As a fan of Färjestad, I earlier promised to check in from time to time to give you guys some info on how Salak is doing. I don't know if it deserves its own thread, feel free to move it to wherever you want.
First: Salak has had a so-and-so preseason, leading up to him being the #2 goalie up until now. The first three games of the SEL he had to watch from the side.
This Saturday he got his first start (vs. AIK) and answered by posting a SO. To be honest he didn't have to work very hard for it, as AIK only managed 17 shots, but I thought he looked very solid. What struck me was his coolness and ability to be in the right position, making every save look easy.
He did make one very nice kicksave, and it can be seen here (I'm not sure it's available for you guys though) The save is 1:55 in:
Salak got his second start last Saturday, when his team Färjestad played against Modo. After the SO in his debut, he was supposed to play the following game, but had to nurse a minor upper body injury.
Back in net he made another great game, and was just a minute away from posting his second SO. He faced more shots this time, saving 27 of 28. Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the game myself, but reports in local media are very positive. He also gets much credit from his goalie coach, who says Salak put in great work and already made signifant progress since arriving.
You can watch highligts from the game here (Färjestad in dark jerseys):
Note: Salak doesn't even play in his own gear, as his are getting custom made in the US, and hasn't arrived yet. If I understand the situation correctly, he had to get new gear due to team sponsors.
Salak got his second start last Saturday, when his team Färjestad played against Modo. After the SO in his debut, he was supposed to play the following game, but had to nurse a minor upper body injury.
Back in net he made another great game, and was just a minute away from posting his second SO. He faced more shots this time, saving 27 of 28. Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch the game myself, but reports in local media are very positive. He also gets much credit from his goalie coach, who says Salak put in great work and already made signifant progress since arriving.
You can watch highligts from the game here (Färjestad in dark jerseys):
Note: Salak doesn't even play in his own gear, as his are getting custom made in the US, and hasn't arrived yet. If I understand the situation correctly, he had to get new gear due to team sponsors.
His stats so far:
GP: 2
SAVES: 47
GA: 1
GAA: 0,5
SP: 97,78
Thanks for the update man! I definitely appreciate it and look forward to him keeping up this level of play.
Salak has played three more games since my last post. Färjestad seems to have become a win-one, lose one team. Salaks play however, is not the reason for this:
In his third game, Fäjrjestad came out sleeping, and after just six minutes were down 3-0.. Salak should maybe had a couple of those, but as you can see from the highlights, the team really hung him out to dry... After the horrendous start, Salak shut the net. The team could not fully recover and lost 4-2 after an empty netter. He ended with 3 goals allowed on 17 shots
His fifth game was a hard fought game against last years runner up, Djurgården. Both goalies were really good as Djurgården came out with a 2-1 victory. Salak saved 15 of 17 shots.
He's doing well! He obviously has talent based on his torrid pace for the first half of last year. I think he can be an NHL goalie but he has some work to do. He needs a good goalie coach to help him get there, which is fine. Hopefully he isn't written off as a prospect just because Markstrom is a higher end/flashier prospect. For all we know, Markstrom may take longer than we expect in the minors and not be ready for 3 seasons+ (completely normal) so it's plausible Salak could make the Panthers before Markstrom if he comes back over to N.A. Obviously this is an outside possibility, no doubt, but Salak and Markstrom are the two guys who IMO have starter potential. Other than that, Chevy is a wildcard and Plante IMO will make the NHL as a backup/tweener one day.
He had 94% for a long time before the game 2 days ago where he let in 6 goals, but he had no chance on 4-5 of those goals.
He has been superb all season, and u have to remember that his equipment were lost on the way to sweden so he has only played about 1-2 games with the right ones.
And at the same time he has the same goalie coach(Erik Granqvist) as the monster had, so he is changing his play alot, and still had 94% before last game, with is unbelievable.
Watched his training with Granqvist the other day, and boy are they working hard and thorough. This year will help him alot and maybe he will go the same way Jonas Gustavsson did.
Salak went out with a shoulder injury the last game and will not play the remaining games untill the Christmas break. Hope it isn’t serious.
The way he have been playing it would feel really good having him in the net come play off time. We (Färjestad) are leading the table right now and I don’t think we would have with out Salak. I like that kid a lot. He’s fast, athletic and read they plays really good.
A bit unorthodox at times but hey, he gets those pucks and that’s whats counting, right?
Salák got a match penalty last game at home vs Timrå. In the final minute of the game, being down 2-4 he punched a Timrå player in the face with his blocker.
I was standing right behind the glass were it happened and it made my day Real boring game otherwise.
