Former Slovak goalkeeper Peter Budaj. (source: TASR)
For many years, a Slovak coaching in the NHL sounded like science-fiction. However, since July of this year, it's a reality. Former Slovak goalkeeper Peter Budaj joined Anaheim Ducks as a goalie coach.
"It's a great honour for me to be an NHL goalie coach. Every coach is interested in growing, attaining as much as possible. I'm looking forward to it. It was my dream after I retired. I'm very happy and grateful," he told Sportnet in July.
Budaj is just one of three goalie coaches from Europe; the other two are Finns Jussi Parkkila from Colorado Avalanche and Niklas Bäckström from Columbus Blue Jackets.
Anaheim's goalies, Czech Lukáš Dostál and John Gibson, now belong to the best duos in the league, despite the fact that the team has the worst defence line in the league. The Ducks are actually one of the five worst teams of the Western Conference.
Nevertheless, with six points short of 8th place, both goalies are giving their team a chance to make the play-offs.
In their 23 games so far, the Ducks allowed only 67 goals, the least in their Pacific Division. Only four other teams allowed fewer. Overall, they belong to the top 10 in the NHL.
The positive numbers are due to both goalkeepers trained by Peter Budaj, reports Sportnet.
Budaj making waves
Although Budaj started as a goalie development coach with the Colorado Avalanche organisation only in 2021, he already seems to be making waves.
After two years of organising camps for young goalkeepers, he started as a became a youth development coach for Colorado Avalance, and quickly moved to coaching goalies for the Colorado Eagles, an AHL affiliate of Colorado Avalanche. Already in his first year there, he helped improve the saves percentage statistics of talented Finn goalie Jostus Annunen from 89.3 to 91.6 percent. Three other goalies played for the Eagles that year, and not a single one had worse statistics than Annunen.
The next season, Budaj confirmed that the success of his proteges was no mere beginner's luck. He caught the interest of Anaheim's head coach Greg Cronin, who himself suggested hiring Budaj to the team's General Manager Pat Verbeek.
The Anaheim Ducks were formed in the 1993/4 season by none other than the Walt Disney Company, inspired by the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks. Since then they have become a legitimate team in their own right and are no longer owned by the Mouse. Anaheim, California, is the home of the original Walt Disney World.
