ROLLING OUT Vancouver Canucks goalie coach Rollie Melanson heading to New Jersey
Goaltending coach leaves behind a legacy of developing best goalies in team history
If there’s a team that’s had goalies who were better coached and better prepared than the Vancouver Canucks in the past seven years, there’s not more than one.
Rollie Melanson’s arrival in 2010 coincided with a golden era for goaltending in Vancouver.
We’re about to find out if it can continue without him. Melanson and the Canucks agreed to part ways, allowing him out of his contract to take a job with the New Jersey Devils, reuniting him with Cory Schneider.
“Last year, he wanted to sit back a little bit because his mom was not well and we worked out a situation that was beneficial for both parties,” said Vancouver President Trevor Linden. “We weren’t really sure how it was going to be after a year. Rollie’s done a good job. He’s a good coach. I fully supported him in this opportunity which he thought was the right fit.”
There is no question Melanson, who had a year remaining on his deal, helped end the Canucks’ rep for being a goalie graveyard by coaching up stars and developing projects into viable options.
Pick any of the stoppers, including Schneider, Roberto Luongo, Eddie Lack, Ryan Miller and Jacob Markstrom, they all excelled here, which helped make Melanson one of the most popular assistant coaches in Canucks history.
And that’s why many are going to lament this move.
But, if we’re being honest, it wasn’t all Melanson. There’s been more talent at the position in the past seven years than the rest of the Canucks history combined.
Those goalies had a giant role in this, and even in their style. Luongo’s most publicized change in Vancouver, his adoption of the ReverseVH, was his idea, and something he committed to.
Also, current Canucks head goalie coach Dan Cloutier had a hand in guiding Markstrom. Cloutier arguably had the most impact on the still-a-work-in-progress Markstrom when they were together in Utica during the Comets run to the Calder Cup in 2014-15.
But Melanson had tremendous successes, especially when it came to preparing the back-ups in the NHL. Last year, he took on a development role, working in Utica, but was eager to get back to the NHL.
Melanson is experienced and incredibly accomplished, but he’s also a hardliner and there’s some debate about how well that was going to fit in the Vancouver system moving forward.
It sure would have been fascinating to see him work with recent third-round pick Michael DiPietro, who is unabashedly about athleticism over technique.
The Canucks’ goalie program will now be a Cloutier joint. He will hand-pick Melanson’s replacement and also has plans to change the criteria of the job.
“It will be up to Dan to identify and find that person,” Linden said. “That will ensure they speak the same language and they believe in the same types of things.
“We’ll rely on Dan to identify who that person is.”
That will represent a departure from how things were working, because Cloutier and Melanson had very different approaches. From that angle you can see how Melanson moving on was something beneficial from both parties’s points of view.
Cloutier joined the Canucks in 2012 and is already among the more well-regarded coaches in the NHL, having earned the respect of goalies around the league and his coaching peers.
With the Canucks, he influences just about every goalie move, including who they draft, how they develop and how they prepare in the NHL.
Linden said Cloutier wants Melanson’s replacement to have a role that goes beyond working with prospects on the ice, a modernizing of the job which has already happened in some other organizations.
“Dan’s always had a vision of that position being someone who works with the goaltenders in Utica but also supporting the scouting staff,” Linden said. “Getting out and identifying talent.
“Dan’s vision is a bit of a goaltending department, if you will. That (Melanson’s replacement) talk on prospects and draft eligibles as well as manage Utica.
“We’ll look to develop that over the summer.”