Nolan may have his eye on Arturs Irbe as Sabres goalie coach

Sabres beat writer Paul Hamilton said head coach Ted Nolan will release his entire staff after the season ends on Sunday.

Hamilton mentions that long-time goalie coach Jim Corsi could possibly be replaced by Arturs Irbe one of Nolan's assistants at the Olympics this year.

After being drafted in the 10th round by the Minnesota North Stars in 1989 Irbe spent two seasons in Russia before being picked by the expansion San Jose' Sharks in the 1991 dispersal draft.

Irbe went largely unnoticed until the 1993-94 season when he made 74 appearances for the Sharks playing an NHL-record 4412 minutes.


After getting "warmed up" in the regular season that year, Irbe lead the Sharks to an upset of the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the playoffs. And the legend of Irbe was born.

The 5'8" 190 lb Riga, Latvia native had a rather pedestrian career after that while hanging on for 10 years in North America. He bounced around from NHL to AHL to ECHL finishing up in Johnstown with the Chiefs before heading overseas.

San Jose' Sharks goalie Arturs Irbe lead the
team to their first playoff appearance in 1994,
upsetting the Red Wings in the first round.

The connection with Nolan is obvious--Latvia. Irbe was an assistant coach with Nolan for the World Ice Hockey Championships in 2013, a tournament that helped get the team an Olympic invite.

Although Irbe and the Latvian Ice Federation parted ways in 2013, Nolan did "enlist his services" as an assistant for the 2014 Olympics and one of Irbe's "students" almost single-handely took down Canadian colossus at Sochi.

In that game versus the Canadians, Latvian goalie Kristers Gudļevskis, a 5th round pick of Tampa Bay Lightning, stopped 55 shots in a 2-1 loss, a game that was tied until late in the third period.

Erik Erlendsson covers the Bolts for the Tampa Tribune. While writing about Gudlevskis he notes that, "Nolan credited Irbe for discovering Gudlevskis, who was serving as the backup for a Junior B team in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League but rarely played, and [for] working with Gudlevskis."

Irbe had also worked with young goalies while with the Washington Capitals for a short, two-year stint.

Upon his departure, Katie Carerra of the Washington Post credited Irbe with "helping the organization’s trio of young goaltenders – Michal Neuvirth [who is now with Buffalo,] Semyon Varlamov [traded to COL] and Braden Holtlby – make the transition to the NHL." 

Carerra also notes that for the 2010-11 season, "the Capitals became the first team in league history with three goaltenders age 22 or younger with 10 or more wins in a season, with Irbe credited for the development of all three players."

This bodes well for the rebuilding Sabres and their stable of young goalies. After the trade of Ryan Miller, Neuvirth and Jhonas Enroth became the "elder statesmen" of the bunch at the age of 26. The youth brigade features Matthew Hackett (24,) Nathan Lieuwen (22,) and Andrey Makarov (20.)

But, two months after he left, the Post's Slava Malmud writes about why Irbe left the Caps.

The gist is that Irbe said that he didn't feel as if the opportunity for growth was there with the Capitals. 'I want to grow professionally, move forward, earn more. Washington, after all, is quite an expensive city. So I had measured all the pros and cons of working for the Capitals and decided it would be better for me in Latvia.'

Malmud wrote that Irbe "may have had some unrealistic expectations about the coaching market," and there might have been more to his departure than opportunity.

"It should also be noted," wrote Malmud, "that Irbe left among rumors that both of his charges, Neuvirth and Varlamov, were less than happy with his coaching approach. Varlamov, who in particular was expected to flourish under the tutelage of the fellow Russian-speaker, failed both to win the starting job and to avoid injuries."

Nobody won the starting job that year because all were playing exceptionally well. Both Varlamov (2010) and Neuvirth (2011) had gotten the Caps to the second round of the playoffs with Irbe as the goalie coach.

That Irbe speaks Russian should also be noted.

Although former first round pick Mikhail Grigorenko (2012, #12) has begun to progress nicely. He eventually took the demotion to junior in stride and is now playing well for the Rochester Americans as they vie for a playoff spot.

Another Russian player is fellow first-rounder Nikita Zadorov (2013, #16.)

He's a man amongst boys playing for London in junior and his age will not allow him to play in the AHL next season. It's a conundrum that Grigorenko went through this season and probably something that the organization doesn't want again.

Makarov will be 21 years old in less than two weeks. He's acquitted himself very well since being called up on an emergency basis. He is also Russian.

Both Grigorenko and Zadorov were expected to be big pieces of the team going forward while goalie Makarov just got his name into the mix as well. And Irbe could really help the communication process.

That Nolan will gut his coaching staff is not all that surprising. Head coaches do that.

He knows Irbe from working with him in Latvia and if Irbe wants to get back into the NHL, Nolan could be the most comfortable fit for him.