Nashville Names Ben Vanderklock as Goaltending Coach

[caley]

Mitch Korn is heading elsewhere

Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has named Ben Vanderklok the team’s goaltending coach. The Welland, Ontario native has served as the organization’s assistant goaltending coach for the past five seasons.

“Ben has worked closely with all the goaltenders in our organization and has been integral in their development and success while learning from one of the best in Mitch Korn,†Poile said. “This is a natural fit to have Ben transition into the lead role, and his relationship with Pekka Rinne and Carter Hutton will make this process seamless.â€

Poile also acknowledged Mitch Korn’s service and contributions to the franchise.

“We thank Mitch for his 16 years of work and dedication to the Nashville Predators, and we wish him well in his future endeavors,†he said.

http://predators.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=722556

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[RCola88]

Wonder where Korn will end up. I'm kinda sad he won't be returning he's definitely one of the best!

 

[StarvinArvyn33]

and that blows.....


good luck mitch

 

[NSH615]

Even though most of us had a feeling this was coming, this team just screwed up signing Hutton. Korn is what made Hutton better.

 

[Top 6 Spaling]

Hopefully this guy can do a good job. He has MASSIVE shoes to fill. Honestly, I think losing Korn is the biggest blow to this franchise since Suter left.

 

[triggrman]

Even though most of us had a feeling this was coming, this team just screwed up signing Hutton. Korn is what made Hutton better.

and there's no way anyone else can pull off stuff like Korn, especially not Ben Vanderklock. Right?

Or could Ben Vanderklock be the one that takes him to that next level?

 

[Wrong Box Legwand]

If it means anything, Vanderklok worked as assistant under Korn. He was there for the development of most of our goalies.

 

[gratefulpred]

And our chances in the Connor McDavid lottery just improved...

 

[PredsFanFromla]

We all knew this was coming:per source close to the situation, it appears Mitch Korn is going to Washington to be Barry Trotz's goaltending coach...

 

[Preds Partisan]

Didn't know he was with the organization for five years....learn something new everyday.

 

[Adz]

and there's no way anyone else can pull off stuff like Korn, especially not Ben Vanderklock. Right?

Or could Ben Vanderklock be the one that takes him to that next level?

This is sort of how I feel.

Vanderklock has been learning the system from Korn, which is good, but we need some new tricks and skills that our opponents haven't prepared for. Every so often maybe you need that unknown thrown into the mix. We have a new coach who'll run a different system--having a new goalie coach who isn't entrenched in doing things his way for a certain head coach may work out very well.

My son enjoyed his time in Mitch Korn's goalie school; I think he's a great guy and hope he has continued success (except against us). Overall though, while it isn't terrible or anything, our goaltending has fallen off some in the past couple of years. Was it Korn's fault? Don't know. Our opponents did seem to know where each goalie's soft spot was. Maybe they capitalized, maybe they didn't...but they knew where to shoot.

 

[Roman Yoshi]

This is sort of how I feel.

Vanderklock has been learning the system from Korn, which is good, but we need some new tricks and skills that our opponents haven't prepared for. Every so often maybe you need that unknown thrown into the mix. We have a new coach who'll run a different system--having a new goalie coach who isn't entrenched in doing things his way for a certain head coach may work out very well.

My son enjoyed his time in Mitch Korn's goalie school; I think he's a great guy and hope he has continued success (except against us). Overall though, while it isn't terrible or anything, our goaltending has fallen off some in the past couple of years. Was it Korn's fault? Don't know. Our opponents did seem to know where each goalie's soft spot was. Maybe they capitalized, maybe they didn't...but they knew where to shoot.

Yeah where the goalie isn't.

Losing Mitch is a huge blow to the organization. Doesn't matter who they hired to fill his position.

 

[NSH615]

Yeah where the goalie isn't.

Losing Mitch is a huge blow to the organization. Doesn't matter who they hired to fill his position.

Exactly I was hoping that Lavy could do something to keep him.

 

[glenngineer]

Wow, we lost Korn. The two things Korn did was make Vokoun and Rinne a lot of money. I'm sorry but there are plenty of other goalie coaches out there. There are plenty of good coaches out there not named Mitch and Barry. I thank them for their dedication to this team and organization but at the end of the day, they won a few games, lost a few games and didn't produce come playoff time. Korn, for all his accolades, never got a goalie into the zone at the right time of year. Isn't that what it's all about? Winning? While I think he's a great goalie coach, he's like a lot of the guys over the years on this staff, good to great coaches but never able to get over the hump. I wish him well on his journey but please stop with the, the world is ending because Mitch Korn isn't our goalie coach anymore.

