Going back to the early days of the NHL, goalies would come out of their cages to play the puck. As the game has evolved, that ability has only become more important. This excerpt from The Goalie Issue shows how it's still not easy.
Every goaltender grows up dreaming about making the big, highlight-reel glove save in the NHL.
Or perhaps it’s a sprawling, diving stop where they get just enough of the puck with their paddle to deflect it away from a yawning cage.
Few, if any, dream of the dozen or so times a game they have to play the puck behind the net.
But, in reality, that is one of the more underrated skills a netminder can possess – especially in today’s faster-than-ever NHL.
“I’ve always practised it,” said Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark. “I was a player/goalie up until I was 15, so I always had it. Now, in my older days, I can say the difference between when I came into the league and now is huge. Before, you had more time, and there was more structure, so you could put an emphasis on making good decisions because you had more time. Now, I need to be quicker in moving the puck to an area where your ‘D’ are supposed to be. That comes down to the forecheckers and players being faster. You don’t have time to dillydally.”
The art of puckhandling has been used by goalies since at least the beginning of the Original Six Era.
According to hockey historian, author and THN correspondent Bob Duff, Chicago’s first netminder was famous for it. Hugh ‘Old Eagle Eyes’ Lehman was known to dash into the corners and even battle forecheckers for pucks before sending crisp passes up to his teammates. That was in 1926.
From there began a lineage of courageous keepers – such as Jacques Plante, Ed Giacomin and Gary Smith – who were willing to leave the confines of their cages.
Fast forward to the 1980s, when a youngster in Montreal got a hot tip from his father, who just happened to have the perfect job for the parent of an aspiring netminder.
“My dad was a sports photographer for the Montreal Canadiens,” said Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, son of Denis. “He came back one day – the Flyers had just played Montreal – and he said, ‘Marty, their goalie was like a third defenseman out there.’ So I started watching clips of Ron Hextall, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ I always wanted to be a forward anyway. I just couldn’t skate very well. So I figured I might as well try to make some plays.”
Inspired by Hextall, Brodeur studiously practised his shot during the summers from U-16 through junior. And as he worked his way through what would become an iconic career with the New Jersey Devils, it became a weapon.
When Brodeur entered the NHL in the early 1990s, goalies were a mixed bag when it came to handling the puck.
“Tom Barrasso was a good puckhandler,” Brodeur said. “A bunch of guys were good, and there were other guys who weren’t that good. You’d talk to your players and say, ‘Just give their goalie the puck. He’ll make a mistake.’ Marty Turco was really good. He was more adventurous than I was. I stayed as close to my net as I could.”
Turco was also an innovator. The ‘Turco Grip’ came from the Dallas netminder flipping his glove hand to the other side of his paddle for more leverage and better control. It also meant he had a pretty good backhand and could also change the angle of his shot.
The Devils won three Stanley Cups during Brodeur’s heyday, frustrating opponents with tight-checking hockey that minimized scoring chances. And even if the other team got a plum opportunity, they had to contend with Brodeur, who won four Vezina Trophies when all was said and done.
Perhaps the most exasperating part of playing those Devils was that even if you got through their dreaded neutral-zone trap and dumped the puck in, Brodeur would calmly corral it and send it back the other way with a pass to his defenseman or center.
“I was fortunate to play with a lot of the same defensemen for a long time, so we knew how to read each other,” Brodeur said. “But you could tell in the playoffs, teams were trying to keep the puck away from me. So it was a different forecheck for them because they were used to dumping it in a certain way. I would grab it and take it out, and they’d get tired of doing that. And then they’d make other mistakes because they’re not making the proper play.”
When the NHL emerged from the 2004-05 lockout, one of the numerous rule changes made to speed up the game was the invention of the ‘trapezoid,’ a space behind the net where goalies were allowed to play the puck. The corners behind the goal line became out of bounds.
The new edict became colloquially known as ‘The Brodeur Rule,’ since it limited one of his particular strengths. But he didn’t let it get him down.
“The trapezoid handcuffed me a little bit,” he said. “I couldn’t get to some of the good dump-ins, but I tried to get to all of them. At the same time, they took away the red line, so I was able to make a two-line pass. I’ll take that. I’ll read the play better and be able to string guys on breakaways better. The only thing that bothered me was the feeling of powerlessness when someone was going to run your defenseman.”
Indeed, that is one of the benefits of goalie puckhandling and something of which today’s netminders are very aware.
“It’s always a work in progress,” said Calgary’s Dustin Wolf. “You’re trying to find ways to get better, like stopping the puck quicker behind the net and having your ‘D’ open up to hit them on the tape. It limits the amount of hits they take. Over 82 games, that’s a lot, so I know they appreciate it.”
And what does a defenseman look for in a good outlet pass? Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman has been playing with the same superstar netminder, Andrei Vasilevskiy, for most of his career. So ‘Vasy’ knows what his workhorse No. 1 D-man wants when he goes back for a pass.
“Obviously, a crisp pass on the tape is best,” Hedman said. “And also for him to read the game, read the play and for us as ‘D’ to communicate a lot. There are differences for the power play versus 5-on-5, too. On the power play, you just stop the puck, and we’ll get it. But he has to read the forecheck, see what we need and try to put it in a good spot.”
Wolf worked on puckhandling quite a bit with his goalie coach when he was growing up and believes in making the simple play to his defensemen. Another goalie who put in the time to hone his puckhandling skills is former NHLer Devan Dubnyk, who is now running a goaltending-consultancy program (and guest starring on THN’s Big Show video podcast).
“I’m a right-handed shot, so when I decided to become a goalie, my dad made me shoot pucks left-handed every day,” Dubnyk said. “I had to shoot 50 to 100 pucks out in the garage, starting with a player’s stick. I did that over and over again and then switched to a goalie stick because it’s completely different. The lie of a goalie stick is a lot more upright.”
When he is out of his crease, Wolf has one goal at the front of his mind: try not to slip up.
In some European countries, goaltenders aren’t encouraged to play the puck, which means a little extra work when they come over to North America. Others are more than happy to get their paddles on a dump-in, however.
“I love to handle the puck,” said Anaheim’s Lukas Dostal, a Czech national. “I love to move behind the net. I’m not afraid to do it. It’s part of hockey now. Teams expect goalies to play the puck. I always played with the puck, but in Europe, when I was in junior, it was never required. I started to think about it more when I first played against pros when I was 16 or 17. That’s when they wanted me to use my stick and not be afraid. Whenever we had goalie skates, I was always playing with the puck, so it was natural for me.”
For Dubnyk, playing the puck as a goaltender isn’t just about dexterity. It’s about the combination of the physical and the hockey-IQ sides of the game.
“There’s the skill level of your ability to handle and shoot the puck and make passes,” he said. “But the biggest part is your skating ability to go get the puck behind the net and, while doing that, being able to see what’s happening up ice. The best puckhandling goalies get a read on the play and how it’s developing, or they get back really quick and rotate so they can process the play.”
This is an excerpt of a feature that appeared in The Hockey News' Goalie Issue 2025. We profile NHLers Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger and Karel Vemjelka, and we look at the art of puckhandling. Also, we say goodbye to three goaltending greats in Ken Dryden, Bernie Parent and Ed Giacomin.
Elsewhere in the issue, we count down the NHL's best crease duos, look at the future of goaltending for every NHL organization, explore what rule changes the NHL could "borrow" from other leagues and feature some of the best keepers from leagues across North America and the world.
You can get it in print for free when you subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/Free today. All subscriptions include complete access to more than 76 years of articles at The Hockey News Archive.