Penguins 'needed a change' with goaltending coaches

Mike Buckley’s name isn’t engraved on the Stanley Cup.

But he had a significant role in the Penguins’ two most recent championships of 2016 and ‘17.

As the Penguins goaltending development coach half a decade ago, he refined a mid-level prospect named Matt Murray, who eventually became the first rookie starting goaltender to win back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.

For that accomplishment, the Penguins opted to discard their incumbent goaltending coach at the NHL level, Mike Bales, and insert Buckley into that role during the 2017 offseason.

Four years later, Murray’s career is in a tailspin as a member of the woebegone Ottawa Senators, his successor, Tristan Jarry, is trying to reassemble his shattered game and Buckley is out of work.

On Wednesday, the Penguins fired Buckley and replaced him with Andy Chiodo who also, previously was the goaltending development coach overseeing the organization’s prospects in net.

The move comes a little more than two months after the Penguins were shuffled out of the playoffs by the New York Islanders during a first-round loss. While the Penguins outplayed the Islanders based on a lot of metrics such as puck possession, Jarry’s shortcomings were too much to overcome.

During that six-game series, Jarry had a 2-4 record, along with a bloated 3.18 goals-against average and a woeful .888 save percentage.

“When you make decisions like that, a lot of it is what your gut is telling you,” general manager Ron Hextall said via video conference Thursday. “And, obviously, when it comes to decisions of this magnitude, you talk to all your people. We certainly got opinions from all of our people. In the end, we just felt we needed a change. Obviously, we had Andy sitting right there. With his experience and knowledge of the organization and the goaltenders, he was, in the end, the right guy.”

Under previous general manager Jim Rutherford, Buckley was signed to a two-year contract extension as recently as September 2020. Under Hextall, the Penguins opted to dismiss Buckley relatively late into the offseason — as opposed to June or July — after going through their due diligence.

“It was going through the process, making sure we’re thinking of everything and talking things through,” Hextall said. “It’s one of those things that have been an ongoing conversation here. You’d like to do as soon as you can at the end of the (season). But sometimes, there (are) other things that either take precedent or there’s a little bit more of a process that you want to go through and that was the case here.”

Chiodo, 38, has spent the past three seasons in the goaltending development position. As a player, Chiodo was the 198th overall selection of the Penguins in 2003, 197 selections after franchise goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The only NHL action of his career came during the franchise’s wretched 2003-04 campaign as Chiodo appeared in eight games and went 3-4-1 with a 3.46 goals-against average and an .892 save percentage.

Chiodo was in net for arguably the biggest win for the franchise during its inter-Jaromir Jagr/Sidney Crosby years. During a 4-3 overtime road win against the then-Phoenix Coyotes on Feb. 24, 2004, Chiodo made 28 saves and directed the Penguins to a victory that snapped an 18-game winless streak, a mark which remains an NHL record for futility.

In addition to his time with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL, Chiodo’s professional career was a nomadic experience. He also played in far-flung outposts for teams in leagues in Finland, Russia and Austria.

After retiring as a player in 2017, Chiodo embarked on his second career, becoming goaltending coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL) Ottawa 67’s. In 2018, he was hired by the Penguins.

“I really like the way Andy came up through the (OHL), the (AHL) and now to the NHL,” said Hextall, himself an All-Star NHL goaltender during the 1980s and ’90s. “I actually watched Andy as a scout way back in the day when he was in (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton). So I understand the competitiveness. … Being for the most part a minor league goalie, the trials and tribulations, the ups and downs, (he) spent some time in Europe.

“I just really like the profile of what he is. Talking to a lot of the people around here that are familiar with him, there wasn’t a bad word said about him. His attention to detail on our prospects and our goalies in (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton), delving into the mental side of it and their lives to some degree, I just liked what he brings to the table. I’ve met him a couple of times and felt comfortable that he was the right guy.”

Chiodo’s main job now? Helping Jarry rebound after a poor postseason performance.

“When you’re a goaltender — and I’ve lived it — there’s disappointment that you have to get over and you have to bounce back from,” Hextall said. “I feel strongly that Tristan is going to bounce back and be a very good goaltender throughout the entire year.”