According to a report from Post Media’s Jim Matheson, former Bakersfield Condors Goaltending Coach Sylvain Rodrigue will be joining the Florida Panthers organization.
With Roberto Luongo as Special Advisor to General Manager, Leo Luongo as Director of Goaltending Development, and Robb Tallas as NHL Goalie coach, the Panthers hockey operations already has a strong emphasis on goaltending. Based on their current set up, Rodrigue will likely become the goaltending coach for the Charlotte Checkers in the AHL, or a goaltending scout.
Rodrigue’s sudden departure
Rodrigue left the Edmonton Oilers organization on his own accord. Reports indicate that Rodrigue left the organization because he did not view he had a clear path to an NHL job from Bakersfield within the organization. Tallas is only 51, but Rodrigue may view the separation from his son Olivier and the opportunity to work with either Chris Driedger or Spencer Knight as an opportunity for more exposure.
What the sequence of moves also does is give the public a better picture of how the Oilers’ goaltending department is going to set up under Jeff Jackson, Stan Bowman, and Kris Knoblauch.
Schwartz’s relationship with the team
Dustin Schwartz was first hired by the Oilers in November 2014, replacing Frederic Chabot after the team had seen Devan Dubnyk struggle and depart followed by Ben Scrivens and Victor Fasth struggle. Despite the common public misconception, Schwartz was not overseeing the Oilers when Dubynk was here, but was rather in charge of the Edmonton Oil Kings, where Laurent Brossoit and Tristan Jarry got their starts. He has kept the goaltending coach position since then, becoming the second longest tenured member of the Oilers front office and coaching staff behind capologist Bill Scott.
Throughout the years, fans have called for Schwartz’s job. The calls for a change were perhaps loudest last fall, when both Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell got off to rough starts. Before one of the games in the Vancouver series, Frank Seravalli went on a rant saying he didn’t care how much behind the scenes work or how hard of a worker Schwartz was (which was the argument presented by Bob Stauffer), the Oilers should make a change for that job.
I would venture to say that Edmonton’s struggle in goal have been more about player acquisiton from the General Manager position and workload deployment by the head coach, but still, the vast majority of goalies that came through the Oilers’ crease either had some of their best seasons of the career (see Cam Talbot and Mike Smith) or weren’t ever playing significant NHL minutes again.
Re-litigating the past may be productive in the future, but it seems like the Oilers are showing their cards with their approach to their goalie coaches. Jackson was hired over a year ago, and has hired a new GM, new coaching staff, and made significant roster changes. However, Schwartz remains at his post.
Even more the new Condors goalie coach, Kelly Guard, was formerly with the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL. The same WHL that appointed Schwartz as their league Goaltending Consultant, helping oversee goaltending as a whole in the Western Canadian provinces and helping mentor WHL club goalie coaches, including Guard. Moving further down OEG to the Oil Kings, Kurtis Mucha is their goalie coach, who was a Schwartz student previously, as has been working with him running summer camps in the area over recent years. Schwartz should have no problems from a staff synergy perspective, as he and Knoblauch played four seasons together with the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
Sylvain Rodrigue’s hiring with the Oilers organization actually predated Dustin Schwartz. However, with the former’s departure from OEG, and the time that has passed since overhauls in other parts of hockey ops, it’s becoming clear that Jeff Jackson will be sticking with Schwartz to lead the Oilers’ goaltending department for the time being.