And on a few other notes, Hutton turned it around. Did Korn play in to it? I'm sure he did. I think the bigger thing that played in to it was something Poile did, he traded for Dubnyk. After that move, Hutton seemed a lot more focused as he had pressure applied to him because he knew if he failed anymore, Dubnyk, as bad as he was, was going to start getting more action. It lit a fire under him somehow and that teamed with working with Korn turned him around last season.

On one other note, losing Suter hurt this team but the one coach that we lost that hurt the most was Peterson. The PK hasn't been the same since, the defensive play hasn't been the same, the attitude of the team hasn't been the same either. Peterson was the man behind the scenes that didn't get a lot of credit for his work with this team. Trotz was good. Korn was good. I think Peterson was the glue.

 

[Predsrule]

New top FA this year.. mr Korn

 

[maplepred]

Gonna be missed Mitch, good luck bringing up other star goalies in Washington.

Hopefully the new guy had been taking notes

 

[Adz]

Yeah where the goalie isn't.

Losing Mitch is a huge blow to the organization. Doesn't matter who they hired to fill his position.

I don't know whether, technically, "over the right shoulder time after time after time" is "where the goalie isn't". Goalie is spatially there, opening is normal, but goalie doesn't correct the opening with some sort of adjustment on his part. You have to figure some bozo will learn to aim there.

 

[Privy]

He's spent 5 years watching Korn coach. I'm sure he's picked up all his Jedi tricks and has a few of his own. I do think the goals against will be a little high next season, but that won't be Vanderklok's fault.

Fun fact: Vanderklok was Brian Finley's backup for two seasons when he played for the Barrie Colts in juniors.

 

[NSH615]

He's spent 5 years watching Korn coach. I'm sure he's picked up all his Jedi tricks and has a few of his own. I do think the goals against will be a little high next season, but that won't be Vanderklock's fault.

Fun fact: Vanderklock was Brian Finley's backup for two seasons when he played for the Barrie Colts in juniors.

Is that a fun fact or a scary fact?

 

[Privy]

Is that a fun fact or a scary fact?

Good actually. Finely was a talented goalie, he just had terrible luck with injuries which hampered his development.

98-99
Finley - 36-10-4, 2.66 GAA, 0.913 SV%
Vanderklok - 13-2-2, 2.69 GAA, 0.91 SV%

99-00
Finley - 24-12-6, 3.07 GAA, 0.908 SV%
Vanderklok - 6-4-0, 3.69 GAA, 0.885 SV%

He also coached Jeremy Smith in 08-09.

 

[PredsV82]

As awesome as Korn has been over the years, we absolutely sucked at the shootout last year, even when we had Rinne. Now, naturally some of that is on our shooters but some is on the goalies.

if we had simply been .500 in shootouts last year we would have made the playoffs.

Maybe the new guy will help us in that critical area

 

[jwhouk]

How does a goaltender coach help anyone in a game of chance the shootout?

 

[INDhockeyfan]

How does a goaltender coach help anyone in a game of chance the shootout?

Trotz let Korn be in charge of the shootout. Korn is the one who reviews all the film on shootouts so that the goalie knows what certain shooters tendencies are. He also reviews the film of the opposing goalie and tells the shooters where the goalie's weaknesses are. Obviously the goalie and the shooters execution is the biggest thing but he was the one who prepared the guys to give them the best chance.

 

[Nothing Is New]

I wouldn't launch the lifeboats yet. Rinne has several years and, I think, is already what he is (which is good). We might miss Korn come about year 2020 but that is a long time away and by then, we will either be praising Coach Laviolette for bring Lord Stanley's mug to Music City or welcoming Iron Mike (just kidding) to his new digs.

 

[ThirdManIn]

Even though most of us had a feeling this was coming, this team just screwed up signing Hutton. Korn is what made Hutton better.

While I'm not saying that a good goaltender coach isn't an excellent luxury to have, it isn't as if Hutton is suddenly going to be a sieve because Korn is gone. He took pretty big steps in his development over the course of last season, and once Rinne was back Hutton really solidified himself as an NHL back up. I don't see how having Hutton behind Rinne is a huge mistake now because of a goaltender coaching change. If he is having to fill in as the starter then the team is screwed for reasons unrelated to Korn.