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NHL goalie executes paddle-down drill in full gear during on-ice training session featuring Luongo, Reimer, Dubnyk, and Gr...

Pro-Drills: Paddle Down Part 2: Movement drills with Reimer, Luongo + more

Kevin Woodley | Co-Founder & Managing Editor — InGoal Magazine | | 3 min read

Co-founder and Managing Editor of InGoal Magazine. NHL.com correspondent covering the Vancouver Canucks and author of the Unmasked series. Previously with the Associated Press, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, and The Hockey News.

Key Takeaways
  • Paddle down applies beyond wraparounds — Rob Tallas coaches its use on broken plays, rebounds, and scrambles in front of the crease.
  • The blocker-side leg push in paddle down movement is physically demanding and harder to execute than it appears.
  • James Reimer and Roberto Luongo demonstrate paddle down warm-up and movement drills recorded during NET360 Goalie Camp ice sessions.
  • Tallas is not promoting paddle down as a go-to technique, but as a situational tool used selectively when the play demands it.
  • Multiple WHL goaltenders and coaches including Fred Brathwaite and Ryan Cyr worked through paddle down movement drills, showing its relevance across skill levels.

Last week we declared paddle down wasn’t dead and shared explanations and Florida Panthers goaltending coach Rob Tallas and then-Panthers goaltender James Reimer shard examples and demonstrations of how and why they used paddle down on wrap around attempts.

The original article contained 12 minutes of video explanations featuring Tallas, Reimer and a couple of Western Hockey League goaltenders at the NET360 Goalie Camp, but it did not contain the drill that inspired the discussion that kick-started the entire article. We decided to hold that one, focusing on the when and why last week before moving onto the how, which starts with this video of Reimer and Tallas doing warm-up movements to start their ice time, continues below with other goaltenders at the camp, and finishes later that summer when we were on the ice again recording drills with Tallas, Reimer and Roberto Luongo.

Not that Tallas was trying to make paddle down a new-again fad for goalies.

“I’m not like saying paddle down, paddle down, paddle down, but there’s times,” he said.

That includes broken plays and rebounds in front of the net in addition to wraparounds, something he and Reimer talked about in this drill, which started this entire discussion:

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