Experience In Any Language

Artus Irbe met the media this morning after being named the Caps' new goaltending coach. He takes over for Dave Prior, the longtime coach who retired to spend more time with his wife. In a step that speaks to his dedication to the craft, Prior agreed to interview potential replacements and highly-recommended Irbe, whom he coached in San Jose. Irbe also was teammates with Caps' assistant coach Dean Evason with the Sharks.

"It's a new step for me. You have to make a foundation to learn the ropes," Irbe said. "The sooner you learn and discover things, the more beneficial for everyone."

Although his family, including a 12-year-old son, live in Raleigh, N.C., Irbe has moved to the area to prepare for his new role. (He also has a 19-year-old daughter who attends Kings College in London.)

Other than his vast experience, one of Irbe's best traits is that he can speak with goalies Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth in their native tongues. This will allow him to relay some of what Prior taught him.

"What I would take from Dave was his approach to goaltending coaches because he was not really putting emphasis on technique," Irbe said. "He put emphasis on making sure you are successful and you are doing things properly all the time."

"He came a real confidant, a person who you can trust where the goalie can vent his frustrations or go with a questions because a goalie's job is very different," he added. "We all know if goalie looks rattled it has an impact on the opposing team and your own team becomes tired, they start to change the game because they feel like they have to help the goalie more."

Irbe also stressed that staying calm between the pipes is paramount to being successful.

"You will never probably know what was going through my mind and how many times I wanted to slash somebody or hack someone or do things but you cannot show," he said. "You have to keep patient so everybody feels safe."

Irbe, who is probably 5'7" on a good day, was able to make sure his stature didn't work against him in a league full of goalies topping six-feet-tall.

"I would not say my road was easy here especially considering my size," he said. "I know I was one of the favorites of Darren Pang because he would say 'this is my size of guy.' But come on [Pang], do you want to stand next to me back-to-back? In a way I see it as an advantage now because that made me play a more positionally-sound game and use a lot more assets than the big guys."

Irbe made a point to mention Jose Theodore, who Coach Bruce Boudreau named the top netminder heading into training camp.

"Of course we also have Jose, who is an experienced guy. I still remember him from the days when came as a still up-and-coming guy in the net of the Montreal Canadiens and I started a few games against him for the Carolina Hurricanes," Irbe said. "When I was at the other end, I remember Jose making a name for himself he fought for his spot and provided a lot of help for his team."

Boudreau was his usual coy self about how many games Theodore and Varlamov would see when the season begins.

"I have a way that I do it at the beginning of the year and it progresses. But, at the same time, I mean the goalies really indicate how much they play at the beginning as well," Boudreau said. "If they come out and they're unbelievable, how can you take them out of the net? But you'd like, especially early on in the year in a perfect world, have both goalies playing great, both goalies getting equal ice time whoever they may be and, in the end, someone takes over."