How Kirk McLean became the face of Stand-Up Goaltending

#FreeTheSkate #Canucks
There has never been a Canucks team more beloved than that of the 1994 squad. Revered at almost a god like level in Vancouver to this day, the '94 squad, led by Linden, Bure, Ronning, Courtnall, Adams, and a list of others, all anchored by "Captain" Kirk McLean.
This video cover's Kirk McLean's career in broad strokes, from the day he was drafted up to the '94 Stanley Cup Finals. From his rookie season to his unmatched performance in the Spring of 1994, this Chronicles how Kirk McLean became the final titan of the lost Stand-Up style.
If you like this video, give it a like and stuff. I really miss hockey.

[@Sammydx1]

That final skate out. Vintage gear. Stick raised. ..... MY GOD THE CHILLS.......

[@timburr4453]

He had a signature look. Always cool, calm, streamlined pads when goalies were starting to look michelin man-ish. No wasted movement, great positioning. Made it look easy when he was on his game

[@BaronBoar]

That hybrid style of goal tending is so cool to watch.

[@timburr4453]

Interesting that McLean was never known to be a particularly acrobatic goalie, and yet that brilliant sliding pad stack is among the most memorable saves in NHL history

[@kev27kev27]

Yeah, he looked like Mike Palmateer!

[@rickmckay3039]

Kirk McLean was the smoothest goalie I ever seen No wasted movement always in good position and a great puck handler

[@joelbyers7937]

What an incredible video. Canucks fans would def love more of these. You’ve got a wealth of players you could do these for now.

[@undertakerpitt]

Just uploaded a video about the Post-McLean years, if you’d like to give it a look!

[@jadenippersiel912]

That final appearance tho 👏👏

[@111oooo]

Most underrated goalie ever IMO

[@AndreLePuck]

Epic! 94' Canucks were my favorite team ever and McLean was no doubt the MVP

[@Thesongstaysthesame]

My goaltending idol! Even somehow convinced my dad to buy me a $75.00 Hespler McLean stick! I’m 38 years old and I still have it in the den!

[@kimberly-abriefongrief7777]

This was soooo nostalgic - I was tearing up the whole time 🥹🥰 Kirk McLean brilliance forever!!

[@billsandiego3385]

Loved his style! He was so much fun to watch!

[@anthonypeak2125]

The Weird Captain Kirk. Love it.

[@nhlvan]

Love the narration!

[@augustussohn893]

Well done video! You mentioned Ranford at the. He and McLean were pinnacles of the dying stand-up style.

[@jrayner21679]

Shit I haven’t seen kick saves like that since playing street hockey!! Great video my dude! 4:40 had me dying. “They turned the red light on but that wasn’t a goal!” all nervous. Lol.

[@jeffc9511]

Thanks for the memories. Good times.

[@MrGlovesave33]

Simply great video on the captain. Enjoyed watching him steal many a game. Was one of my 3 go to tenders yo pretend to be when playing street or pond hockey along with Roy, and cujo. Ty for the hard work on his early devils info and visuals. I never knew him as ever having 34 jersey number. From a habs fan enjoyed this greatly. 94 McLean one of my fave goalie memories!!

[@xXPlumpkinXx]

Underrated. Man I loved the 90s lol. We need to bring it back. As well as colorful pads.

[@shanespence6128]

Kirk was THE goalie for the Canucks. Vancouver was so close to a Stanley Cup against the Rangers. Some would say Loungo was a better goalie. IMHO , I would choose Maclean every time!

[@KeshavToronto]

Great video! But it would've been nice to learn more about his stand up style and how it was increasingly rare in the new age of butterfly goalies.

[@BaronBoar]

It was a bit of a hybrid style, as there were clips of him in the butterfly position in some of these saves, for most goal tenders at that time though it was a hybrid.

[@corygarfield86]

Thanks for the great video, brings back some memories.

[@Davidjon1946]

8:12 the cover of NHL 95

[@rickygarcha1311]

You’re wrong

[@jtom68]

I grew up in Metro Vancouver during that 93-94 season and I can say the city will never be like that again as they defied all expectations to beat the blue bloods of the NHL

[@MrAndyNich]

Loved this video. I miss watching him play.

[@stylez893]

One of the 🐐s.

[@j9brando87]

Great video. Subbed. You should make more of these types of videos

[@duaneday5474]

that was awesome. good video 👍

[@kellenceraldi5930]

Got to meet him acutally, at a festival. Got an autograph, hes really nice

Nice one!

[@kev27kev27]

Leafs fan, but I really enjoyed this. Very well made, and no annoying AI voice-over. 👏

[@undertakerpitt]

Appreciate the praise! And I’m pretty sure this video predates the AI voiceover phenomenon

[@AnimalBritain99]

@undertakerpitt hey that's a good idea, I'll only watch old videos from now on! 😁

[@bloodfurypk666]

great video

[@undertakerpitt]

Thank you, I appreciate it!

[@joekim2172]

Better than Luongo, if we had krik in 2011 we would have won the cup

[@Idontwantahandle6669]

Uh okay LOL. Look at where loungo sits among all time wins leaders. He was cut from the same cloth as Brodeur and Roy.

[@Michaelbos]

Standup does work. But the stupid trend now is the prayer position. Standup does not mean standup for everything, by go down when you need too. Today’s goalies should watch this.

[@busupshot83]

Sean Burke is a great stand up goalie that now is a goalie coach showing butterfly style goalies how to utilize stand up with their current style

[@kingchrisepoo]

Big tall goalies who use butterfly is what it’s about

[@boystainey]

@@kingchrisepooif you’re short like me, it’s all read and react. Butterfly doesn’t really work for me because so the my size, I mean on not being exactly percentage blocking lol.

