The importance of reads and protecting the paint: The best visual classroom in the world for young goaltenders opened up last night with the start of the nhl season. Looking at this clip from last night’s Vancouver/Calgary game, a couple of points to consider: • considering Dan Vladar is 6 foot 5, there is no way Boeser should be able to get his stick on the puck in the middle of the crease cleanly. Vladar plays this very conservatively. If he either shifts out, he can smother the pass, or an active stick should break this play up. • with the play originating outside of the face off dot and a lefty handling the puck, this is a situation where he may have been better served with an overlap. The secondary threat is not on the weak side; he posted up right in front of the net, so he would have the ability to still make a play off a pass. • it is also worth noting that if Vladar uses an overlap here, the player probably doesn’t even attempt the pass, as his huge frame would’ve taken a...