RWJC Posted August 27 Posted August 27 (edited) Canucks Hire Justin Pogge As AHL Goalie Coach August 26th, 2024 at 6:29pm CST • By Brennan McClain The Abbotsford Canucks will only have gone five days without a goaltending coach as the team has moved quickly to fill the void left by Marko Torenius‘ promotion to the Vancouver Canucks. Special assistant to the general manager with Vancouver and general manager of Abbotsford, Ryan Johnson, announced the team hired longtime veteran goaltender Justin Pogge as the organization’s next goaltending coach. Pogge originally found his way to the American Hockey League in the 2006-07 season after a four-year career in the Western Hockey League split between the Prince George Cougars and Calgary Hitmen. He was drafted 90th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2004 NHL Draft before finishing his WHL tenure with a 79-49-12 record with a .919 save percentage. Pogge also helped Team Canada win the 2006 IIHF World Junior Championships on the heels of a .952 SV% and six wins which certainly elevated his prospect pedigree heading into his professional career. His days as a decent goaltending prospect would summarily end there as Pogge only managed seven NHL appearances over the next six years before continuing his career overseas. He fared as a much better goaltender in the AHL albeit off a larger sample size. The Fort McMurray, Alberta native owned a record 120-94-24 record in the AHL and a career .902 SV% and 2.81 GAA with the Toronto, Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, and Phoenix Coyotes organizations. Pogge would bounce around Italy, Sweden, Russia, and Germany over the next several years before retiring as a member of the DEL’s Grizzlys Wolfsburg in 2022-23. The longtime netminder didn’t stay away from the game long after his retirement as he immediately began working as a goaltending consultant for the Columbus Blue Jackets in addition to Team Canada’s World Championship and Hlinka Gretzky Cup teams. He will now have the opportunity to have quite the impact at the highest level of the Canucks’ minor league system as the return date of starting netminder Thatcher Demko remains up in the air. He will likely work closest with Nikita Tolopilo this season as the only true goaltending prospect from Vancouver’s pipeline that has graduated to the AHL. https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2024/08/canucks-hire-justin-pogge-as-ahl-goalie-coach.html#ref=home Edited August 27 by RWJC 1 Quote
NewbieCanuckFan Posted August 27 Posted August 27 Trivia question for Laff-fans: Laffs had two hotshot goalie prospects at one time (hard to believe but yes!). One of them was Justin Pogge. Had a pretty solid World Championship so their GM decided to deal the other goalie prospect for Andrew Raycroft (who didn't work out for them). Who was the other goalie prospect? Only a nobody that would end up winning the Vezina (Tuukka Rask). Quote
crobar Posted August 27 Posted August 27 If I remember correctly Boston was willing to take Pogge but Leafs liked him more than Rask. Quote
gwarrior Posted August 27 Posted August 27 Please tell me he isn't the backup plan if Demko isn't ready to go for the season. 2 1 Quote
Goose Posted August 27 Posted August 27 Interesting interview on SN650. Some VAN connections-had Ian Clark as a goalie coach. Love the snippet about Hoglander Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.