I am not sure exactly what a goalie coach does, but I know what he hasn’t done in the past few years.  Jeff Reese, the Philadelphia Flyers goalie coach, has not seemed to make the goalie any better.  And in the case with Ilya Bryzgalov, he is actually worse.  Now I am not sitting here trying to blame everything on Reese, but he has to be asked the question of what the hell is going on.  Why does he still have a job, if the biggest problem the Flyers have had in the past 3 seasons has been goaltending.  I am sure that he is a nice guy, and I know that he won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, but he is not doing anything to earn his paycheck.

The job of a goalie coach is part mental as well.  And with Bryzgalov, that piece is even larger.  He has been lost in the woods during the early part of the season only to come out and put together a string of wins that made you remember the reason General Manager Paul Holmgren gave him a huge contract.  And then, when the HBO show 24/7 started, he went right back to playing poorly, to the point that he wasn’t even able to start in the Winter Classic.  Coach Peter Laviolette decided to go with back-up Sergei Bobrovsky in net for the biggest game of the NHL season.  The biggest issue with that was the fact that Bryzgalov thought it was the right move for the team.  Now I am glad that he supports his teammates, but I want a guy who is pissed off that he is not playing well and is willing to do whatever it takes to get back on the ice.

There has been a lot of talk that the increased media attention playing in Philadelphia, and the HBO cameras around have affected Bryzgalov.  Ok, that could be the case. but it does not make me feel any better.  I want this guy to lead the Flyers to the Stanley Cup, what kind of media coverage do you think that would garner???????