Olie Kolzig didn’t know what he wanted to do once a serious hip injury finally ended his playing career for good during a short-lived stint with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2008-09. Friends thought he had a shot at being an effective television broadcaster. Coaching was in the back of his mind, but he needed a break from the pro game after 20 years and also wanted to spend more time with his family.
But after two years of doing what dads everywhere do – drive your kids all over the place – and working with the young goalies on the junior hockey team he co-owns in Washington state, Kolzig got the itch again. His wife Christin’s career took off. His kids – Carson, Kendall and Ashlyn – were “entrenched in school.” Thursday the Caps said he will be the team’s associate goaltending coach alongside Dave Prior, his mentor and the organization’s former and now current director of goaltending. So what kind of coach will Kolzig – an inveterate stick-breaker in the crease as a player – ultimately become?
“Dave was such a huge influence on me that I’ll kind of mimic his coaching style,” Kolzig said during a conference call with reporters on Thursday. “Maybe not the same demeanor. He’s such a soft-spoken guy and I don’t know if I’ve ever been accused of that.”
Prior will again handle the day-to-day duties. But Kolzig will be in town throughout the season as an added voice for young goalies Semyon Varlamov, 23 – he remains a restricted free agent – Michal Neuvirth, 23, and Braden Holtby, 21.
“I don’t know if there’s an organization in the league that has such depth at such a young age, which wasn’t always the case with the Caps,” Kolzig said. “Fortunately for me it allowed me to play there as long as I did.”
No one knows the perils of that competitive situation better than Kolzig. When he was rising through Washington’s farm system in the early 1990s the Caps also had Byron Dafoe, who became a six-year starter in the NHL with Los Angeles and Boston, and eventually Jim Carey, who won a Vezina Trophy in 1995-96 with the Caps before flaming out. As long as everyone realizes they are playing for a spot somewhere in the NHL – even if it’s with another team – then most internal issues disapate. Kolzig and Dafoe even became best friends.
One thing Kolzig told me after announcing his retirement two years ago was that he didn’t think he had the temperment or the patience to ever coach. But that stance shifted as he worked with the young kids on his Tri-City Americans junior club – the team he played for as a teenager before the Caps drafted him in 1989.
“With the junior kids they’re obviously a little more raw than the guys in the NHL or the American League level,” Kolzig said. “We worked a lot on footwork, which I think is huge for goaltenders. I think too many goalies are spending too much time on their knees these days and getting away from the basics of footwork. Being as aggressive as you can without putting yourself out of position. Just the things that Dave and I worked on.”
But part of his role will be addressing the mental side, too. Kolzig knows what it’s like to be the guy who runs off five or six strong games at the AHL level only to stew as he wonders why the front office isn’t giving him a shot in the NHL. There’s only room for two young goalies on the roster if the situation remains this way entering training camp. One of the three would be left at Hershey.
Kolzig will begin that process at rookie development camp next month at Kettler Iceplex. He said he probably can relate to Holtby better just because at 6-foot-2, 205 pounds he is closer to Kolzig’s 6-3, 224-pound playing size, style of play – be big in net, let the puck hit you and force shooters to go wide – and also posseses an explosive temper. In reality, Varlamov (6-2, 207) and Neuvirth (6-1, 203) aren’t any smaller than Holtby, who is a far better playing the puck than Kolzig ever was. But each player presents challenges for Prior and Kolzig.
“[Varlamov is] such an explosive guy that you got to find a way for his muscles to keep up with his agility,” Kolzig said. “That’s something that I will talk with [strength and conditioning coach] Mark Nemish…on how we can better that and get [Varlamov] to stay healthy as long as he can. Because he’s such a talent. To see him move around the net the way he does night in and night out he’s such a big asset to the team.”
Kolzig’s career arc only briefly brought him into contact with Neuvirth. He loves his ice-cold demeanor, his solid positioning and how he immediately coped well with the pressures of the Stanley Cup playoffs as a first-time starter this spring.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun working with all three of them,” Kolzig said.
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