I noticed when a goalie goes into a butterfly, isn’t it supposed to look like a “V” but with the legs slightly kicked out? Or maybe the goalies I play with just haven’t nailed that butterfly thing. I think I get what your saying though…maybe its a combination on Turks not being as flexible, and his confidence that he’s square to the shot. Or it might even be the way his pads are broken in. I guess I need a picture to really tell whats goin on here. Then again, I’m a D-man not a goalie so I can’t say i know a lot of the technical stuff there…some of my friends are just goalies :)

Turco is not your typical butterfly goaltender, although all goaltenders nowadays use the traditional “butterfly” approach.

But true butterfly goaltenders use their size and positioning to their advantage, and look to take up as much room as possible. Then drop down, are mobile on the ice, but are spread wide while still covering a large amount of the net. They also tend to drop down much, much more than other goaltenders. That’s why this style is best for the larger goalies. Auld is one, and Lehtonen is CERTAINLY a traditional butterfly goaltender.

Turco is more agile, more stand up and uses his athleticism. His pads are typically a bit smaller. It’s also the type of pads he prefers. Butterfly goaltenders typically push the limits of the legality of size of pads (ahem, Patrick Roy).

It’s also manufacturer. Go into a hockey store, and you’ll see the same size pads, width and height, and some will be a bit rounded and others more square.

I always preferredrounded. Bauer’s were always rounded.

So Brandon, do we think this could be why Turco’s numbers have declined over the past few years? The fact that he relies more on his athleticism and agility (which is possibly declining) and less on positioning. I would think he would want to “learn” to be a more fundamentally sound goalie as his quickness fades. Would that even be possible once you’ve been using one style for so long?

Great stuff Brandon, but I have always been a Vaughn fan myself.

It’s 100% personnal preference and what is comfortable to the goalie. I know that myself, I prefer that my pads be as long as they can be while still being comfortable. My pads are the Koho Pro 580 series and are 36" in length, I am 5’ 11" tall. The longest that an NHL goalies pads can be and still be legal are 38". Generally pads that are the maximum length are going to be used by goalies who are at least 6’ 3" or taller.

As far as the “pre rounded” version of pads you are talking about, that aspect of them is strictly based on the manufacturer. Brandon is right in that Bauer pads are usually more “rounded”, though I will bend mine in half at the knee prior to games to increase the roundness of the pad.

As for the making the “V” shape when Turco goes into the butterfly, this can be attributed to a couple of things. First, he may like his pads to be shorter to allow him more mobility. Second, he may wear his tighter round his lower leg thus not allowing the pad to rotate, if you will, around his legs as he drops into the butterfly. I personally wear my pads very loose for this very reason. I can fit my entire arm between my shins and the pad while standing straight up. Again, this all comes down to personal preference.

Third, the flexability of the goalie absolutely plays a factor into the “V” shape. Some of the most flexible goalies in the NHL today seem to come from Finland, why this is, I don’t know. Here is an example of what I’m talking about, Tukka Rask for the Bruins, extremely flexible, pads form a solid wall when down in the butterfly. Someone not quite as flexible and more of a hybrid (mix of stand up and butterfly) goalie is Evgeni Nabokov. Here is a picture of the “V” you are talking about. You can clearly see that while he is still square to the shooter and in great position to make the save, his pads are not square to each other when down in the butterfly position.

Hope that helped, cheers!

Thanks, those pictures really helped and are what I had in mind when talking about Turco vs others. It seems there are two distinct styles when it comes to playing goalie (unless there are others I am not aware of) and Turco is just one style. Love it or hate it, he is what he is.

It sure has been nice seeing the Turco of old showing up for games lately though. I had not been a huge fan the last 2 yrs but I still like the guy and only wish him the best…whether that is with us or not.

I agree with Derek. Personnal preferences play a huge role in the style every goalie prefers to play. I’m a finnish goalie, I quit playing at the pro level when I was 20, now I’m 28 but I still play for fun, 4-5 times a week. I believe the biggest reason, why us finns are so flexible, is that we play many other sports on the side of hockey. In my case, I’m 6’0" and I am very flexible, propably cause I used to play soccer as a kid, still do in the summer, and I also did karate. The other reason is that we focus on goalie stuff in the very beginning, when kids are about 9-10 years old. My goalie coach gave me the freedom to start playing with the style that fitted my game, and worked with me with that, and the other goalie on our team was a stand-up-goalie, and they did their thing with him. I can’t comment on goalie coaching in other countries, because I don’t have the inside on that, but this is “the secret” why the NHL has a lot of finnish top noch goalies.