Sept. 29, 2016

By Ansar Khan, MLive
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DETROIT – When you're a 6-foot-6, 235-pound goaltender, you don't need to be constantly flailing your arms and legs to stop the puck. You're already taking up much of the net.

After a dreadful first pro season spent mostly with the Toledo Walleye, Jared Coreau has had two strong seasons with the Grand Rapids Griffins. It earned him a two-year extension from the Detroit Red Wings, the second year of which is a one-way deal (NHL salary only), when he might be backing up Petr Mrazek.

"The biggest improvement is learning to use his size and calm his game down," Blashill said. "When he first got to GR, he was real athletic but he was kind of all over the ice, he was outside his cage a lot. Now he's much calmer, he lets the puck come to him and he understands with his size he only has to move millimeters, he doesn't have to move inches or anything greater than that."

Coreau stopped 35-of-36 shots Wednesday, going the distance in a 5-1 preseason victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. He has stopped 52-of-54 shots (.963 save percentage) in 89 minutes of preseason action.

Blashill credited Jeff Salajko, the Red Wings new goaltending coach who has worked in the organization the past two years, for aiding Coreau's development.

"When he started his first year pro it was a really, really tough year and him and I had a real hard conversation and he took some things and went in the summer and got way better and he's been a different goalie ever since," Blashill said. "When you're big and you improve like that, you never know what the limit is and he just keeps getting better."

Coreau, 24, said experience was important.

"I think just as time goes on, goalies get better," Coreau said. "We're like fine wine, you know, better with age. You can work on your technique so much and your mindset, all the little things like vision training, yoga, strength training and all that, but I think over time you learn to calm yourself down. You know that the puck's going to come no matter what, you don't have to fight it."

Coreau said he watches many goalies, particularly the bigger ones like himself.

"I've watched (Ben) Bishop quite a bit, (Pekka) Rinne used to be one of my favorites to watch. His game's a little bit more wild," Coreau said. "Carey Price, too, he's just so calm to watch. I've picked up a lot of things from Braden Holtby as well. He's only maybe 6-2, 6-3, but still that's considered big.

But it was an average-sized goalie, Curtis Joseph, who played two seasons in Detroit, that really inspired Coreau.

"That's why I wear 31," Coreau said.

Blashill said it's important to see a lot of Coreau in the preseason.

"I think it's two-fold," Blashill said. "You may need more than two (goalies, during the season) and I also think he's an unknown," Blashill said. "He looks like an NHL goalie, so let's get him some games to see how he looks once he gets into some real games.

"I think Jared's really worked hard on his game. The other thing he's done is he went to an eye specialist in the summer to train his eyes to track the puck better. We'll see how he does."