Bruins’ Secret Weapon Reveals Goaltending Process In Boston

Goalie Bob has been in Boston since 2003

Bruins’ Bob Essensa has coached, guided and mentored backstops in Boston since 2003.

He joined Billy Jaffe and Andrew Raycroft on NESN’s “Morning Bru” to shed some insight on the goaltending process that has allowed him to be the Bruins’ go-to goalie coach for two decades, during the tenures of Mike Sullivan, Dave Lewis, Claude Julien, Bruce Cassidy, Jim Montgomery and Joe Sacco.

“Well, I always joke around that the key to my success has been just turning your phone off every summer and showing back up at training camp and acting like you belong. But, I have been fortunate,” Essensa joked before giving a more serious answer. “Hopefully, you’re good to the guys. Hopefully, you have some success individually and team-wise. But, the biggest thing for me is that I love what I do. And I think, hopefully, that shows in the locker room, and hopefully, it translates to the guys I work with.”

As much as the goaltender’s equipment has changed over the years, Essensa hasn’t done much tweaking to his philosophy or coaching style since he’s been with the Bruins.

“To be honest, I think everybody that gets to this level … everybody has something, a strength that allows them to be successful to get here,” Essensa explained. “My job is to try and accentuate those positives and obviously clean up some of the negatives.

“I mean, I’m still trying to get these guys to stop the puck, which will never change. How they do it? The nice thing for me is the information has been a lot more available … there’s various outlets to find good goal information.”

Essensa added that the goaltenders coming through the pipeline now are more developed than the players he coached early in his career.

“I’m combing through the draft eligible (goalies) for this year coming; their technique and whatnot is so much better than the goalies were five years ago, ten years ago, 20 years ago,” Essensa said. “That’s the secret. Their foundation is so much better. … But the nice thing for me is in terms of my developing my own style and whatnot, the technical base or most of these guys is way ahead of the game than it was a few years ago.”

When the Bruins traded for Joonas Korpisalo, Essensa noted that he was familiar with the Finnish goalie from when he was backstopping the Columbus Blue Jackets from the 2015-16 season to 2022-23.

“He was on our radar for several years,” Essensa recalled. “The other thing I like about his game, it’s very similar to (Tuukka Rask’s) game in that he’s got a real good solid base, good foundation, his ability to beat the pass. He has length.

“There’s always areas that we’re going to try and tackle, try to make them better. But that foundation that we talk about in terms of the technical side of things and his footwork, his post work, and what have you, they were already there.”

Essensa has a solid track record of helping Bruins goaltenders achieve their highest potential in the NHL. Raycroft won the Calder Memorial Trophy for Rookie of the Year in 2003-04. Rask, Tim Thomas (twice) and Linus Ullmark all won the Vezina during their time in Boston. Three tandems — Thomas and Manny Fernandez, Rask and Jaroslav Halak and Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman — won the William M. Jennings Trophy for the fewest goals allowed in the regular season.

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