Back in June, both Ron Hextall and Brian Burke expressed confidence in the Penguins' coaching staff.
Hextall said that he thought the "entire staff" did a "terrific job." Burke spoke highly of goaltending coach Mike Buckley in a conversation with Dave Molinari.
"He's the goalie coach who coached the goalies that won us a division title, but suddenly became a village idiot in the playoffs?" Burke said. "I don't think so. I think Mike Buckley did a good job."
Management said the right things about Buckley since the Penguins were eliminated from the playoffs, but let their feelings be known on Wednesday with their actions.
The Penguins on Wednesday fired Buckley as the team's goaltending coach and promoted Andy Chiodo to goaltending coach.
Chiodo, 38, was the Penguins' goaltending development coach for the last three seasons.
Buckley was the longest-tenured member of the Penguins' coaching staff. He was the team's goaltending development coach from 2013-17, and served as the head goaltending coach from 2017-21.
"Andy has done a terrific job mentoring our young goaltenders," Hextall said of the change. "In addition to on- and off-ice training, he emphasizes the importance of life habits and mental approach to the game. We know Andy will be a great addition to the coaching staff. The Penguins are grateful to Mike Buckley for his contributions to the team and wish him and his family the best going forward."
Chiodo was a seventh-round draft pick of the Penguins in 2003, and made his NHL debut during the 2003-04 season. His first NHL win was the overtime win in Arizona that ended the Penguins' 18-game losing streak, something I spoke with him and his teammates about in my oral history of the X Generation story.
"Chiodo was awesome," Tom Kostopoulos told me of his memories of Chiodo from that season. "He's all heart, all work. He's all about energy, he was so excited to come up. ... Andy came in and just left everything out there and played with his heart."
"I remember I wanted to bring some positive energy," Chiodo said. "When I did get called up, I thought to myself, 'Bring some really good energy, be solid, give them a chance and good things might happen. I wasn't as connected emotionally on a day-to-day with the entire slide, which probably helped in a way. I was able to come with a fresh mindset, fresh energy. I was really just trying to be solid and give them a chance."
As goaltending development coach, Chiodo worked with the goaltending prospects in both Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Wheeling, and worked virtually with the prospects in Europe. He also did scouting of amateur and European goaltenders at different levels.
Before Chiodo joined the Penguins as a development coach, he was a goaltending coach for the OHL's Ottawa 67's and the University of Toronto during the 2017-18 season. He also worked independently with goaltenders through BioSteel Sports in Toronto. He began working with Jordan Binnington during the offseasons in the summer of 2016 when Binnington was in the AHL, and continued to work with him even after Binnington won the Cup in St. Louis.
