Like most young goalies moving from the world of junior hockey to the professional levels, Malcolm Subban possesses raw skill and ability. Now it’s a matter of developing that skill and adding the quality of better positional play, which is happening right now in the American Hockey League.
Subban, the Boston Bruins’ first-round pick, 24th overall, in the 2012 NHL Draft, has played in 21 games this season with the Providence Bruins, and is among the top-10 AHL goalies in goals-against average (2.27) and save percentage (.921).
The NHL Bruins, even with some solid goaltenders ahead of the 20-year-old Subban in Tuukka Rask and Chad Johnson, like what they’ve seen from their young puck-stopping prospect down in the minors. But plenty of work still lies ahead.
“There are some areas technically Bob (Essensa, the B’s goalie coach) has been working with him. I think overall the adjustment to the pro game has been a bit of an eye-opener at times for him,” Bruins’ assistant general manager Don Sweeney told The Boston Herald.
“His athleticism is pretty natural and he relies on it heavily. I think Bob is tweaking things to try to get him to be a little more technical — allow pucks to hit him, rather than being explosive on every save.”