Prospect Info: Zachary Fucale

[Perrah]

20 year old GOALIE and already people bring out the B word....ridiculous.

Well it is a bit concerning when a guy doesnt seem to get any better. IMO his best season was the year before they won the memorial cup. He was huge in that 3-0 comeback against Quebec in the playoffs and played something foolish like 70 straight games as a 16/17 year old. He had some stretches of great hockey this year in Halifax but stretches of bad as well. Cant comment to what has happened since the trade as Ive seen him play 1 period.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Well it is a bit concerning when a guy doesnt seem to get any better. IMO his best season was the year before they won the memorial cup. He was huge in that 3-0 comeback against Quebec in the playoffs and played something foolish like 70 straight games as a 16/17 year old. He had some stretches of great hockey this year in Halifax but stretches of bad as well. Cant comment to what has happened since the trade as Ive seen him play 1 period.

Is he bored with jr?

Some people have the 110% drive all the time, others need a challenge, saw Taveres 'decline' as he went through the OHL and has come out fine, Fucale will be ok especially working with Waite and Price

 

[Connor McJesus]

Junior hockey stats mean squat for goalies. We'll see what he does at the pro level.

The year Hull won the Mem Cup, Martin Biron was tossed away as a backup in favor of...Christian frickin' Bronsard...who won the Mem Cup.

Guess who had an NHL career?

Well Biron didn't have the greatest of careers either. Maybe if he had it in him to be a #1 in the NHL he would have won that mem cup too.

 

[S Bah]

It will be interesting to see if Zach Fucale gets the call in game two, after Svechnikov scored the GWG in his 1st QMJHL playoff game. Goaltending is really going to decide that series IMHO.

 

[beowulf]

I have not given up on him at this point, just too young. Habs should get more goalie depth though, one can never really have enough goalies and injury issue for the Sens this year, for example, have shown.

I'll give up on this kid once he has played some time in the AHL and has totally sucked.

 

[S Bah]

Far too early to be making any decisions upon Fucale's career with the Habs, IMHO, he hasn't won the Memorial Cup with Quebec, which I think he could be a difference maker at that level right now.

 

[Blind Gardien]

I have not given up on him at this point, just too young. Habs should get more goalie depth though, one can never really have enough goalies and injury issue for the Sens this year, for example, have shown.

I'll give up on this kid once he has played some time in the AHL and has totally sucked.

Yeah, it's way too early. I think if he really intrinsically sucked and was really busting bad, he would not have been on Team Canada, nor showed at least as decently as he did on that world stage. What's happening in the Q, can't say, maybe he's bored with it or has lost some focus somehow, but the bigger picture says he still has a shot. He has some weaknesses in his game to work on, even when he's back to playing at his peak, we've seen that too, but he'll get his chances to work on those in the minors for a few years.

It's not so much his actual play on the ice that worries me, though, but rather the reasons for it... if you can get bored or lose focus in your last year of junior, playing for a Memorial Cup host team, what's going to happen when you're the backup in a far-flung AHL outpost? Whatever psychological factor is behind this year's funk, what cures it? If anything, his next few years he's going to be toiling in even greater obscurity than at present; there will be no World Junior tournaments or Memorial Cups when you're trying to work your way up as a backup in the AHL. So to me, the bigger red flag than his play on the ice or the holes in his technique is really the underlying psychology of it, and I don't think any of us has any clue how that situation stands now, let alone how it would play out down the road.

 

[S Bah]

Yeah, it's way too early. I think if he really intrinsically sucked and was really busting bad, he would not have been on Team Canada, nor showed at least as decently as he did on that world stage. What's happening in the Q, can't say, maybe he's bored with it or has lost some focus somehow, but the bigger picture says he still has a shot. He has some weaknesses in his game to work on, even when he's back to playing at his peak, we've seen that too, but he'll get his chances to work on those in the minors for a few years.

It's not so much his actual play on the ice that worries me, though, but rather the reasons for it... if you can get bored or lose focus in your last year of junior, playing for a Memorial Cup host team, what's going to happen when you're the backup in a far-flung AHL outpost? Whatever psychological factor is behind this year's funk, what cures it? If anything, his next few years he's going to be toiling in even greater obscurity than at present; there will be no World Junior tournaments or Memorial Cups when you're trying to work your way up as a backup in the AHL. So to me, the bigger red flag than his play on the ice or the holes in his technique is really the underlying psychology of it, and I don't think any of us has any clue how that situation stands now, let alone how it would play out down the road.

Exactly why no decisions should be made regarding his future with the Habs, Zach has shown the calm, coolness associated with #1 goalies on winning teams. The AHL should be a very good testing ground for his abilities to be mentally ready to play against older and proven goalscorers, as Tokarski had to these last few years. I think he has what it takes to be at least a back-up in the NHL, the question is can he do the same job in higher league play, where he will be pushed gradually until they see if he has the mental hardness to still be calm, cool and protective.

 

[montreal]

Fucale with 4 wins to start his AHL career, only 3 goalies in the league have more wins so far.

