Ben Scrivens did not see any issues with Francois Allaire’s coaching methods.
The Maple Leafs goalie joined Brady & Lang Wednesday morning where he said Allaire played a major role in his development.
“I didn’t witness any of the comments that were thrown out yesterday first hand,” Scrivens told Sportsnet 590 The Fan. “Can’t say enough good things about Frankie. It’s going to be a different season without him.”
While Allaire said the Maple Leafs would not allow him to do his job properly, Scrivens did not see any problems during the time he worked with the Toronto Marlies’ staff.
“I spent majority of the year down with the Marlies so I don’t see him every day,” Scrivens said. “For me, it was business as usual. I know he had no issues with the coaches down with the Marlies. They know that Frankie is an expert and Frankie’s approachable. Coaching staff with the Marlies are more than happy to chat it out with Frankie and get on the same page.”
The 26-year-old goaltender credits a lot of his success last season to what he learned under Allaire, and was sad to see him go.
“The past couple years working with (Frankie) has been huge for me,” Scrivens said. “When you have good games, he’s there to reinforce the positives from it and when you have bad games, which inevitably happens, he’s the guy to make sure you don’t get too low.
“He was huge for helping me battle mentally but also huge for my technique and my actual on-ice movement … He’s really helped guide my entire game as a whole.”
Scrivens believes the media was unfair to point the finger at Allaire when the Leafs’ goalies were struggling last season.
“It kind of rattles me when people on the outside looking in try and talk about his guidelines when they have no idea what his guidelines are,” Scrivens said. “Yet they know everything about his system. It’s frustrating for me to hear that because I know firsthand what Frankie’s about.”
LEAFS EXPECTED TO HIRE ST CROIX
The Toronto Maple Leafs may have found their replacement for Francois Allaire.
According to Damien Cox of the Toronto Star, the Maple Leafs are expected to hire Rick St. Croix as their next goaltending coach.
St. Croix has been the goalie coach for the St. John’s Ice Caps, the AHL affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets. He has experience with Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle when the two worked together with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.
St. Croix had success working with young goaltenders in his stint with Manitoba, including Cory Schneider, Eddie Pasquale and Eddie Lack.
He was the goalie coach of the Dallas Stars when the team won the Stanley Cup in 1999 with former Maple Leaf Ed Belfour between the pipes.
The 57-year-old played 130 games in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers (1977-83) and Maple Leafs (1983-85).
