TEACHING THE TENDERS - IOWA'S FREDERIC CHABOT
Feb 3, 2016By Tom Witosky | Follow @toskyAHLWild
As the Minnesota Wild’s goaltending development coach, Freddy Chabot spends most of his time talking about strategy and tactics, positioning and angles, as well as speed and strength, when he meets with the goalies of the Iowa Wild, Quad City Mallards and the Sioux Falls Stampede.
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Now, it appears, he might have to offer some advice to his players about what a goalie should do with a challenge to fight.
On Saturday, one of Chabot’s students, Steven Michalek, made his debut with the Iowa Wild in an extraordinary way. He won his first AHL game with Iowa, putting a 5-1 pounding on the Charlotte Checkers, but got national notice when Daniel Altshuller, the Checkers goalie, skated the full length of Wells Fargo Arena ice and started a fight with a reluctant Michalek.
The fight lasted less than a minute, but before it was over most of the 6,158 Iowa Wild fans were on their feet and roared when Michalek pulled Altshuller to the ice while landing a right cross.
“I’d really don’t think our goalies should be doing that,” Chabot said a day later. “I’d much rather have them between the pipes, making stops. But, I liked it when it ended with Steve on top.”
Asked if he would provide Michalek with advice on fighting at their next session, the 47-year-old Quebec native with 17 years of professional hockey experience just laughed.
“It doesn’t happen as much as it used to and that’s a good thing,” said Chabot, who was named the International Hockey League’s MVP and top goaltender in 1999-2000. “But I could offer him a few tips.”
Providing advice to five goalies in the Minnesota Wild system is what Chabot does well, according to John Torchetti, Iowa’s head coach. He said that Chabot, who was the goalie coach for the Edmonton Oilers for six years, has provided a foundation for each goalie and provides drills that can be used in every practice.
“It is really big for younger and developing players for their game,” Torchetti said. “I come from the school that it is always good to have a goalie coach to work with them on things they need to get better at.”
Chabot’s focus this season is on five goalies – Iowa Wild veterans Jeremy Smith and Leland Irving, Michalek and Mallards teammate Brody Hoffman, also Sioux Falls Stampede goalie Ales Stezka, the Wild’s fourth-round draft choice in 2015.
“In many ways, it’s a very easy schedule in terms of travel,” Chabot said.
He generally spends two weeks on the road visiting personally with all five goalies and working with them on the ice. When he is back home in Quebec, he talks on the phone with players after every game they play.
The wide divergence of experience and goals for each of the players sets up a challenge for Chabot to customize how he deals with each player. The older players, according to Chabot, are looking to hone their game as much as possible to win games and keep their jobs in the future.
“Working with the two veterans here, it is more about making sure they feel good about their game than teaching,” he said. “Once in a while you have to challenge them to look at how they do things and to see if there are ways they can do things better.”
Younger ones are acquainting themselves with a higher and tougher level of hockey.
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“It’s more work, but you see more change happening quickly,” he said. ”They are younger and just learning how to be pros. They learn new things every week and they are adjusting to the pro game. You see improvement quicker, but at the same time, there is more to learn.”
Plus, Chabot said, goaltending today is a much tougher than it was when he played.
“With the new rules, there are more and more quality scoring chances. They need to be good at tracking pucks and how they are going to play rebounds,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how much skill you have. If you aren’t in the right spot, it is going to be hard. “
Michalek, who has been working with Chabot since Minnesota’s training camp, said that he also appreciates how Chabot is willing to work him on a style of goaltending that fits him. Gone is any set philosophy on how the position is to be played, Michalek said.
“Coach Chabot is very good at adapting how he coaches based on who he is coaching,” the Harvard graduate said. “He doesn’t have a set way of doing things. He bases what he recommends based on your style and your needs.”
Michalek said that amounts to trust.
“He isn’t afraid of trusting us. If I want to do a certain thing in a certain situation or in a certain play, he will tell me to go ahead and try it. If it works, that’s great. If doesn’t, we’ll try to do something else,” Michalek said.
Chabot said that he adjusts his recommendations based on the size of each goalie as well as their athletic ability. That way, he said, there are ways to incorporate several different styles of goaltending.
“A 6’5’’ guy can play deeper in the goal, but a 6’5’’ guy isn’t likely to be as good of skater as a 5’10 guy,” Chabot said. “The guy who is 5’10 and who made it this far is likely a really good skater and a good really athlete. The 6'5’’ guy will get away with being big and just being in the right spot.”
Chabot also said that goaltenders reaching the higher levels still must understand the game and their role in it to be successful.
“For goalies to get this far, it isn’t just about skill, it is about intelligence of the game,” Chabot said. “Reading the game, reading the play, knowing where to be sometimes requires a little more patience or at times a little more aggressiveness. It is knowing when to do what. “
An example of Chabot’s ability to teach goalies to learn to adjust is Minnesota’s number 1 goalie, Devan Dubnyk. The 6-foot-6 goalie worked with Chabot for five seasons at Edmonton, then was traded to Nashville where he had a number of problems. In 2014-15, he signed for a year with Phoenix, but was traded to Minnesota at mid-season last year. Dubnyk’s arrival stabilized an uncertain goalie situation and went on to post a 27-9-2 record, a 1.78 goals against average.
Chabot said he wasn’t surprised much by Dubnyk’s performance last year or this year.
“Not really,” Chabot said. “What I saw in him was a big guy who was a good skater. You don’t see many 6’6’’ guys who move around like he does. He has put in the time and the effort and he was buying in. He was a lot of fun to work with every day. He was open-minded to try stuff.”
As for his future, Chabot said he intends to remain in coaching for as long as he can. It’s something he’s done since he was teenager.
“I started getting involved in goalie schools, hockey schools when I was 17,” he said. “I just really liked coaching. Helping kids get better. I’ve always been passionate about the position and it stuck with me.”
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