Where did the last 10 years go? As I head into my second decade of “The Goalie Guru,” it's only natural to think about how the position has changed since I started tapping out this column in late 2010. The evolution has been nothing short of revolutionary, building on the incredible, athletic styles of Glenn Hall, Tony Esposito and Patrick Roy.
Today, the equipment and the technical aspects of the position have caught up with the sheer instinct and audacity of these Hall of Famers, who played against type, bucking the conventional wisdom of the day (I would have loved to been a fly on the wall of the St. Louis locker room in the late 1960s, when Hall and the erudite and supremely confident Jacques Plante were undoubtedly discussing the best methods to stop the puck).
The position continues to evolve, as the oversized gear of Garth Snow and other Bib the Michelin Man imposters has been deflated (a move I wholeheartedly endorsed), pulling the position away from strictly “blocking,” or filling space, and ushering in a new era of athleticism. But some things don't change — the great goalies always have been defined by a certain few characteristics. I've covered all of them over the past 10 years, but these major points deserve to be revisited.
