It didn't take long for former Leafs goaltending coach Steve Briere to find himself a new employer. The longtime Leafs goaltending coach was let go after a season that saw the Leafs goaltending inexplicably fall off a cliff midway through. The same day his replacement, Curtis Sanford was announced, Briere was introduced as the new goaltending coach for the Seattle Kraken.
If the Leafs goaltending was bad this year, we may need to invent a new word for what Seattle's was. The tandem of Grubauer and Dreiger finished the season dead last in sv% and the Kraken weren't close to making the playoffs because of it. GM Ron Francis is looking to make a splash this season, and is reportedly going to be aggressive in free agency and on the trade market. Without a massive improvement between the pipes though, they'll be bottom feeders for a second season.
The Briere hiring is a head scratcher from a Leafs fan perspective. Briere wasn't had a goaltender improve under his tutelage his entire Leafs career and nearly all of them have been better after leaving. Knowing the Leafs luck however, it wouldn't surprise me to see a massive improvement out of Seattle this season. Briere will be a revaluation, Grubauer will return to the form he showed in Colorado and Leafs fans will bemoan Dubas for letting such a great goaltending coach go. Its almost too Leafy not to happen.
