‘arturs irbe playing for dynamo riga’
courtesy of ‘Uncleweed’

The Washington Capitals have announced they’ve hired Arturs Irbe as the team’s new goaltending coach. Dave Prior, the former coach, resigned recently after 12 years in that position in order to spend more time with his family.

Irbe is a 13-year veteran of the NHL, serving time with San Jose, Dallas, Vancouver and Carolina, as well as the goalie for the Latvian national team in the 2002 and 2006 Olympics. His last season in the NHL was 2003-04; he finished his career with a 2.83 GAA and a .899 save percentage.

Is this the piece the team needs to stabilize their goalie situation? Possibly. Though I’m fairly certain the team needs more stability IN the net, not necessarily in supervising it.