an organization which seems to have a strong goalie coach, so he'll get lots of time to work on the weaknesses in his game. And he's accomplished a lot in his junior career, more than the vast majority of goaltending prospects do, for all that he still has important things to work on.
 
He has plenty of time to work on rebound control. He isn't even a professional yet, therefore does not have access to top level coaching and direction (aside from a short stint with the NHL training camps).

There are very few if any goalies at his age with a completely rounded game.
 
PensBandwagonerNo272 said:
he gets **** on by HFScouts that have never seen him play because they see a .900 save percentage on hockeydb.com while playing for the ****ing mooseheads
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People keep saying this but Mooseheads aren't terrible. Also fans bragged after drafting him after the Memorial Cup playing on one of the best teams ever. On those teams his Sv Percentage still wasn't great considering the team he was on
 
He looked terrified in net.. his body language. I don't see him being a big name in the NHL.
 
Judging with yesterday's game, everyone on Team Canada would be busts. It's unfair to pick Fucale as a scapegoat while everyone sucked.

He is obviously still very young and has still stuff to learn, that's normal. He's a prospect after all.

But he has won at every level so far and is in the right environment to get better with Stéphane Waite.

It's still too soon to make any judgment about him going to the NHL or not.
 
mapes said:
People keep saying this but Mooseheads aren't terrible. Also fans bragged after drafting him after the Memorial Cup playing on one of the best teams ever. On those teams his Sv Percentage still wasn't great considering the team he was on
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They are ****ing brutal defensively as is the whole QMJHL and most of the CHL in general.

Like, actually horrible.
 
So, first thread bumping I guess, but more importantly, I've been rummaging through the QMJHL records site (beautiful site btw) and have been noticing how close Fucale is to some records.

He sites at, 187 GP 126 Reg Sea wins, and 12 shutout
the record is 239, 142, and 15 respectively

Quebec has like 25-27 games left, he won't get the GP record, but he could get 17 wins to get that record, and 4 shutouts, 3 to tie.

In the playoffs, he has 49 GP 35 wins and 3 shutouts,
the Record is 56, 38, and 9 respectively

Unless Quebec chokes in the first round, Fucale should get the Playoff games and wins record, but the shutout record is probably out of reach (6-7 shutouts in one playoffs seems impossible)

I know Fucale still have development to go, but having already won a Memorial Cup, and going to play in another this year (baring injury), and having just won a WJHC gold I think it is safe to say that Fucale has had one of the most decorated QMJHL careers a goalie could have.

Obviously we can't see the future, so we don't know if Fucale will have a great NHL career, a good NHL career, or just be a career minor leaguer, but I thought it was worth noting.
 
zeropotentate said:
So, first thread bumping I guess, but more importantly, I've been rummaging through the QMJHL records site (beautiful site btw) and have been noticing how close Fucale is to some records.

He sites at, 187 GP 126 Reg Sea wins, and 12 shutout
the record is 239, 142, and 15 respectively

Quebec has like 25-27 games left, he won't get the GP record, but he could get 17 wins to get that record, and 4 shutouts, 3 to tie.

In the playoffs, he has 49 GP 35 wins and 3 shutouts,
the Record is 56, 38, and 9 respectively

Unless Quebec chokes in the first round, Fucale should get the Playoff games and wins record, but the shutout record is probably out of reach (6-7 shutouts in one playoffs seems impossible)

I know Fucale still have development to go, but having already won a Memorial Cup, and going to play in another this year (baring injury), and having just won a WJHC gold I think it is safe to say that Fucale has had one of the most decorated QMJHL careers a goalie could have.

Obviously we can't see the future, so we don't know if Fucale will have a great NHL career, a good NHL career, or just be a career minor leaguer, but I thought it was worth noting.
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So he gets all the credit team wins, but none for his pedestrian save percentage? Not really that hard to predict if he makes the NHL. Looks at his SV% adjusted for league and see how many goalies ever make it to the NHL. I bet it's much closer to 0 then 100 percent.
 
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