Full Circle For Chiodo

Andy Chiodo's passport got a workout during his playing career.
Canada. United States. Finland. Belarus. Slovenia. Austria.
The miles were aplenty; the experiences nearly outnumbering the amount of distance logged. And the lessons learned along that path have given the newest member of the Pittsburgh Penguins coaching staff quite a bit of perspective.

"It's [Pittsburgh] a great place to be. It's an organization that I believe in, and you know, goaltenders that I believe in. For all those reasons, I'm really excited about it," Chiodo told me on the latest Scoop Podcast presented by PPG. "Excited to work with so many great people, the athletes, the individuals on our team, the goaltenders, there's just a lot of reasons why it really felt, you know, like a great opportunity to take advantage of."
The 38-year-old Chiodo was named the Penguins' goaltending coach this summer after Mike Buckley was relieved of his duties. He's spent the last three years with the organization as a goaltending development coach, coming over to the Penguins after serving as the goaltending coach of the Ontario Hockey League's Ottawa 67's during the 2017-2018 campaign.
While a native of Toronto, Ontario, the rise to the goaltending coach position here in Pittsburgh represents a full-circle moment of sorts for Chiodo. Originally the Penguins' seventh-round pick, 199th overall, in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, Chiodo made his NHL debut the following season, helping to snap a less-than-memorable streak for the Pens, as the goaltender picked up his first NHL victory after a Ric Jackman overtime winner propelled the Penguins to a 4-3 overtime win over the then-Phoenix Coyotes to halt the team's 18-game slide. Chiodo made 28 saves on 31 shots in the victory.
"The excitement that everyone felt after that game, the energy in the room, it had just been so much so many nights of losing. That takes a toll on everybody. There's, you know, a sense of relief. It was just a good feeling. And the team went on to have a pretty strong, you know, last quarter of the season or whatever it was, from that point. So fun memory, fun to be a part of, it was a memory for me."
Chiodo has many memories within the game of hockey prior to throwing on his coaching hat, wrapping up a fourteen-year playing career that spanned six countries, nine leagues, and sixteen teams after the 2016-'17 season. As a member of Mike Sullivan's staff, he'll be tasked with managing the duo of Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith. Jarry will again enter this season as the team's number one goaltender and is coming off a strong regular season that ended with a playoff whimper in May. While Chiodo believes there is something to be said for a player growing on their own from in-game experiences, he's eager to lend a hand and perspective to the 26-year-old.
"I think just through osmosis through going through that process, you are able to grow and learn without anything even being said to you," Chiodo said. "I think going through that experience, innately, you'll identify certain things that you want to continue to hold in your daily routines and your game. Then you naturally figure out things that hey, I want to make sure I'm on top of this as well. So I think just naturally, there's a process attached to the ups and downs that we all experienced as goaltenders. For me, I'm less interested in considering or thinking about what's happened other than standpoint to learn what's worked and maybe what could be improved upon. But regardless of last year's outcome, it's a new day. Be where your feet our feet are here today. He's got another season to prepare for that doesn't have a memory. Next year doesn't remember; the puck has no idea what happened last year, the puck's going to come at him the same way. And I think our responsibility is to be in the present, have a growth mindset, get better every single day, and keep building and growing. And that would not change if the Pittsburgh Penguins won a Stanley Cup next year. He'd have work to do to follow that up. And that's just our focus. It's you know, be where your feet are, here we are and let's get better and provide our team with a good, honest, hard-working daily routine and provide our team with quality goaltending. That's our focus."
Jarry went 25-9-3 with two shutouts, a 2.75 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage last season, while DeSmith turned in an 11-7-0 record with two shutouts, 2.54 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. There's a familiarity there between the goaltending battery mates and their coach and Chiodo believes that will serve as a mutual benefit moving forward.
"I think it's really important to seek first to understand before being understood in any way, I think it's always something I thought of when you see different executives or coaches or even players less to a player's extent; I think there's a lot of value - almost a responsibility - to understand the way things have been going, the way things have been done, what the athletes want, what staff members want, and that process I think you absolutely can't skip in the order of operation," Chiodo said. "So for me, Casey's grown since we've been together. Jarry, he's grown since we've been together, I've grown since we've been together. It's important to get to know one another, continue to get to know one another in our current state where we are in our current lives and professions. And, and really understand what they need to you know, contribute to facilitating an environment for success. So, really excited to get to work with those guys, and really excited to learn more about where those guys are at currently. I'm excited to get to work."