Three goalies on roster provides challenge for Blue Jackets, Flyers

The Coaches Room is a regular feature throughout the 2018-19 NHL season by one of four former NHL coaches and assistants who will turn their critical gaze to the game and explain it through the lens of a teacher. David Marcoux, Paul MacLean, Don Nachbaur and Gord Murphy will take turns providing insight.
In this edition, Marcoux, former goalie coach for the Carolina Hurricanes and the Calgary Flames, examines the pros and cons of having a third goalie on a team's active roster for the final weeks of the regular season.

With NHL teams allowed to expand their rosters following the Trade Deadline on Feb. 25, some add a third goalie to the active roster for the remainder of the regular season, providing some benefits but also a new set of challenges to goaltending coaches.
The ideal situation when three goalies are active on a roster is that one of them is what I'd call a prospect goalie, someone in an organization's pipeline who has shown promise and is being introduced to the NHL environment to help hone his craft.
In addition to the young goalie getting a taste of life in the NHL, which could help in future seasons, there are several short-term benefits to having him around.
He can step in if there's an emergency or an injury and avoid having his team use an emergency backup goalie. Also, having a prospect around allows a team to give the starting goalie a recovery or maintenance day and still have both nets filled for practice.
For the most part I only had to deal with a three-goalie environment when there was an injury. But during the 2016-17 season, prospect Alex Nedeljkovic was brought up to the Carolina Hurricanes from Charlotte of the American Hockey League to gain experience after Charlotte had been eliminated from the playoffs.
I made sure to communicate with Alex about the daily schedule and his role. At times he was doing full NHL practices. Other times he needed to wait on the sidelines until called upon.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have a three-goalie situation going on now after they acquired Keith Kinkaid in a trade with the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 25. They now have what I call a three-headed monster with Kinkaid, Sergei Bobrovsky and Joonas Korpisalo.

I suspect Columbus goaltending coach Manny Legace's workload and responsibilities have increased dramatically since the trade.
Legace's job is to make sure all three goalies are focused and preparing to help the team win even though there are only two nets available during practice.
In this case, communication, planning and time management are key. Blue Jackets coaches will want to ensure that Bobrovsky is getting quality reps and has a healthy mindset. Korpisalo needs to stay sharp in practice as each of his outings are being scrutinized highly by management.
Last but not least, getting to know Kinkaid and building a trusting relationship with him also is important for Legace.
I always found that connecting with the new goalie away from the rink over a good meal or a golf game was an easy way to get to know him. Helping the player feel comfortable and gel with the team as soon as possible is invaluable.
One of the first things I did when Curtis Joseph came to back up Miikka Kiprusoff in Calgary in 2007-08 was to help Joseph learn the nicknames of his new teammates. A small but valuable thing.
I simply printed out a team roster and dressing-room staff list, added all the nicknames and gave it to Joseph and it accelerated his level of comfort around the dressing room.
In Columbus' situation, I suspect that Legace must be connecting with all three goalies to help them maintain a positive attitude and make each goalie feel important to the group. He has to help each guy keep his confidence level up in a very demanding environment during a push for a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
There will be another interesting three-goalie situation developing in Philadelphia with Carter Hart close to returning from an ankle injury.
The Flyers acquired veteran Cam Talbot in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers on Feb. 15, adding him to a roster that also has veteran Brian Elliott.

Philadelphia is seven points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference, so each game they play is important.
Hart started 22 games from Dec. 18 until the 20-year-old was injured during a morning skate Feb. 21. It will be fascinating to see how coach Scott Gordon manages the playing time when Hart is ready to return.
The young goalie has high-stress experience from playing for Canada at the World Junior Championship in 2017 and 2018, and sometimes when you're so young and you're having so much fun, you're not worried about consequences. You're just playing, and that's what it looks like to me. Hart is living out his dream, something we've seen before with talented young goalies like Marc-Andre Fleury, Carey Price and Patrick Roy.
As we've seen during last season's Cup run by the Washington Capitals, when Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer carried the load down the stretch, having two quality goalies -- or in Columbus' case, three quality goalies -- can be priceless if managed properly. It most definitely will be intriguing to see it all unfold down the stretch.