Cap Raeder, Goaltending Coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning

Cap Raeder, Assistant Coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, may not have invented the position of goaltender coach, but he didn’t miss by much.

After a successful career in the net at the University of New Hampshire, in 1973 Raeder was drafted by both Montreal in the NHL and the Hartford Whalers in the WHA, at that time the upstart league competing with the NHL for players. Raeder signed with Hartford and, after a brief stint in the minors, was called to the big team at the end of 1976 and started all the conference final games. He started the next year in the minors but returned to Hartford and ended up playing in the last 26 games that season while posting the third best goals-against average in the league.

But after two seasons during which he played some of his best hockey ever, his career started to slip.

“After that ’77 season, I never got it back again,” Raeder lamented. “I saw some pretty good goalies coming up and realized that I wasn’t going to be able to make a career of playing.”

Raeder returned to the University of New Hampshire in 1980 to finish up his degree and help coach the school hockey team. He served as the head coach of Clarkson University before joining the staff of the L.A. Kings in 1988.

Now in his 22^nd year of working with netminders in the NHL, Raeder, the Dean of goaltending coaches, reflected on the position that he has influenced so strongly and the changes that he has seen.

Mike Smith is one of Cap's Pupils in Tampa

InGoal: When did the position “Goaltending Coach” come into being?

CR: It really started in the 80’s, the early 80’s. Warren Strelow was one of the first ones. As far as I’m concerned he still was one of the best. I worked with him for 10 years in San Jose. He was the 1980 Olympic Goalie Coach, the Miracle on Ice. Now, it’s a specialized position. I think you’re seeing a lot better goaltenders coming through. They are much more knowledgeable.

InGoal: You have to attribute that to having a one-on-one coach working with them, right?

CR: Also, there are more goalie camps. There is a lot more available to the goaltender now than there was 20 or 30 years ago.

InGoal: What would you say is the biggest change in the position in the last 20 or 30 years?

CR: Well, one, it’s more specialized, which means a goaltender gets to work on specific areas during the course of a practice. They’re not just stopping shots. More focus now has been on movement. Also, the equipment has so much to do with it. Look, there’s more emphasis on the position now: we used to chuckle about how everyone talks about how goaltending is the most important position on the team, but nobody worked with them. Now, you find specialized coaching for goalies more and more and on more levels. There are more goalie camps for the kids and there are now more goalie coaches in junior hockey and in the colleges.

InGoal: The position has changed a lot in 30 years, but now look ahead 50 years; what is a goaltender like in 2060?

CR: Ha! I don’t look that far ahead, so who knows? I guess the protection and equipment will continue to improve. Maybe the net will be wider? I’d hate to see that. The position won’t stop evolving, and it’s been fun to see it evolve. I can tell you this; the kids I see in goaltending camps that I run in the summer are more focused now than ever. Another element of change is video. Teams are more systematic now, almost like football, thanks to video. Some teams now just keep a camera focused on the goaltender at all times so we have those films to work with. That’s where the game has changed; we’ve broken it down more. We’re looking at the feet, the hands, everything. It’s an art now. I think that’s why patience is needed, both with the goaltender and his coach, because the position is really a craft that has to be learned.

InGoal: How would one of the original six goaltenders like Gump Worsley or Terry Sawchuck do today, if they had to play the position in an NHL game tonight?

CR: How would they do? I guess they’d do alright…it’s a different game. Would they get blown out? It’s a good question, but I don’t think they would because they were smart. They had to figure out positioning all by themselves – and now you add today’s equipment, which is so much better. The old equipment was terrible! Now, everything is better. Just having a mask makes a goaltender less fearful. I think all those classic guys could make it today.

InGoal: You got into the goaltending coaching field very early, didn’t you?

