Drafting The Perfect Goaltender
Everyone Agrees, Penguins' First Pick Has Few Flaws
By Bob Grove

Even for the normally effusive Central Scouting Bureau, the report on 18-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury set new standards. The bureau's description of one of the top prospects in the 2003 National Hockey League Entry Draft read more like a page from How To Build The Perfect Goaltender.

'Excellent flexibility, agility and lateral movement is quick to recover in scramble situations and has exceptional net coverage at all times possesses very good foot speed and pad quickness effectively controls rebounds makes good use of the paddle-down technique in close and in wrap-around situations aggressively challenges shooters and effectively holds his ground consistently makes big saves and thrives in high pressure situations a very focused competitor who plays with a great deal of desire, determination and confidence.'

The frightening reality, however, is that the NHL scouting community basically agreed, leaving few to question the logic of the Penguins trading the third and 55th picks and forward Mikael Samuelsson to Florida for the first overall choice.

But Fleury's game didn't always evoke such praise. Just a couple of years ago, says the French-Canadian from Sorel, Que., 'I was all over the place.'

Enter Roland Melanson, the former goaltender with the New York Islanders, Minnesota, Los Angeles, New Jersey and Montreal, who for the past six seasons has served as the Canadiens' goaltending coach. Working with Fleury's agent, Allan Walsh, Melanson spent some time during the past two off-seasons helping Fleury develop his style.

'He helped me be better technically, more stable,' says Fleury, who primarily credits Melanson for the technical skills that have dazzled scouts. 'I wasn't good technically I was just diving around. He helped me to do that. He was very good with me, very patient. He said I have to be more patient, not to go down on the ice so much.'

Hence Fleury's hybrid butterfly style, which he has honed to near perfection at the junior level. He was third in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League - a proven breeding ground for NHL goaltending stars - in save percentage last season (.910). He earned QMJHL Defensive Player of the Year honors while playing for an overmatched Cape Breton team.

But Melanson's work really paid dividends during the World Junior Championships in Halifax this past December and January. Fleury backstopped the Canadians to a silver medal by earning Best Goaltender honors and being named to the All-Tournament Team. Not even expected to land a spot on the team when it was first being formed last year, Fleury led the competition in goals-against average (1.57) and was third in save percentage (.928).

Fleury's cool demeanor during games, even the championship game against Russia that was laced with pressure, has also convinced scouts that his mental approach to the game is everything an NHL team likes to see. He admitted to being 'a little bit nervous, like everybody, at the beginning of the (championship) game. As it went on, I was feeling better.

'It's something I worked on the past year by myself. It's very important to be in control mentally and physically. For sure, you've got to have both of them if you want to have success in hockey.'

On this front, Fleury was on his own. And his work put him in position to do something in Halifax that pushed his confidence to another level. It might someday prove to have bolstered his career in the same way another international competition - the 1987 Canada Cup - ignited the NHL career of another French-Canadian drafted first overall by the Penguins.

'I learned that I could do some things,' Fleury said in late June, having returned home from his whirlwind draft experience in Nashville. 'It gave me some more confidence in myself, I think. Sometimes I would ask myself, 'Am I really good enough to have a career in hockey?' That helped me a lot.'

So will becoming just the third goaltender ever selected first overall in the NHL draft, following Montreal's Michel Plasse (1968) and the New York Islanders' Rick DiPietro (2000). But believe it or not, there is room for improvement in Fleury's game. He grew up watching Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur play the position, but he's so far displayed hardly a hint of Brodeur's impeccable puck-handling skills.

'For sure, you have to improve everything. I would like to improve on my game around the net, handling the puck, helping my team get out of the zone,' Fleury says. 'It's becoming pretty important for everybody, I think. For sure, it's something I want to do better.'

Fleury chuckled when asked how he might prevent all the praise heaped upon him in the last six months from sprinkling his burgeoning confidence with the seeds of over-confidence.

'It's fun to hear all that. But you cannot think about that kind of stuff,' he says. 'I don't think that's going to help you. As long as I'm playing hockey, when I go on the ice, I just have to do my best and try to stop every puck.'

Hockey scouts from Medicine Hat to Moncton to Minnesota understand Fleury won't quite be able to pull off that feat. But the Penguins have every right to be intrigued by the notion that in the not-to-distant future, he might just stop more than anybody else in the game.

PSR Senior Writer Bob Grove has been covering the Penguins since 1981 and currently serves as a regular co-host on the Penguins Radio Network.