The Montreal Canadiens will go into the 2013-14 season with a new goalie
coach after Monday’s announcement that Pierre Groulx’s contract would not be
renewed. His replacement will become the third different coach the Habs
have had in the past six years. Here are some possible options to succeed
Groulx as Carey Price’s mentor.
Francois Allaire: The most well known name among the available
candidates, he was Montreal’s first ever goalie coach. He also has
experience with Anaheim and Toronto. He is a strong proponent of the
butterfly style and has been at times accused of ‘over-coaching.’ Allaire
has acknowledged that he has had informal discussions with the Habs regarding
the vacancy but he is also linked to Colorado where his first protege, Patrick
Roy, is now coaching.
June 4 Update: Allaire has been hired by the Avalanche.
Jeff Hackett: The former Montreal netminder spent three seasons as
Colorado’s goalie coach (2006-07 to 2008-09) where he worked extensively with
Peter Budaj, the Habs’ current backup goalie. He presently is coaching at
the bantam level in London’s minor hockey system.
Olaf Kolzig: He’s the only currently-employed NHL goalie coach I’m
going to list here and that’s only because of his history with Carey Price.
Price played for his junior team (he trained with them during the lockout) and
has worked with Kolzig in previous offseasons. He currently is the goalie
coach in Washington but the Capitals also have Dave Prior who has been a goalie
coach for them for many years so perhaps he could be freed up to talk to the
Canadiens.
Rejean Lemelin: The Quebec City native played in over 500 NHL games
over his career with the Bruins and Flames, highlighted with a Jennings Trophy
award in 1990 (shared with Andy Moog). He also was a goalie coach with
Philadelphia for 13 seasons.
David Marcoux: He was Calgary’s goalie coach from 2003-2009 working
with Miikka Kiprusoff in the prime of his career and also has been a goaltending
coach at the junior level (with Hull from 1997 to 2001). Marcoux has also
ran a goaltending school for many years. He was recently named Hockey
Canada’s goalie coach for the U-18 and U-20 (World Juniors) programs.
Vincent Riendeau: He has ties to Marc Bergevin as the Habs’ GM hired
him to be the goaltending consultant with their AHL affiliate in Hamilton.
He has NHL experience, working with Toronto as a consultant as well as serving
as a goalie coach in the QMJHL and the German league.
Ron Tugnutt: The one-time Hab has over 500 games of NHL experience and
has goalie coach experience at the major junior level (with Oshawa) while also
serving as an assistant coach with Peterborough. He also has worked with
Hockey Canada as their full-time goalie consultant for the past two seasons
although he was let go by the organization in late May.
Eli Wilson: Price has attended his offseason goalie camps for several
years now. Wilson briefly served as Ottawa’s goalie coach while he also
has four years of junior experience working with Medicine Hat. In recent
years, he has conducted public and private goaltending clinics throughout Canada
and the United States.