With Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard injured and Petr Mrazek struggling, NHL-untested Jared Coreau was thrust unexpectedly into the starter’s net last season. He acquitted himself so well at times that many fans were ready to anoint him the team’s new future (the old future, Mrazek, having been disowned even more quickly than he was adopted). At least one prominent publication suggested that Detroit protect neither Howard nor Mrazek in the Vegas expansion draft, meaning Coreau would be left to battle for the No. 1 spot with whomever the team managed to acquire in trade.

The Coreau hype quieted after several poor outings near the end of his big-club trial, but after a solid AHL run leading to a Calder Cup championship for his Grand Rapids Griffins, the Coreau train has once again left the station. The question is whether he has the game to take over as an NHL starter ahead of Mrazek, his clearest competition. His statistical performance in a small 14-game sample doesn’t provide enough information to draw reliable conclusions, so let’s augment those numbers with an examination of the way he plays.

Coreau is a towering figure; his 6-foot-6 height puts him among the NHL goaltending giants like Pekka Rinne (6-foot-5) and Ben Bishop (6-foot-7). Unlike his fellow behemoths, however, Coreau plays a very conservative style, relying on his size to block substantial portions of net, seldom wandering into the white paint.

With Montreal’s deadliest sniper Max Pacioretty leading the rush down a clear lane, we would expect a more active goaltender like Mrazek to challenge aggressively (as I discussed last week), taking away more available net. Coreau, however, remains still at the edge of the crease, using the visual impression his size creates as a deterrent for the shooter. On the pass, Coreau makes the smallest of shuffling adjustments, focuses on getting square and ready instead of trying to steal more depth, and makes the tough save look easy. This is Coreau at his best.

Because of his size, Coreau can afford to sacrifice the coverage he loses by playing deep. This means that on lateral plays, he seldom has very far to go. It also allows him to play a strict “inside-out” game: in other words, he remains back on the goal line until the play has developed, then comes out to his (conservative) depth to meet the threat.

Keep your eyes on Coreau as the rush approaches. He remains on the goal line for a very long time, coming out only when a shot threat is imminent. Contrast this with Mrazek’s “outside-in” game, where he begins well out of the crease as the rush approaches, and flows back as the play comes to him.

Although Mrazek’s very aggressive approach can be a problem, it also has certain benefits. Aside from keeping shooters from seeing too much net, it also gives a goaltender automatic momentum. When directed/contained properly by strong edgework and excellent patience, this momentum can be used to keep the goaltender’s body on the angle line even when going down to stop the puck: this is on display in the Mrazek save above.

Without backward flow, however, a goaltender has to find other ways to generate the force required to move back to the far post with speed.

On a similar speedy rush chance, Coreau remains deep, again trusting his size to take away the net. By the time the shooter is about to release, Coreau is on the goal line, foot on the post, leaving almost nothing. Seeing this, the shooter cuts to the middle (he has room in part because Coreau is so far back), revealing one of Coreau’s weaknesses. He goes down a little early, anticipating shot instead of carry, and because he has no momentum, he has to stretch his right pad and arm into the puck’s path – this is not optimal. He is essentially “stuck” at the point of his initial drop, unable to effectively reposition himself, leaving him in worse shape to stop the eventual shot than if he had been able to push his whole body to follow the puck’s lateral path.

Whereas Mrazek has a tendency to over-pursue or “chase” lateral plays too far, Coreau suffers from the opposite problem of under-pushing, meaning he has to stretch out and open holes in an attempt to keep a limb in front of the puck.

Coreau takes a little bit of white ice here, but backs up somewhat early, meaning he has no real backward flow as the shooter approaches. Again, he goes down somewhat prematurely, disengaging his edges. Without a skate on the ice to push with, he has to reach for the puck with an outstretched pad, which always opens up the ice at least temporarily. The shooter sees the hole and makes no mistake.

Fundamentally, Coreau’s conservative approach makes a lot of sense given his size. When he is patient and reads the play well, he’s able to deter shooters and keep on angle. When he drops too soon, however, he can become immobile, leaving him to stretch limbs to the puck rather than pushing his entire body in front of it. This is an inefficiency NHL-calibre shooters can continue to feast on.

It’s possible for Coreau to improve his footwork and learn to re-engage his edges more quickly when he commits too soon, but for now it’s a weakness that leaves him both less reactive and less athletically powerful than Mrazek, making the Coreau we know a worse bet for the future.