How will Rollie Melanson’s departure impact the Canucks’ goaltending?

With Rollie Melanson leaving the Canucks for the upcoming season—ostensibly so the goaltending guru can be with his protégé Cory Schneider of the New Jersey Devils—one is left to ponder how this might affect the Canucks goaltenders going forward.

Melanson is formerly a veteran NHL netminder who won three consecutive Stanley Cups in a backup role with the New York Islanders in the 1980s. He brought some considerable success to the Canucks goaltending, arriving in 2010, which, coincidence or not, saw Roberto Luongo and Schneider share the William Jennings Trophy for sporting the lowest goals against of any team in the league.

It’s worth noting as well that Dan Cloutier was brought on before the 2012-13 season as a goaltending consultant. Cloutier’s work with some of the younger goaltenders in the team’s system has often been lauded by coaching staff.

So, while there are many, many factors that impact a team’s goaltending, it’s worth taking a closer look at how effective Melanson was in working with the goaltenders the Canucks supplied him.

Below, average save percentages for each goaltender were calculated for all the periods that applied and for seasons in which the ‘tender played at least 25 games (the Jennings’ cut-off). Numbers with decimals higher than .5 were rounded up. 

Roberto Luongo

Save pct. before Melanson: .920

Save pct. with Melanson: .919

Save pct. after Melanson: .919

Woah. Yes, omitting Luongo’s 20-game lockout season in which he posted a .907 save percentage does help balance the numbers here. Perhaps the lesson gained from this is simply that Luongo has been remarkably consistent throughout his career.

Cory Schneider

Save pct. before Melanson: N/A

Save pct. with Melanson: .931

Save pct. after Melanson: .919

Schneider’s after-Melanson number is hurt by an outlying (the Devils hope) 2016-17 performance, in which he posted a .908 percentage after three years over .920. The Devils are clearly hoping that Melanson’s return will help him return to the superb numbers he posted as a Canuck.

Eddie Lack

Save pct. before Melanson: N/A

Save pct. with Melanson: .916

Save pct. after Melanson: .901

Lack went from a very solid goaltender that worked well in tandem with both Luongo and Ryan Miller to an AHL goaltender in two seasons.

His numbers fell off a cliff with the Carolina Hurricanes, as he failed to get above .902 during his time in Raleigh. This off-season, the Calgary Flames acquired Lack, but only because the Hurricanes agreed to keep 50 percent of his salary.

He will back up Mike Smith this year.

Jacob Markstrom

Save pct. before Melanson: N/A

Save pct. with Melanson: .912

Save pct. after Melanson: N/A

Markstrom’s awful numbers with the Panthers before being traded for Luongo don’t count for this exercise, but he went .901 in 23 games during 2012-13, and was even worse in 2013-14, posting .874 in 12 games.

Under Melanson and Cloutier, Markstrom has blossomed from being a star AHL goaltender to a very serviceable NHLer, and the Canucks are hoping he’s able to take the next step this year. Whether he can do it without Melanson will be something to watch. 

Ryan Miller

Save pct. before Melanson: .916

Save pct. with Melanson: .914

Save pct. after Melanson: ???

The percentage before Melanson doesn’t take into effect his terrible 19-game regular season run with the St. Louis Blues in 2013-14 where, instead of putting the team over the top, he posted a .903 save percentage.

He signed with the Canucks that off-season to bring veteran stability to the crease, and that he did, performing as the team’s best player on many nights in the last three years.

Now he’s off to Anaheim and it’ll be interesting to see whether he can improve his numbers away from Melanson.

Conclusion

There’s no question Melanson is an effective goaltending coach, but some of the credit must also go to Cloutier, who has helped the younger Canucks goalies like Lack and Markstrom find their touch in Utica and in the ECHL.

In any case, losing Melanson will hurt, as the search begins for a new goaltending consultant for Cloutier to work with.

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