CR: Yes, I did. I was a coach at The University of New Hampshire but in ’83, I took a year off and started going around to different colleges, mostly to see how other college programs functioned. I did that as a goaltending consultant; working with the goalies, but I was also learning how other college programs are run. I went to 15 different colleges, from U of Maine to Princeton to Yale, Bowling Green, Michigan, and on and on. I spent a week to 10 days at each college, working with the netminders. That was the start of being a goaltending coach for me. Back then, there were a few other goalie coaches around, just a handful – Dave Peterson, Wayne Thomas. Of course, Warren Strelow was our guru. I went back to college coaching for a few years and then went to the L.A. Kings as the Assistant Coach/Goalie Coach.

InGoal: Do you see a difference between goaltenders that come from Quebec compared to Ontario or Europe?

CR: I do. Lots of the stuff is universal but there are certain styles that develop from each region. I’m a little old school in that I believe that each goaltender has their own style and it’s up to me to work within that style. I don’t want to say ‘You have to do this or that’ in every situation. There are unique things each goaltender likes doing, and those things work for them. As long as it works for them, do it.

InGoal: Have all the goaltenders you’ve worked with over the years been receptive to your input, or have some resisted?

CR: I’ve been real lucky, because I give them the freedom to be themselves but there is a give and take. Usually, when you do that and you can sell what you’re doing and show them at the same time, they buy in. Now if you say, ‘You have to do this! You have to do that a certain way,’ well, you better be able to show them why. If I tell a goalie something, it’s because I believe it and I’ll prove it to them.

InGoal: Goaltenders have always been known as being “eccentric” and “different”.  Is that still true or less true?

CR: I’d say less true. I think now they are more within the structure of the team. Not so isolated. When I played, I liked to be by myself before a game. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. And there were a lot of us like that. But not so much anymore. Maybe they’re more normal? Maybe it’s confidence. Before, you were on your own. Now, you’re not. A goaltender has someone to rely on. On the day of the game, I won’t say a word to the starting goaltender. Unless he wants to talk to me, I’m not talking to him. And only very rarely will I talk to a goalie between periods – only if I see something that has to change right away. Now the young kids in the system are a little different. You handle them differently than you do the guys here in the NHL. Down there it’s more “hands-on”. Here, it’s more of like, “you know what you have to do to prepare – if you want to talk to me, great, if not, that’s ok too.” These guys have their routines. They’re pros. I don’t want to screw them up, and that’s what can happen. You can overcoach. I believe that, so my schedule is very calculated. I’m here in Tampa for a week or two and then I go to Norfolk, to work with the goalies in the system. They can get tired of the coach and tired of the message, sometimes. There are only three of us; two goalies (Mike Smith and Antero Nittymaki) and me. Now that’s a nice thing, too, because you can really learn the personalities and get some type of communication or relationship going with them. That’s the beauty of my job, too. That’s why I like it. I can get to know the goalies. It’s not just stopping pucks; I get to really know them. That’s a nice part of it.

InGoal: Does that relationship extend to off-ice, also?

CR: Never. That’s never the case. There is respect, a nice respect that develops, but that’s as it should be.

InGoal: What’s the worst advice anyone can give a goalie?

CR: The worst advice? It would have to be something to sap a goalie’s confidence. Or something that knocks their character. That’s about the worst things you can say to a goaltender. Confidence is a thing that comes and goes. That’s true in any sport or any business, but it’s magnified on the rink. People say, “You’re only as good as your last save,” but I think goalies are only as good as the team around them. If your team is playing well defensively, then it’s all on you, as the goalie. Confidence is like the chicken or the egg, what comes first? You can help a goalie build a foundation to try to get confidence, but the mental aspect of the game, which is huge – a goaltender has to get that for himself. You can help them build towards it, but you don’t put on the finishing touch; they have to end up doing that. And, as a goaltending coach, that’s the way you want it; you want them to be self-reliant. And at this level, they better be, or they won’t be here long.

InGoal: Is that the dividing line between someone on the NHL level or the ECHL level? Confidence?

CR: Yeah. And ability has something to do with it. When you can stay steady and not have the highs or the lows, stay even-keeled, you’ll make it in the NHL.

InGoal:  Who is the best you’ve ever seen at being “even-keeled’?

