One day I woke up, and the Philadelphia Flyers Goalie Development Coach was a West Coast Hockey Prep Camp team member. For as long as I have been involved in the West Coast Hockey Prep Camp, Brady Robinson has been a lead goalie coach with us. I’ve been with camp since 2009, and I know Brady has been with us longer. 7 years ago Brady was doing some work in the BCHL, but primarily working with minor hockey goalies. Needless to say when he announced in the summer of 2015 that he had just been hired as the Philadelphia Flyers Goalie Development Coach, we were all very excited for him. I think at that moment more than a few of us took time to reflect on how careers advance by passionately investing time and energy into one’s craft.
A couple of days ago, as I walked through Kits in Vancouver, I caught up with Brady by phone. He had just arrived back in town after spending 12 days at the Flyers main camp. At first I said something generic like, ‘oh nice how was it?” then had to stop the conversation and start over. “Do you know how awesome it is that you just got home from an NHL main camp under direction of one of the most famous goalies of the 80’s and 90’s, Ron Hextall?”
It’s my second season now so I think I am getting used to it, but for sure some days I am riding the elevator with Ron Hextall, giving him my opinion on the goaltending, and think… ‘wait a second, this is Ron Hextall!’
Like me, many of you may not know what a goalie development coach does in the NHL, so I asked Brady to send me his responsibilities.
Responsibilities of an NHL Goalie Development Coach:
- To work with all goaltending prospects within the organization.
- Spend most of my time with the AHL team in Lehigh Valley, but also get in to see our prospects in the ECHL as well as the drafted goalies a few times throughout the season.
- Right now we have 11 goalies in our system – 2 NHL, 2 AHL, 2 ECHL, 2 NCAA, 1 CHL, 2 Europe.
- I keep in touch with all of them as well as their goalie coaches (goalies not playing pro).
- Also responsible for goaltending scouting. Our area scouts identify the top goalie prospects and I will watch video of them & for guys that we have interest in I will also get out to see (some of them multiple times).
Think the goalie in your family would like a week with Brady? Me too. We have goalie camps week 2 and 4 (female goalies absolutely welcome, but dorming not available in those weeks for female goalies).
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