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How the Tampa Bay Lightning Evaluate Goaltenders

By The Coaches Site, 05/10/22, 2:15PM EDT

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Advice from the Tampa Bay Lightning goaltending consultant

Frantz Jean has been with the Tampa Bay Lightning organization since 2010 when he started as a goaltending consultant. For the past 12 seasons Jean has been helping all teams in the Tampa Bay system develop their goaltenders and bring success to now household names, such as Andrei Vasilevskiy and Ben Bishop. Jean’s work with the team has gotten his name on the Stanley Cup twice and he is now recognized as one of the best goaltending coaches in the game. 

Goaltenders have some of the most interesting stories of all. And yeah, it might be because they’re a little off. But more likely it’s because they see the game from a perspective that’s just not normal for regular coaches. In fact, they see so much more of the game because every decision made on the ice by a forward or a defenseman could have an impact on the goalie. So really, if there’s a coach who knows more about the game than anyone, it’s the coach who sees it from the most stressful possible angles.

“How can we objectively have arguments that this goaltender is doing good or this goaltender is not doing good?”

That’s the man Frantz Jean himself in a talk he presented at our 2014 conference when he presented on How to Evaluate Goaltenders. While goaltending is a unique position in our game, it still depends heavily on the team to produce results. That said, forwards and defensemen rely on advanced statistics to measure their contribution, so shouldn’t goalies too? Save percentage and goals against average are important, but how do you know if you have a game changer on your hands?

“When you just look at the straight save percentage, it could lead to misevaluation.”

Learn from Jean, one of the best goaltending coaches in the game, along with hundreds of other presentations from hockey’s top coaches and leaders on The Coaches Site

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Founded in 2011, The Coaches Site is the #1 online resource for hockey coaches, serving a global audience. Members of The Coaches Site comprise a like-minded community of coaches committed to being great teachers, mentors and leaders. The Coaches Site provides them with the insights, inspiration, and fuel to offer their athletes with an enhanced development opportunity, on and off the ice. For more information, visit thecoachessite.com

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