I'm a huge goaltending buff and have watched both closely, live and of course on tv. That being said I am by far and away not an authority on the subject. Here is my scouting report/opinion on them.
Gustavasson
- When he came over from Sweden played in a very wide traditional sweedish stance. Very reactionary in his saves, tons of agility to go along with his flair. Had to overcome a lot of hardship with the passing of his parents, heart surgeries plus the whole new city new league etc. Stance hasn't changed, but style has a bit.
- His first few years struggled mightily with the Allaire blocking style, he couldn't adapt to it and let in some truly horrible goals
- This year he went back a bit to his original style, his positioning has improved under Allaire but he trusts his instincts to make reactionary saves rather than going into a hardcore blocking technique
- Gus has a ton of power in his stride, he pushes out a ton with his skates and this ability allows him to make him amazing saves, it also makes him appear completely out of control at times and it seems if he overreacts. He had major issues with this last year, but has improved this year.
- That power on the push off his post when the puck moves from behind the net (a weakness of the leafs defense as is) means he may put himself out of position on the play
- Struggles with the VHL (1 pad vertical 1 horizontal to seal the post), to be fair every goalie has struggled with it in the last 2 years. Technique has its strengths Allaire isn't a huge fan of it but it has its uses at times. Mentally deciding when to use it is the issue, and his lanky size makes it awkward for him. Should improve with time though.
- Size is a huge asset, when gets into his wide butterfly takes away a ton of the net. His issue in years past has been getting the rebounds to land square in front of him, Allaire style. Hes improved on it this year but it still needs work.
- His wide butterfly will always mean he will be able to be exposed under his blocker, weakness many goalies have.
- He spent years stuck between two styles and were only now seeing him starting to adapt. He isn't the prototypical Allaire Goalie at all, though he has the size Allaire loves.
- Has a ton of power and agility in his game, controlling it for him is all mental. He needs to challenge the shooters, without over compensating on chances. Give him some defense he can be confident about and you'll see the best out of him.
- Will always let in a soft goal, but will make those saves on insane plays that you just can't believe. A rare skill.
- Teammates seem to love him, has toned down his temperamental nature, and all reports state he gets along well with everyone in the locker room. The passion and effort is contagious to his teammates and he has the ability to bail them out.
- Needs to have the confidence of the coach, which he can't seem to earn. Despite winning he isn't a coach's goalie if you know what I mean, just too unpredictable.
- Plays traditional Allaire style, is a full on blocking goalie. Stance is much more narrow in net, but allows him to make minor adjustments much easier.
- His glove is almost another blocker, struggles to catch with it (which is why teams try to expose it as a weakness) but he has improved on this
- Plays a calm positional style, his butterfly is much smaller than Gus's, but he plays a much more positional sound game and is much more aware of his own position in the net and his angles.
- As I said is the traditional blocking goalie, but his reflexes are not as great as some of Allaire's elite proteges, so he can't get himself out of jams that the style sometimes creates.
- His concussion has played with him huge this season, seems a tad slower, and much less confident.
- When he isn't confident its easy to tell at puck drop, his butterfly is much more compressed and his back almost slouches rather than having is straight in the butterfly. This exacerbates the next problem hes been having this season, sealing up holes in the butterfly. Pucks are getting through him and under his arms, which shouldn't be happening. But hes going into the butterfly half sealed with his torso already compressed it seems, making it much more difficult to seal the remaining holes in a fluid motion.
- His angles and awareness are much better than Gustavassons, as such he remains much calmer in the net and while he lacks the power Gus has in his stride he is much more precise in his movements.
- Rebound control still needs work to be a prototypical Allaire goalie
- Latest struggles are due to mental issues, inability to seal the holes, and confidence issues mainly due to the concussion it seems. He isn't challenging nearly enough, and remains far too deep giving the shooter a lot to shoot at.
- Even Strength Sv % is pretty great, but he falls apart entirely on the penalty kill. Which actually is surprising to me given the style he is trying to play. I'm not sure if he isn't confident in the defenders and is playing too deep, or is afraid of the traffic to be honest. Gus was the one in net for most of the games when the PK went on that excellent run.
For their off ice personalities, Reimer is honestly the nicest guy ever. Will stick around late to sign autographs for kids, does everything thats asked of him and genuinely an amazing guy. Gus himself is a very nice guy, gets along with the fans and has a good personality. He is more of the traditional oddball goalie though, has some odd characteristics that seem to be found in every goalie. As for the locker room, its all speculation but I feel like players may have more in common with Gus and he is easier to get along with away from hockey. Reimers religion is a strong point for him mentally as it gives him strength to pull on, but in the locker room I'm not sure how its perceived as it is a lot of young guys in there.
Overall, I think Reimer is the goalie that'll give you consistent goaltending game in game out. I think Gus has the higher ceiling given his previous success, and the fact he is only now adapting to this style. Will he reach it, and if he can ever learn all the nuances and avoid those soft goals remains to be seen.
For the short term, either way the coaching staff need to be clear with the goalies with whats going to happen. Its hard for either goalie to get any sort of roll going when you keep flip flopping this often.
Allaire isn't so much the issue, the leaf goalies just aren't seeing enough pucks in this current set up to improve as fast as we'd like. Mitch Korn is the best goalie coach in the league though IMO so I'd replace Allaire with him in a second, but other than him there aren't many I'd consider.
TLDR: Leafs have goalies.
