Name: Patrick Vigneault
Age: 18
Birthplace: Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada
Height: 5’ 10”
Weight: 185 lb
Position: Goalie
Catches: Left
“Small goalie by today's standards; not afraid to play the puck behind the crease; shows will to develop; needs improvement to glove and blocker low; sees cross crease passes and react accordingly; needs to improve decision making; in summary, a small goaltender that can be beaten low, but very talented in vision and protecting the higher part of his crease”
Strengths
Vision : Gifted a very good vision for his young age, place himself in a spot where he knows where is everyone on the ice. Can repair defence mistakes and restart the attack with short passes when he is about to freeze the puck.
Passes : Finally a goaltender that does not fear to go out of his crease and play the puck! As said earlier, he passes instead of freezing so his team keep the possession of the puck, likes to keep the puck moving and can save some precious seconds in the powerplay by going out and attempt a pass to his defenders which sometimes forces the powerkilling units to stay on ice.
High Glove : Very good glove high, seems like he has a bigger mitt than everyone else! Unfortunately, he, sometimes, gets a little cocky about it, which cause a little of frustration, which can result in a penalty for his own team trying to defend him.
High Blocker : Good high blocker, but he tends to give long rebounds with it. Overall he blocks the high end of the crease with ease.
Weaknesses
Low Glove : Since he is always prepared for a high shot, Vigneault struggle a lot with low glove, his week spot is below glove, over pads. Fortunately, it seems to be teachable because he work so hard to get better.
Low Blocker : Same has low glove, low blocker is a concern, but it is better than glove side. He told me he was working on this part of his game a lot lately. I'd like to see him in the near future. I am pretty sure that will not be a concern anymore in a year or so.
Reflexes : Got beaten on clappers after faceoff quite a few times during my weekend at his home ice. Seems like his reflexes are not sharp enough.
English : As funny as it sounds, he struggles a bit with english due to being born in a french community. His answer were not always perfectly formulated. Pretty sure he will learn quickly, but for now, it will be hard for him to be part of an english only organisation
“To summarise, his small sive allows him to be quick on his skates and his vision helps him save cross creases. It is a goalie that defenders can really count on. He is talented in the high end of the crease but lacks ease with the medium part of it. For the pads and five hole, no strenght or weaknesse detected, in those part of his game, he his where every goaltender of his age are. He likes to play the puck a lot and had 1 assist on a powerplay goal while I was there. He can restart the attack quickly and keep possession for his team. He seems really friendly with everyone and would mesh with any locker room easily. Always there at every practice and stay until the very end. I wouldn't be supprised to see him develop very quickly with this type of character. On the down side, I've seen him lose hope on scores like: 2-0 or 3-0, but still, a very good choice for any team willing to develop him into a starter.“