A Journey Through the Fog
A Journey Through the Fog
The NHL Season Begins with Intrigue in Tampa
The NHL regular season begins today with a beefy tripleheader on ESPN. It includes the hyped debut of Connor Bedard, a championship banner ceremony in Vegas, and a very unexpected debut for Tampa Bay’s Jonas Johansson.
Jonas is the first human not named Andrei Vasilevskiy to start a season opener for Tampa since Ben Bishop had the honors in 2016. Crazy, but true.
‘JoJo’ also spent two of the past three years with the Avalanche organization, so I have some insights into his game. Overall, I think his journey is a microcosm of the foggy, complex nature of a goalie’s environment, especially in the minors.
JoJo the Human Yo-Yo
While last season was clearly his best in terms of production, Jonas didn’t have much stability during his time in Colorado. For the better part of two seasons, he bounced up, down, and all around the NHL and AHL like a Yo-Yo, bringing plenty of obstacles to his development.
I’m not going to document his entire transaction history here, but it was dizzying to say the least. This isn’t uncommon for goalies in the minors, especially since 2018 (injuries, the pandemic, etc.). But that doesn’t mean it’s getting any easier.
And while Jonas certainly bent many times in his limited NHL action, to his credit, he never fully broke.
On most nights with the Avalanche, he allowed at least one or more ‘stoppable’ goals, so he lacked consistency, which also showed in his technical game. To me, the eye test mostly matched up with his analytics. It wasn’t very pretty.
On the flip side, there were a few stretches where he was an absolute monster.
Most recently, he stopped 30 of 31 shots on March 27 in Anaheim, which was easily his best performance in an Avs uniform. Then there was a 5-1-0 stretch to finish the 2020-21 season, including his lone NHL shutout on April 9 in Anaheim.
Alongside the analytics and the eye tests, I think it’s prudent to take some of Johansson’s other external factors into consideration.
For example, when he was first traded to Colorado, not only was his arrival delayed by COVID-19 tests, but he was thrust into the “bubble” as a backup and then a Black Ace. That wasn’t an easy or fun time for anyone, just adding to the complex nature of his career arc with Colorado.
Furthermore, Colorado was dealing with a ton of injuries to key players at the time. Gabriel Landeskog. Joonas Donskoi. Erik Johnson. Philipp Grubauer. Pavel Francouz. The list was extensive and the lack of a consistent lineup factored into their playoff disappointments before finally winning it all in 2022.
An “unstable” environment is part of every goalie’s minor league career at some point in time. Some have it easier than others. Some are capable of pushing through anything thrown their way. Others get derailed quickly by injuries, poor play, trades, recalls, the list goes on and on.
Others simply need more time, no matter what their situation may be.
All things considered, Johansson still made small improvements as time went on, so maybe more time is all he needed. Lots of baby steps for the big Swede.
A Journey Through the Fog
Another interesting twist to Johansson’s story is that he had already signed a two-year deal with Farjestad (SHL) back in May. However it went down, the new deal with Tampa Bay was a total 180-degree turn from his original plan.
With all of the chaos he experienced over the past three seasons, nobody could fault him for returning to his native Sweden.
“The dream of the NHL will always live on as long as you play, I think. But at this stage in life, it feels good to be able to come home and play. A little closer to friends and family and get to experience Swedish hockey again. It will be a lot of fun.” -Johansson
By the same token, who can fault him for taking Tampa’s offer?
This strange twist of fate just goes to show that goalies should expect the unexpected. Things are constantly changing and randomness is rampant in hockey, so never give up on your dreams. No matter what obstacles might appear, the minors will help goalies develop that crucial skill of “being comfortable in uncomfortable situations.”
In a way, goaltending is like trying to walk through a heavy fog. The path is often veiled and many of the signs are hard to read. You may lose your sense of direction at some point, but when you focus on the process and getting better, eventually the fog will lift and the path ahead will reveal itself.
Fast forward to today, and I think it’s safe to say that nobody was expecting Johansson to be Tampa’s starter. Martin Jones was there for the taking, as was Alex Stalock and a few other veterans. But now, against all odds, JoJo is heading into the season opener with confidence from his teammates and head coach.
How. Darn. Exciting.
“Surprised he hasn’t played more in the NHL to this date,” Jon Cooper said. “Now, in saying that, I do believe goalies develop later, there’s a later development in them, and so maybe this is his time. And everything he’s done before this is to get to this point. So, again, it’s just preseason, so you can’t read too much into it. But he has definitely deserved to be in the net (Tuesday) night.” -Tampa Bay Times
Notice how Cooper mentions a few key external factors in that quote:
It’s just preseason.
Goalies develop later.
Maybe this is his time.
Maybe it isn’t his time.
Look at his body of work.
These myriad external factors all point to the complex layers and “foggy” nature of the goalie-environment relationship.
No matter what you think you know about a goalie’s potential, as the great Mitch Korn once told me, “You don’t know it until you own it.” Meaning, you can never truly know what you’ve got in a goalie until he or she is actually doing it for you.
The Johansson storyline also points to another important goalie development topic: Depth Management. Like I said in a previous post, teams can’t get away with having just two good goalies anymore. Now they need three.
Ultimately, despite his low output at the NHL level so far, I still think JoJo is a serviceable backup. He doesn’t have to be great, but he does have the experience now (at age 28) to show more consistency on a nightly basis. I think more than better underlying analytics, that’s what I want to see over the next few weeks.
Regardless of how tonight’s game goes, I hope JoJo can take the next step in his career and show the world that he’s a solid NHL goalie who just needed a little more time to reach his prime.
2023 SMSC Recap
Over the weekend, I attended the 2023 Sports Movement Science Conference.
Hosted by Emergence, the SMSC was an inspiring event that included a venerable All-Star lineup of skill acquisition specialists.
Every speaker was full of insights and I enjoyed learning from all of them, so there were a ton of takeaways. But a few of my favorite speakers included:
Austin Jochum, a strength coach in Minnesota. He spoke passionately about making creative athletes that are both learners and lovers of movement.
Garrett Baker, a pitching coach for the New York Mets. He spoke about skill acquisition in MLB pitchers and how Parkour can develop adaptability.
Shawn Myszka, a co-founder at Emergence. He shared his philosophy on the “oneness” and the “science-art” of movement and problem solving.
Marianne Davies, a senior coach developer for UK Coaching. She beautifully explored the idea of developing a “focus of attention” in athletes.
Tom Parry, a soccer coach in Indiana. He spoke about desired practice environments and navigating constraints in coaching youth sports.
I’ll surely be sharing more about what I learned during this event as the months roll along. It ties in to coaching education, the conference in Gothenburg, and some of the work we’ll be doing at the 2024 Global Goaltending Retreat.
Goldy’s Mind Streams
In closing, here are a few of my favorite reads over the past week:
Dr. Alex Lascu’s latest about managing safe uncertainties in our own coaching methods is a perfect read heading into the season.
Rob Gray’s latest from the Action-Perception podcast looks at using mental imagery to enhance skill development.
RMNB discusses the high volume of odd man rushes against Capitals goalies last year, and how it might change for the better.
Matt Murray’s roller coaster career continues, as he’s expected to miss the entire season after undergoing successful bilateral hip surgery.