Varlamov

[GoalieGuild]

I was pretty tough on this guy over the summer, as I knew he was extremely talented, but at the same time extremely raw and needed to learn a lot about the North American game in order to become more effective.

But I am very impressed with his play over the last two weeks. He has done some things that I have not seen young goalies do.

One was in a shootout where he was sliding back into the net. He had the puck underneath him, recognized it, then effectively executed a move where he threw his hands up over his head and that stopped him from sliding into the goal and past the goal line. Brilliant!!

I'll probably go more in-depth about Varlamov in next week's School of Block, but yeah, he has been very impressive this season. Moreso than I expected. He's a quick learner.

[metaldude26]

Looking forward to it as always. Will you touch on how this might impact things for Neuvirth and the future of tending in Washington or are you going to stick to the technical stuff with Varlamov?

[GoalieGuild]

I will do both. Thanks for pointing that out. You guys keep me on track LOL!

[metaldude26]

Glad I could help, LOL. Sounds good!

[shook81]

Just posted here (http://www.dobberhockey.com/index.ph...841#post384841) about why I feel Varlamov is likely getting screwed by Caps GM McPhee...I would love to hear your take on it.

[mister_mcgoo]

I was pretty tough on this guy over the summer, as I knew he was extremely talented, but at the same time extremely raw and needed to learn a lot about the North American game in order to become more effective.

But I am very impressed with his play over the last two weeks. He has done some things that I have not seen young goalies do.

One was in a shootout where he was sliding back into the net. He had the puck underneath him, recognized it, then effectively executed a move where he threw his hands up over his head and that stopped him from sliding into the goal and past the goal line. Brilliant!!

I'll probably go more in-depth about Varlamov in next week's School of Block, but yeah, he has been very impressive this season. Moreso than I expected. He's a quick learner.

finally he gets some recognition from GG...I've always said he just needs the reps to hone his game, the talent and athleticism is there, the win for him is that you can teach the former but not the latter