Melanson

[orcatown]

From the evidence I have seen, it is my impression that former goalie coach did not work well with the young Montreal goalies. I wonder if provide me with more insight into that situation.

In particular what impact did Melanson style have on Price and Theodore

Really appreciate anything I can get here. Thanks

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[Roulin]

Huet had his best years by a mile with Melanson.

 

[OneSharpMarble]

I remember there being a problem with Price and Melanson, Price wanted his own coach or something.

 

[DekeLikeYouMeanIt]

I remember reading a while back [maybe from the Goalie Guild] that in short: Melanson kept trying to change Price's style and he wasn't able to adapt. The article I read was pretty descriptive but I don't remember where I read it.

 

[Shutdown]

From the evidence I have seen, it is my impression that former goalie coach did not work well with the young Montreal goalies. I wonder if provide me with more insight into that situation.

In particular what impact did Melanson style have on Price and Theodore

Really appreciate anything I can get here. Thanks

When it comes to goalie coaching, it's rare you will find a coach who will please every goalie he teaches. Though most goalies have adapted the butterfly style, there are so many differences in style and technique from goalie to goalie. Basically, there's more than one way to stop a puck.

Melanson is very much a technical goalie coach, similar to F. Allaire. This isn't a bad thing, it just means that there's a higher probability of conflicting ideologies with other goalies and coaches. On the other side of the coin, you've got a guy like the Habs current goalie coach Pierre Groulx, who from what I've read/heard, will work with the style a goalie already possesses and rounds out his game from there. He uses a goalie's style as the starting point and molds/adapts from there as opposed to trying to break down the technical skills and re-working them like Melanson would.

As someone else mentioned, he did very well with Huet. Halak also had his best years under Melanson, and Melanson had a big part in his development as they worked together in the AHL as well.

Basically, don't listen to people who say he ruins young goalies. Every goalie is different, sometimes styles and ideologies clash. Hope this was somewhat clear, it's difficult to put the thoughts into words when it comes to all this.

 

[Alexdaman]

He sure has been struggling since he moved to Vancouver.

 

[orcatown]

Thanks for the time to provide some insight. I think I might be right in saying that Melanson has predetermined way he wants the goalie to play whereas someone like Groulx, it seems, is a little more ready to go with what the players are bringing and just try to polish it.

 

[Habsterix*]

From the evidence I have seen, it is my impression that former goalie coach did not work well with the young Montreal goalies. I wonder if provide me with more insight into that situation.

In particular what impact did Melanson style have on Price and Theodore

Really appreciate anything I can get here. Thanks

Melanson is a one-trick pony. He knows and can teach the butterfly style and that's where it ends.

When he was in Montreal, he worked well with Huet and Halak, two butterfly goalies. Let's not forget that he also worked with Corey Schneider in Vancouver, who is now making Luongo expandable.

Price being more of a hybrid style, Rollie tried to change his style which is a huge mistake at the highest level of hockey in the world. When a goalie starts thinking instead of going with instincts at this level, he gets killed. A good goalie coach will work with the style in hand and improve on it. After all, that's that brought him to that level. That's why Melanson is gone and Groulx is here, working well with Price. There could have been some personality issues also between Price and his goalie coach, not unusual.

 

[overlords]

Melanson is a one-trick pony. He knows and can teach the butterfly style and that's where it ends.

When he was in Montreal, he worked well with Huet and Halak, two butterfly goalies. Let's not forget that he also worked with Corey Schneider in Vancouver, who is now making Luongo expandable.

Price being more of a hybrid style, Rollie tried to change his style which is a huge mistake at the highest level of hockey in the world. When a goalie starts thinking instead of going with instincts at this level, he gets killed. A good goalie coach will work with the style in hand and improve on it. After all, that's that brought him to that level. That's why Melanson is gone and Groulx is here, working well with Price. There could have been some personality issues also between Price and his goalie coach, not unusual.

That sounds about right. Wasn't one of the technical problems being that Price was going down too early under Melanson? I seem to remember that, but not all that clearly.

 

[Habs]

Melanson teaching = butterfly to the death.

 

[The Gal Pals]

Melanson teaching = butterfly to the death.

Agreed. There's a reason why all Melanson's goalies got beat over the shoulder, he always had them going down super early. Price was great when he first got to Mtl but then as Melanson started to mold him Price started dropping down quickly as well and that's when he started to struggle. Halak did well under Melanson because he was more acrobatic and could move more quickly than Price. Price is bigger so when he goes down it takes him longer to get back up. I think it's evident that Melanson was not good for our goalies.

Melanson also didn't allow his goalies to improvise in the shootout. A poke-check was out of the question.