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McKenna’s Mailbag: Flyers’ coaching options, ideal goalie body weights & more!

Mike McKenna
Mike McKenna(MikeMcKenna56)
Jan 29, 2022, 16:26 EST
McKenna’s Mailbag: Flyers’ coaching options, ideal goalie body weights & more!

There’s a lot going on in Philly. In some ways I feel bad for Chuck Fletcher. He took some swings the past few offseasons and sadly, it hasn’t worked out in the long term. The Ristolainen deal looks bad. The Hayes contract is too rich. But the Flyers simply aren’t getting production.

I think Claude Giroux and Cam Atkinson have done their job. But where’s the offensive production from the defense? Provorov is their leading scorer on defense and he’s nowhere near his career pace. I know they’re missing Ryan Ellis, but there simply isn’t enough mobility during 5-on-5 play.

Injuries haven’t helped. But I think more than anything, Philly needs a fresh look behind the bench. St. Louis couldn’t score under Mike Yeo. Philly isn’t, either. And they can’t defend. Carter Hart and Martin Jones have been under siege this season. And they’ve been good.

When Philly announced the three-headed monster of a coaching staff a few years ago, so many of us in hockey wondered how it was going to work. Well, it did for a year. And then it went sideways.

I’d like to see them make a progressive hire at head coach, rather than a retread. The timing is right. The Flyers are going back into a rebuild. Take a chance on a young, hungry coach. Someone like Jay Leach, who’s currently an assistant with the Seattle Kraken. Or Kris Knoblauch, the bench boss of the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. There some familiarity there. He’s previously worked as an assistant in Philadelphia.

I think this year’s trade deadline will dictate the next few years. Does Giroux get moved? Anyone else? Fletcher has said everything is on the table.

Zegras is pretty slick, isn’t he? It’s amazing how quickly he can transfer the puck to the blade of his stick and into the net. And it’s worth noting how different his technique is than that of Mike Legg, whose move coined the term “The Michigan” when he pulled it off years ago in an NCAA game.

Legg set up shop behind the net and used pressure to scoop the puck up, whereas Zegras prefers to slip his blade under the puck. Zegras is faster with it than Legg ever was.

And that’s what makes it so hard for goaltenders to stop The Michigan move. If they go down to their knees in RVH, it opens up the top of the net. But if a goalie remains standing, he becomes susceptible to pass-outs and wrap-arounds. It’s a tough decision.

What I think it comes down to is situational awareness more than technique. The goaltender has to pinpoint who the puck carrier is and what the options may be. If it’s Zegras going behind the net, maybe standing up makes more sense. At minimum, the goaltender should know he might attempt The Michigan. That means he should be ready to shift upward in RVH or use his hands to negate an attempt.

This is one scenario where I think goaltenders have to battle. Find a way to make a save, no matter the technique. And it all comes down to making the correct read.

Too lean? Maybe. But I worry more about goaltenders who are too muscular. Anecdotally, of all my goalie partners, the strongest ones, seemed to get injured most often.

In my career, I never felt right unless I was within a few pounds of 190. The season I signed with Dallas I was so freaked out about body fat percentage than I came in at 182 pounds and about eight percent body fat. That was the lowest I’d ever been. But I felt like I didn’t have any energy.

A few times I got up around 195 pounds and that’s why I knew I needed to cut weight. I felt lethargic and didn’t have the same energy towards the end of games. It’s amazing to think that as little as a few pounds can make that big of a difference, but it did for me.

Players – and especially goalies – in the 90s didn’t have the same demand on their body. The game wasn’t as fast for skaters. And it wasn’t as technical for goaltenders. The game was very freeform.

Goaltenders today contort their bodies in ways unimaginable to previous generations. The advent of the butterfly style made the game hard on the hips of goaltenders. And post-integrations like RVH have only added to the biomechanical stress.

There really isn’t a rubric for staying healthy. Some players just seem to have a way, while others are always hurt. I’ve seen it with all body types. You’d never want to see me with my shirt off, but somehow I managed to never miss a game in my career due to an injury. Maybe I was born to be a goaltender. But I’m paying for it now — back spasms aren’t fun.

I’d put fastest goalie skater back into the skills competition. When Tim Thomas won in 2011 it was riveting. Absolutely goofy. But amazing. Helmets would be mandatory. Actually…why aren’t helmets mandatory now? I understand we all love to see the flowing locks, but if Connor McDavid blows a tire in turn three and slams his head off the boards in an All-Star skills competition, isn’t that a terrible look?

I’m not really sure, Kurt, but it’s a doozie. And I don’t think it had anything to do with Whoopee Pie. 

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