CR: Probably Martin Brodeur would be a wonderful example of that. Also, Ken Dryden was the king of even-keeled. He thought everything out. That’s so important; 82 games and the way they shoot the puck now and the pressure that’s on a goalie, that’s very important.

InGoal: How does a goaltender recover from letting in an easy goal?

CR: That’s a skill, too. We talk about that. Warren Strelow used to call it “rebounding” . You have to be able to rebound. It’s a mental strength, an inner strength. You’ve got to have it. That’s what separates a lot of guys. Take Brodeur – he can have a bad game or let in a bad goal, but you’d never know it the next game or the next period. That’s an art and sometimes it will develop with experience. You eventually figure out that guys let in bad goals and have bad games and have bad stretches. I don’t know one goaltender in the NHL that hasn’t has a bad stretch this year. Not one.

InGoal: Is there a secret to what you call “rebounding”? Is there a trick you can teach a goaltender?

CR: No, there are no tricks…there is such a thing as a foundation and the belief in your foundation. You have to be able to say, ‘yeah, I can do this. I had a bad game and didn’t get a bounce…’ you can do that if you have a foundation to build on – without a foundation a goaltender is floundering; “I stink, I can’t get it back,” they’ll think. Then it’s back to square one; let’s get back to the fundamentals. Just like a pitcher in baseball, it’s back to the mechanics. If you have a foundation, you will find your way back; you’ll find the confidence again. Is it a trick? No, it’s good hard work and the fundamentals. A goaltender will find times when the puck doesn’t look as good or he gets a bad bounce or he just doesn’t feel right; he’s fighting it. It happens. Ok, we’ll deal with it. As quick as it leaves you, it’s back.

InGoal: Sometimes a goalie is completely screened and has no chance of making a save; when that happens, will you tell the goaltender to just throw that one away and forget about it?

CR: Well, we’ll sit down and watch the video. Sometimes, they have to find the puck. As long as you’re working to find it, ok. You can just think, “I hope it hits me.” You have to find it. We try not to make excuses. There are enough excuses to make out there. Some goals you just can’t stop. It could be a hell of a play; I tip my hat to the shooter. Great shot, off the crossbar or in or a redirect. What can you do? Move on.

InGoal: How many hours in the week are you with the goaltenders?

CR: We try to spend 20 or 25 minutes before each practice working. Sometimes we’ll sit down and watch a video. Sometimes video after every single game at this level can get counter productive. This past week I saw a need to bring them both in and we looked at video. When we have the rookie camp in July, I’ll have four or five goaltenders here and we’ll critique video every day. That’s a whole different environment, the rookie camps. I like that. I like having all the young goalies together.

InGoal: It seems like you prefer to work with the young players.

CR: I do. There’s more to teach. On the NHL level, it’s more like maintenance. By the time they make the NHL, they are who they are. They have their own style and I just try to keep them centered and going.

Norfolk's Jaroslav Janus is working with Cap in the AHL as part of the Tampa Development System

InGoal: There is a perception that the goaltenders playing for Tampa Bay at the AHL level in Norfolk, Dustin Tokarski and Jaroslav Janus, are really talented. Do you agree?

CR: They are good, but how good they’ll be, I don’t know. They both have great attitudes and they are great kids. They’re very receptive to learning. How good will they become? I want them to make it to the NHL; that’s my goal. I hope they play in the NHL. Will it be with us? Don’t know. Hope so, but it might not be. But we don’t think about that. We think about getting better each day. My goal is to make them the best I can make them and for them to play I the NHL somewhere. That’s my goal..

InGoal: How do you explain a 17 game winning streak, like Antero Nittymaki has against Atlanta?

CR: Don’t go near him! No video, no talk. Once you get them going, let them go. He’s the one doing it, not me.

InGoal: The goaltenders are doing it, but you’re right there with them…

CR: All I want them to know is that I’m with them and I understand. I understand what they are going through. It’s a tough position and I’m with them. Good game or bad game, I’m still with them.

Lonnie Herman is a writer for Tampabaylightning.com and contributes to several other hockey publications.