Nanuuk
Registered User
This seems to be a trend in the NHL. I like it. And I like it even more that Signalet is being bumped out of the way.
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Fired by promotion, an NHL classic
I agree that Sigalet has a good eye for budding goalie talent and he seems to have built up a lot of trust in him, in that regard.I kinda disagree with this assessment. I don't disagree that Sigalet's performance so far has been wanting. But I also think that with this promotion and bringing in Labarbera, this will remove Sigalet from being responsible for a facet that he is seemingly very bad at, and this promotion also makes him responsible for something he's been quietly very good at.
Sigalet moved up in the organization from our AHL team after Malarchuk left IIRC. But when I was doing research to support why we should turf Sigalet, I recall noticing that Sigalet somehow had not spent more than 2 seasons with any of our goalies (even with long tenure) with the literal exception of Gilles, Smith and Rittich. Some of those goalies were in the org for several years.
Yet, the team had high praise for him, like they knew that he was doing a decently good job with how his chain had been yanked around or something like that (ie: 4 headed goalie monster).
Most of the goalie interviews say that most of the goalies are impressed with Sigalet in his ability to notice certain things and point them out. But at the same time, it seemed obvious that when the goalies needed goalie coach direction, Sigalet seemingly couldn't offer anything and the goalies would crater late season and what not.
I seriously wonder if it's because of MS cutting his career short that he isn't able to relate at that level of intensity and offer guidance when things are tough late season/playoffs. Having a journeyman guy like Labarbera could go a long way in filling those holes for the experience side of things.
There is seemingly enough evidence that Sigalet is pretty good at identifying talent with the Rittich and Chechelev stories. It does seem like Sigalet has decent fundamentals in terms of goalie coaching. But it also seems like Sigalet's Achilles heel is the experience side of goalie coaching, so honestly, here's hoping that Labarbera rounds that out and here's hoping we can graduate a few more prospects in the next few seasons, even if they only end up as McElhinney calibre goalies (it's still a huge, huge improvement to what we've had for decades). I think we added some sport psychologists too, which I think will also help as well by not requiring Sigalet to help in that manner where he is seemingly not strong enough at.
I agree that Sigalet has a good eye for budding goalie talent and he seems to have built up a lot of trust in him, in that regard.
I also think it's quite telling that he exits the day-to-day coaching responsibilities before handling the best goalie we've had since Kipper. From what it appears, he'd been doing both pro/amateur scouting and coaching for the Flames up until this point
What's the scoop on Labarbera?
Aside from not knowing that I like the idea of having a dedicated development coach to work with the young goalies, going to be interesting to see if there are any changes in how goalies come up through the system/any improvement at the AHL level among existing goalies with a dev coach out there.
What's the scoop on Labarbera?
Aside from not knowing that I like the idea of having a dedicated development coach to work with the young goalies, going to be interesting to see if there are any changes in how goalies come up through the system/any improvement at the AHL level among existing goalies with a dev coach out there.
This mans here to clean up the town. Godspeed Sheriff Labarbera.
For all the shit thrown at Sigalet, at least to my memory there haven't been any goalies who left and then became good. Many examples exist around the league, but not with us.
Sound like after he messed with you, you are finished?
You could interpret it that way, but the other side of it is that it leaves open the possibility that Sigalet has dealt with exclusively goalies who either didn't have it anymore or never had it in the first place. Without any examples like that, you can't definitively point to Sigalet as a negative factor.
Sigalet has dealt with:
- Karri Ramo, who was good with the Flames but couldn't stay healthy.
- Jonas Hiller, who was finished, but did have some good stretches with us.
- Joni Ortio, who was unable to make much of a career in the NHL.
- Brian Elliott, who got better and better during his season here (and then sewered the team in the playoffs).
- Chad Johnson, who played some of his best hockey with the Flames.
- Jon Gillies, who hasn't spent much time with the pro club at all.
- David Rittich, who developed into a very good goaltender before COVID.
- Eddie Lack, who was already finished when he came here.
- Mike Smith, who was nearly finished when he came here, but managed to have a good year anyway.
- Cam Talbot, who actually resurrected his career here.
Of those, the only ones who you could really argue that Sigalet has "ruined" would be Ortio and Gillies, but I think it's a pretty thin argument. Ortio left us young enough and toolsy enough that a good coach would've been able to 'fix' him if the problem was coaching. And Gillies has gotten steadily worse while in the AHL, not while working with Sigalet.
Meanwhile, you've got Hiller, Lack and Smith who the Flames attempted to resurrect (which is always a low-percentage play). You can't really base an argument off of that.
And on the positive side, you have Elliott, Johnson, Rittich and Talbot who have improved while playing for the Flames under Sigalet.
I think the criticism of Sigalet is an echo-chamber thing and doesn't hold much water. The real problem with our goaltending is the goaltenders. We have consistently gotten unlucky with goalie prospects who fail to take the next step after looking promising in junior (though it's not really that unlucky when you consider the probabilities with goaltending prospects), and at the pro level we have consistently attempted to find bargains instead of splashing out for more of a sure thing. Markstrom represents a refreshing change.
The problem is the Flames goaltending has been subpar if not out right garbage and Sigalet is a big part of that. Cant give him credit for failures.
But you are partially right in that, they have been shopping at the garage sale for the premium position.
Don't forget we actually saved the Kidd pick by trading for a very young Giguare before blowing it again, moving him for a 2nd.Can we stop for a second and realize the best goalie in franchise history was a fluke trade? Sutter wanted Toskala and SJS said no, sending us instead Kipprusoff. We also traded up to get Trevor Kidd instead of drafting Brodeur.
Someone broke a mirror or stepped on a leprechaun when it comes to goalies since the inception of the org.
Or maybe it's that he's able to get water from a stone, where others could not? Those goalies might have already been finished, and Sigalet got another year or two out of them.Sound like after he messed with you, you are finished?
The problem is the Flames goaltending has been subpar if not out right garbage and Sigalet has been a big part of that. Cant give him credit for failures.
But you are partially right in that, they have been shopping at the garage sale for the premium position.