Development Camp Goaltending Report

Made it to the last day of development camp at Kettler on Saturday and have some notes about the Goaltenders there. AS a quick aside, in the final period there was a rash of puck dinging masks that I have never seen before at such a rate IN MY LIFE. All that plus a collar bone shot on Varlamov, fellow you goalies you feel that pain.

Before I begin I want to make two points:

1. I have some experience as a goaltender.
2. I had one scrimmage to look at these guys, my observations are far from an airtight case against them. I will point out however, that conversations with the Caps faithful who observed every scrimmage found my observations to be pretty much in line with theirs. Still, one scrimmage is just speculation.

I sat at one end of the ice to observe Varlamov initially, who was playing for the Blue team. I had a poor view of Neuvirth as a result.

Varlamov:
At one point there was a video of Varlamov from Central Scouting that was posted on the Washington Capitals Message Board. Varlamov looked like a crab and had a very bizarre playing style. Drafting him made sense to me, some easy fixes in his technique mixed with his raw ability could lead to some spectacular results. Well, the “crabby” crouching too low was completely gone, he either worked that kink out since being drafted or was playing hurt of something in that scouting video.

The good:
Varlamov looked good and made some very acrobatic saves. He will even drop the paddle and flop on the ice in a more controlled Hasek-like style. With great numbers last season in the top Russian league and an entertaining style, he is a great future goaltender who will put up good numbers and wow the crowds.

The bad:
Varlamov looked very tentative in the crease and did not come out of the net far enough. Considering he was in his 4th or 5th day on a smaller NHL size rink, with the greater speed and closer shooting that entails, I find that understandable. Varlamov needs to play in North America (assuming there is starting room for him somewhere) to adjust to the smaller rink. If Varlamov has to go, at least he will be in a ling with a lot of offense and not much of a defensive mindset, which means he will have a lot of work. If he were going back to Sweden I would be very concerned given the more defense minded games the Swedes play which hides a goalie’s shortcomings rather than exposes them.

Neuvirth:
The good:
I could not see him very well and focused my attention on Varlamov. As a result I don’t have a lot to add, unfortunately. A lot of people said that he had outperformed Varlomov over the past few days and he seemed very solid. I would point out that he should outperform Varlomov, given his time adapting the North American rinks playing Canadian Junior.

The bad,
I didn’t really see him, can’t beat on a player with secondhand observations, so I won’t.

Darren Machesney,
The good
Machesney had great reaction time. He seemed to be playing the angles well and wasn’t required to do much, having been in good position. I think he played well, but has had a bit more development time than Varlamov or Neuvirth and perhaps would have appeared more dominant. I didn’t track save percentage or anything and may be giving Machesney a bad rap.

The bad
I don’t think I saw enogh to say anything bad about the guy. Perhaps a reader can chime in about Machesney in SC or Hershey this last year…..

Dan Dunn
The good:
Dunn is very young and big. Really big. Karri Lehtonen big. Technique can be learned and the Caps can see if the NBA maxim “you can’t teach size” applies to prospective NHL netminders as well.

The bad:
Dunn is an uncoordinated Karri Lehtonen. His technique is atrocious, the mitt of his glove hand is always square to the boards rather than the shooter. He is so tall his 5 hole looks like a roadside caution triangle. I am worried that he will be forced to cheat to close his 5 hole and will pay big time as he plays with more talented players. Still, a great gamble for a late round pick that may be a tradeable asset or a back up perhaps.

Justin Mrazek:
The good:
I can’t beat on the guy at all, he seemed pretty solid. It kills me I missed the drills where I could get a better view of all of these guys technical skills but work tragically interfered with hockey.

The bad:
Was not looking terribly bad. He has some size and seemed to do pretty well.