Impact of New Goaltending Coach on Canadiens' Dobes and Fowler

The Montreal Canadiens are heading towards the playoffs with two rookie netminders in place, a rather rare occurrence in the NHL.

And though both Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler have a lack of NHL experience compared to most goaltending combinations, they’ve shown a very encouraging amount of potential throughout the season, and even more so since the Canadiens hired Marco Marciano to become their goaltending coach on January 28.

Since then, both players have improved their 5v5 save percentages, and by a fairly wide margin, too.

Dobes’ save percentage has gone up significantly, even though the Canadiens are forcing him to make more saves than before, both regular (SV/60) and high-quality (HD SV/60).

Dobes has also improved his high-danger save (HDSV%) percentage considerably, suggesting he’s providing better results while dealing with more shots nightly.

Prior to Marciano's arrival, Dobes featured in 24 games, and just 13 since, but there is a strong correlation between Marciano’s hiring and Dobes’ uptick.

Fowler has improved his save percentage considerably, while facing slightly more shots per game.

While Fowler’s high-danger save percentage has gone down slightly, he’s facing an increase of 33% in high-quality scoring chances.

It’s difficult to get a good grasp on which improvements are simply due to the usual ebbs and flows of a hockey season and which are directly related to Marciano’s handy work, but the numbers suggest that both of Montreal’s first-year goaltenders have benefited from his presence, at least in the short term.

Dobes also improved his save percentage on the penalty kill, which started at .812 prior to Marciano’s arrival, and has since risen to .868.

The real test will come once the Canadiens begin their playoff push, but as it stands, the team can be confident that they made the right decision based on all the available data.

All Montreal Canadiens goaltender statistics are 5v5 unless otherwise noted, via Natural Stat Trick.

Data collected by Natural Stat Trick indicates notable improvements in the performance of both rookie goalies since the arrival of Marco Marciano.

While the sample size is limited, the statistics suggest a positive and significant impact on the play of Dobes and Fowler.

The team's confidence in their young goalies could be crucial for their playoff performance.