 

[Mathletic]

Fucale with 4 wins to start his AHL career, only 3 goalies in the league have more wins so far.

hoping more starts come his way soon.

 

[montreal]

hoping more starts come his way soon.

I would think they will, Tok has been pretty good for the most part but at some point they will likely start giving Fucale more starts as long as he continues to play well.

 

[LaP]

Tok GAA is 3.5 in 6 games and Fucale GAA is 2.5 in 4 games. He gives 1 more goal than Fucale on average ... his saves % is under 900 while Fucale saves % is 925.

At this rate if things don't change Fucale will be the number 1A soon and Tok number 1B.

 

[Carey Chant]

Wow was that ever some terrible goaltending. Why did the coach leave him in so long? Some of those goals looked like they were pee wee level. Sheesh...

 

[Mrbubble]

Ouch. I am a big supporter of his but lately, i am worry about this kid being able to put it all together.

 

[Fazkovsky]

Fucale has tremendous potential. He has flaws, he seems to play too deep in his net. He also has issues facing shots but it can be fixed. He also had to put in sone weight . Goaltender is a hard position, some of these shots were rockets.

 

[montreal]

Wow was that ever some terrible goaltending. Why did the coach leave him in so long? Some of those goals looked like they were pee wee level. Sheesh...

I really don't understand it, why would you leave your 20 year old rookie in for 8 goals against. I said in the AHL thread after he let in back to back goals on back to back shots that were both weak goals to give up why did he keep him in there. Just hope he can put this behind him as that was really terrible job he did.

 

[Carey Chant]

I really don't understand it, why would you leave your 20 year old rookie in for 8 goals against. I said in the AHL thread after he let in back to back goals on back to back shots that were both weak goals to give up why did he keep him in there. Just hope he can put this behind him as that was really terrible job he did.

It's all on the coach, it's like he wanted to make the game more exciting for TV. Reminded me of when Kobe scored 81 points against the Raptors and the coach refused to double or triple team him.

If I'm the coach I want to win the game, Fucale was done max at 8-6. Pull him and the game probably would never have hit overtime unless the backup plays even worse

 

[donghabs98]

Fucale at the very latest should have been pulled after the 8-6 goal. goals 5 and 6 were verynweak and I doubt he had any confidence left in him.

 

[beowulf]

I really don't understand it, why would you leave your 20 year old rookie in for 8 goals against. I said in the AHL thread after he let in back to back goals on back to back shots that were both weak goals to give up why did he keep him in there. Just hope he can put this behind him as that was really terrible job he did.

Look who is coaching in down there. I still don't get how they have not moved on to a better coach in the AHL...come on Habs, wake up.

 

[habergeon]

I really don't understand it, why would you leave your 20 year old rookie in for 8 goals against. I said in the AHL thread after he let in back to back goals on back to back shots that were both weak goals to give up why did he keep him in there. Just hope he can put this behind him as that was really terrible job he did.

I'm with you on this, it makes zero sense. Maybe Mario Tremblay left a coaching book that Sylvain is following.

As a professional hockey player, it's a pretty ****** thing to do unless the goals were not his fault and his team was leaving him out to dry. But on goals 5 & 6, you could tell the mental focus was gone and he should have been pulled after 5.

 

[S Bah]

Wow was that ever some terrible goaltending. Why did the coach leave him in so long? Some of those goals looked like they were pee wee level. Sheesh...

Zach Fucale has the strength of mind and resilience to overcome a setback like this game, you can't win them all his team still had a chance to win OT. If it was up to me as the coach, I probably would have let him finish the game, but hindsight is perfect as people often say. Sly is the coach and he knows Fucale much better than the fans do, Fucale will rebound with a very strong game as he usually does, great prospect IMHO, keep up the hard work Zach, the NHL needs more great goalies!!!...

 

[Jakomyte]

Wanted to see McCarron highlights, left disappointed with Fucale. Those were a bunch of weak goals to let in... but also, why the **** didn't he get pulled? What is the coach doing looking at his rookie netminder letting in awful shots with no confidence and thinking? The coach should be protecting his players from those types of situations...

 

[montreal]

It will be interesting to see how Fucale bounces back, I'm sure he will but if Price is back soon then Tok will be back so they would likely be splitting the games again.

 

[montreal]

Fucale since giving up those 8 goals has won 1 of his last 4 starts although 2 of the losses were in OT/SO. But he's only let in 8 goals in the last 4 games while facing a ton of shots (about 36 per game), so his numbers are getting better and he seems to be bouncing back well from that horrid game.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

Fucale since giving up those 8 goals has won 1 of his last 4 starts although 2 of the losses were in OT/SO. But he's only let in 8 goals in the last 4 games while facing a ton of shots (about 36 per game), so his numbers are getting better and he seems to be bouncing back well from that horrid game.

Fucale didn't always put up numbers here in Halifax, but he always bounced back immediately from the few real "off" games. Just way too mentally tough to sink into long ruts, and high volume shot games certainly don't put him off his game.