By IRA COOPER, Cult of Hockey special correspondent
.894, ,896, .912, .915.
Those are Olivier Rodrigue’s save percentages, year over year, in the American Hockey League.
11, 13, 29, 32
Those are Oliver Rodrigue’s games played totals, year over year, in the American Hockey League.
The aforementioned statistics support the writer’s eye test: Rodrigue has assumed a more significant role and, year after year, improved play and consistent improvement have been his reward for his coaching staff’s (and the organization’s) growing faith in him.
To go one step further, one year ago at this time Rodrigue was getting ready to battle Calvin Pickard for the starting role in the AHL. One year later, Rodrigue is getting ready to battle Calvin Pickard one again – this time for the back-up job in the NHL.
Truth be told, Rodrigue has little chance to steal that NHL job from Pickard at the start of this season as management and the coaching staff will almost certainly lean on the established veteran. However, presuming continued progression, and unlike last season, Rodrigue is slated to be the 1A in Bakersfield with the potential to see NHL games in the case of an injury or a regression by Pickard.
Last season was an interesting one for Rodrigue. He started the season as the 1B to Pickard but got his fair share of starts and played well. However, on November 7th, the Oilers waived and assigned Jack Campbell to AHL and Rodrigue’s deployment suffered. The coaching staff was instructed to play Campbell as much as possible with an eye to rehabilitating his game and being called back up to the NHL. Rodrigue was barely given a start, even while Campbell struggled at the AHL level. This writer, along with many fans, thought the organization was making a mistake trying to rehabilitate Campbell’s game at the expense of Rodrigue’s development.
While Campbell’s game did recover through the season (somewhat), Rodrigue’s early hot start never really dissipated, and he continued to give the team very solid goaltending when he was given the opportunity and, before too long, he earned his way back into a 1A/1B tandem with the two goalies essentially splitting the starts.
Rodrigue has found himself in the top 10 for qualified goalies in save% two years in a row.
In the 2022/23 season Rodrigues was tied with Calvin Pickard for the 9th best save percentage in the AHL. Most of those ahead of Rodrigue (and Pickard) are notable names, such as Dustin Wolf, Joey, Daccord and Corey Schneider. He was tied with NHL-experienced goalie Alex Nedeljkovic and ahead of hot-shot prospect, Yaroslav Askarov – not to mention the Vancouver Canucks new “starting goalie”, Arturs Silovs.
This past season, Rodrigue was 10th in the AHL in save percentage, ahead of hot shot prospects Yaroslav Askarov, Sebastian Cossa AND Jesper Wallstedt (well known to Oilers fans as a player passed on to select recently traded Xavier Bourgault).
As the reader will surely note, Rodrigue is in some very nice company with his save percentage numbers; they are in line with many players with real NHL experience (and success) and some of the highest touted goalies out there (albeit younger than Rodrigue).
As far as style and his on-ice game, this writer is not too proud to admit that he is FAR from a goalie expert but he has watched Rodrigue develop a consistency to his game. Like any goalie, he will have off-nights but he seems to have developed an immunity to cold stretches where bad games stack on top of each other. His style shows an efficiency of movement (think opposite of Jack Campbell) where he makes saves by being positionally sound and quick more than due to pure athleticism. Rebound control seems to be a strength, at least against AHL shooters.
Stature will be a concern for Rodrigue until he proves otherwise at the NHL level. Listed at 6’1, 158, he makes Ryan Miller look stalky.
Rodrigue resigned this past season on a one-year, two-way contract with an NHL league minimum cap hit (and a nice little bump to $125K while in the American League). He is now waivers eligible, however, I would suggest the risk of a claim is low.
I would project that Rodrigue is the clear call-up option for injury or poor play (notwithstanding the NHL experience of newly signed Colin Dellia as his projected back-up).
Of note, Oliver’s long-time goalie coach with the Condors (and father) Sylvain Rodrigue parted ways with the organization at the end of last season (and has found work with the Panthers organization). Kelly Guard is the successor as Condors’ goalie coach.
