A NETMINDER’S FAMILY TIES
Oilers know draft pick Rodrigue well
There were a whopping 29 goalies taken on Day 2 of the NHL draft Saturday, with the Edmonton Oilers getting the second one off the board in Olivier Rodrigue.
But there were none going in Round 1.
Only eight teams didn’t take a goalie on the weekend though, and Anaheim, Los Angeles, and Arizona took two, but it’s the same old, same old.
Teams all need goalies in their pipeline, but would rather take an array of small defencemen and forwards than gamble on a goalie early on unless his name is Carey Price (No. 5 in 2005) or Marc-Andre Fleury (No. 1 in 2003).
Only six goalies have gone in the first round since 2008.
The Oilers have taken Rodrigue (62nd overall) and Stuart Skinner (78) in the third round in each the past two drafts after getting Devan Dubnyk 14th overall in 2004, but they’ve gone against the grain, picking a little earlier.
Rodrigue’s dad Sylvain, the Oilers goalie development coach, played in France after he was Felix Potvin’s junior backup in Chicoutimi. When he returned to Canada in 2001, his boy Olivier was only one, but grabbed the idea of goaltending as much as a pacifier.
“We had a little hockey net in the living room and he was always trying to stop these foam pucks. We thought he might be a goalie in a few years. I never tried to talk him out of it and when he was six, he really was into it seriously playing Timbits hockey,” said Sylvain.
Olivier graduated from the Rodrigue living room to the family basement when he got a little older to stop shots.
“I had a goalie camp and I told Olivier at the end of the week you decide what you want to do,” said Sylvain. “He never moved out of the net. I was coaching later in Fribourg (Switzerland) and in Germany, but when I’d come home, he would be on the ice with me with skating drills. From then on, he had goalie coaches with his own team. I would always say ‘I am your father, I can help you, but I don’t want to be your coach 24/7.’ That would have been tough mentally.”
The Oilers knew Sylvain’s boy more than other teams because of the work connection, but he stayed out of pumping his boy’s tires for this draft.
“Last summer we were having a family dinner and my wife said to Olivier ‘what’s going to happen if the Oilers draft you? Would you be happy?’ He thought for a few seconds and said ‘yeah.’ He knew it would be tough with dad because he would be on my back all the time,” Sylvain said. “But if it’s to be a better hockey goalie, I’m ready to deal with that because Olivier’s one goal is to play in the NHL. Today, yes, it’s fun.”
Rodrigue, who’ll be at this week’s development camp at the Downtown Community Arena, is more technical than athletic. You won’t see him flying across the crease to make stops. At the Ivan Hlinka last summer, he had a .945 save percentage in three games for Canada, which is why he has a wonderful chance to be the No. 1 for the under-20 team worlds.
“Olivier will probably be in junior for another two seasons unlike Skinner and Wells, who are ready to be pros,” said Oilers chief scout Bob Green.
The Oilers’ goaltending in Bakersfield is very much in flux with Nick Ellis leaving the game to coach at a prep school back east after two pro seasons. They likely are moving on from Laurent Brossoit, who is UFA July 1, but couldn’t seize the backup job to Cam Talbot in Edmonton.
Al Montoya, who has another year at $1.1 million, could be the starter on the farm because they paid big to sign Mikko Koskinen ($2.5 million) for a year.
They have Skinner, Wells and Shane Starrett, who did a nice job in the ECHL last season, to play with Montoya if that’s where he winds up and isn’t claimed on waivers if sent to Bakersfield after camp.
“We’ve got some idea on Olivier and it gives Skinner and Wells two years to see where they ’re at,” said Green. “Even if Ellis hadn’t left, you have to be stocked (with goalies). Like they always say, ‘you can never have too many.’”
jmatheson@postmedia.com On Twitter: @NHLbyMatty