Home / News / Braden Holtby abandons goalie gear, takes shots as forward during informal skate

Braden Holtby abandons goalie gear, takes shots as forward during informal skate

By Ian Oland

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August 22, 2017 2:31 pm

Capitals Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Braden Holtby returned to Kettler Capitals Iceplex Tuesday, but he was missing something: his goalie gear.

A beardless Holtbeast, which is already weird, took shots as a forward, which is even weirder. Take a look via CSN.

Video

Video: @CSNCapitals

I am digging the leg raise and his thought to go five hole.

Holtby wore Andre Burakovsky’s number 65 helmet during the skate.

This is not the first time Holtby has been a forward.

According to In Goal Magazine, Holtby wanted to be a goaltender on every team he played on and in every game he played in during his childhood. But he didn’t play the position full time until the age of 12. Braden’s father, Greg Holtby, saw value in his son being a strong skater. Greg, a former goaltender himself with the Saskatoon Blades, was a “product of the pre-butterfly era.”

More from In Goal Magazine:

So rather than send Braden to position-specific schools at an early age, Greg insisted his son also play out as long as he could. As a result, the younger Holtby was still splitting time between forward and goal until he was 12.

“Being a goaltending himself he knew what being a goaltender was later on in life as opposed to being a kid where you like the equipment, you like making the big glove saves and whatnot,” said Holtby, who was still playing as a forward during summer ball hockey and shinny sessions when he talked to InGoal Magazine for a cover story in 2012. “He really encouraged me to play as a forward and a goaltender until I was forced by the team to make a decision, so I played both up until peewee, which really helped develop my skating, helped develop my puck handling, all those other things you wouldn’t really get by choosing to be just a goaltender at a really young age.

“I was always confused back then why he wanted me to keep playing both when all I really wanted to be was a goaltender. But now it’s one of my biggest benefits.”

We’ve seen hints at Holtby’s offensive instincts during games. He’s attempted to score on an empty-net several times during his career and showed off his shot accuracy during the 2017 All-Star Skills competition.

Holtby isn’t the only Caps regular back in town. According to CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Tarik El-Bashir, John Carlson and Philipp Grubauer are already back in the area to work with strength and conditioning coach Mark Nemish and begin skating with their teammates again.