I think there are a handful of other relevant traits as well that influence the success of goalies on both sides of the stylistic divide.
Puckhandling- Regardless of your style or skillset theirs an almost completely different area that a goalie can make a difference and that’s in their stickhandling/transitional play. Guys like Marty Turco were renowned for it and his case it elevated what was likely a good goalie to a pretty great one! Im not talking about rebound control here- Im talking about skating out of your crease and being able to play the puck effectively to a short, medium, or long transition. If you look at St. Louis- you can mark their shift in success the year they won the cup back to that trade deadline. I think adding some key personell was critical but the key was that they shifted their whole attack to include Binnington as the first phase of their breakout and although he was a pretty “meh” goaltender he was actually quite strong as a stickhandler and passer. Now I was never high on Binnington and his being an absolute clown doesn’t help matters in that regard- but you can see where hs starts to lose effectiveness as the team eventually shifts away from that breakout style again and his biggest strength as a netminder is nullified. We can use this narrative in a predictive way if we look at maybe a team like Toronto. Im pretty high on Samsonov but outside of him being an athletic/reactive goalie on a more wide open(ish) team which is already not an ideal match- I think a lot of his success might be predicated on whether or not they want to utilize him on the breakout- an area he has not traditionally been effective at. Im very high on Ilya Samsonovs talent but that’s two areas where he doesn’t mesh very well with the Leafs. Time will tell how this plays out- and its certainly possible that skill trumps fit here and he finds a way to be successful anyways but for now Im avoiding TO’s goaltending.
IQ/Instinct- So Roberto Luongo was a well known poker player and I always loved how he compared the two! You can certainly gamble in poker but the skill of the game comes in knowing when its beneficial or at least equitable to do so. In terms of our application here Im referring to the goaltenders ability to read the play and in some cases even read the player. In a two on oh I think a Technical goalie would likely play the odds and play to the shot whereas an Athletic type might cheat towards the pass for an opportunity to make a five alarm save. Goalie IQ or instinct is knowing when to play against type. If the puck carrier is Robert Thomas and the extra skater is Vrana- a goalie with a strong IQ/instinct would likely play the pass regardless of their favored disposition the bulk of the time. Conversely if Charlie Coyle had it they might well play the shot. I think this might be the biggest factor in separating a good goalie form a great one personally and when a young goalies hockey IQ is seen as problematic that’s a big red flag for me. I was listening to an interview with Grubauer who was saying how it was his biggest mandate in Colorado to recognize what system they were utilizing and how he could function the best in that system. It was also suggested Darcy Kuemper never really considered that sort of “meta” angle and was happy to just focus on doing what he did best no matter the situation. I think Kuempers a great goalie but you could see how that would be to a players detriment in the long run.
Mental Fortitude- The last big one here for me is a goalies ability to “shake off” a bad goal or even a bad game. I get leery when I hear too much about a young goalies emotions or outbursts during his development. On one hand you love to see the passion when someone like Tuuka Rask breaks his stick after losing a shootout in junior- but you have to wonder if that kind of emotion would be an anchor long term? I think the biggest way its relevant here is either being on a team that lets a lot of goals in or in terms of being in a fish bowl media market like Toronto or Montreal. In either case a goalie’s mental toughness or resiliency would be critical to their success in certain markets. When youre talking about the chemistery between a goalies style and the teams system I do think that this is a factor.