[@kingchrisepoo]

I’m only 5’11, don’t use butterfly

[@boystainey]

@@kingchrisepoo ok not that much shorter lol, 5’9”. I flop a lot more that’s for sure. I occasionally go to a “butterfly” but it’s really my knees together with my knee breaks closing the 5 hole. Close in shots or bad angle, when my eyes need to get lower.

[@Cobra85291]

The 6th round my god

[@lindenwheatley880]

Do more of these videos please

[@sebastiantowles2106]

this is a dope fucking video

[@islanders1329fan]

Sather acquired him in his first season as NYR’s GM in the 2000-01 season when Kirk was already past his prime LOL. Same went for Guy Hebert after Anaheim parted ways with him

[@m.t.122]

Great retrospective of Kirk. Should do more but... All due respect Grant Fuhr will always be the face of standup goaltending. I was at that game 7 in Calgary what a save sucked the air out of the Saddledome

[@undertakerpitt]

M. T. I always saw Fuhr as more of a Hybrid goalie than a stand up

[@bigpapa8152]

@@undertakerpitt Fuhr was hybred. Stand up, I'll take Bill Ranford over anyone.

[@v4v819]

@@undertakerpitt Agreed! Fuhr always seemed like a hybrid. Do you think Richter was a hybrid, too?

[@undertakerpitt]

@@v4v819 Richter would have to be considered a hybrid/butterfly IMO. He was pretty small so he was down and up nonstop

[@v4v819]

@@undertakerpitt I think Richter was the most underrated goalie of the 90's... Best the Rangers ever had- in my humble opinion!

[@TheAnxietyCloset]

Technically two goals from a Stanley Cup. Another goal would have sent game 7 to OT.

[@undertakerpitt]

That’s fair, and objectively true, but “a goal away” sounds better in a video

[@sachs750]

Good video, but mistitled. This is more of a recap of the 1994 Canucks playoff season.

[@PG13hockeyman]

Will you do another goal song video?

[@undertakerpitt]

PG13hockeyman If enough people ask for it, I will, but I think I’ll probably start doing these types of videos more often

[@undertakerpitt]

You wanted it, right? kzbin.info/www/bejne/d52XiZKMeMebfMU

[@Davidjon1946]

Matts sundin first overall draft pick in the 1989 draft my Buffalo sabres had the second pick in the 6th round and draft bill pye 😆🤣😂 we could have had the russian rocket and Alexander mogilny and pat LaFontaine on the same line!!!!

[@purpobandit181]

Does anyone have that 45 save shutout against the Habs? One of my favorite Mclean performances!

[@undertakerpitt]

Unfortunately, it seems like the only surviving clips on KZbin from that game are in this video, and my old McLean “Mr. Roboto” video from like 2011.

[@undertakerpitt]

Hey man, I managed to find it, if you’re still interested. www.reddit.com/r/canucks/comments/ea1leu/a_feature_from_the_40th_season_on_the_45save/

[@purpobandit181]

@@undertakerpitt Awesome! 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

[@timburr4453]

Very hard to find pics of McLean as a Devil.

[@undertakerpitt]

It hard to find virtually anything of McLean before the ‘89 Playoffs vs. Calgary. I had spent hours trying to find footage of him in Junior or with the Devils, but no luck. Coincidentally, I did find HD footage of McLean going on the Canucks Pro-Am Fishing Trip from his first year in Vancouver. I found that pretty funny

[@raymonwhite3340]

I was honestly shocked to see him in Devils gear. I knew we had drafted him, and in retrospect wonder what might have happened if he had gotten to play behind that neutral zone trap. Not wishing he was there instead of Brodeur by any means, just an interesting hypothetical. Loved those Canucks teams in the 90s. Pavel Bure doesn't get his due, and I always liked Courtnall. They have also had some of the most unique sweaters in the league, I know some of them get real hate, but I for one dig them. Small trivia note, the Stars were relatively new to Dallas when Bure hit Churla, and people in Dallas were livid. The sports radio station The Ticket was still fairly new as well, and I was actually the first hockey call on the station, trying to explain Bure wasn't a dirty player, and Churla just got a taste of his own medicine as he was Dallas' pest/ muscle. Good times.

[@kingergaming2491]

Are you a Vancouver fan?

[@highmedic2351]

Was this video meant to be a joke, or satire? I am very confused. I watched the whole video waiting for the part where it is explained how they became the face of stand-up goaltending, but it never came. All this video basically did was very briefly talk about a tiny bit of Vancouver history, if even that. Throughout the entire video, you can see repeated instances of McLean either flopping down, stacking the pads horizontally, or going down on his knees like a modern butterfly position. I thought that when you stand up, it meant standing up? By the way, Patrick Roy heavily influenced the use of the butterfly position, so being a stand-up goalie was not the style anymore. I was actually expecting some Jaque Plante style gameplay here, or at least less ice hugging.

[@timar6868]

“ you’ll never see a save like that again“ Dominik Hasek did it his whole career. Still love me some Kirk McClain though

[@markjones1184]

One error. Quinn didnt go to cup final with phi the year before joining van

[@undertakerpitt]

Yeah, it was the one thing I didn't fact check. But he did lose in the 1980 Cup Finals with the Flyers, so I was almost right

[@markjones1184]

@@undertakerpitt fair. You had a great vid. Thats only issue that jumped out. Didn't know he had knee issues. Did pretty good considering

[@justinuptonn261]

Pavel BooRee

[@nathanmackinnon7405]

i know it’s the inferior style of play in terms of actually stopping pucks, but my god stand up goaltending is way more entertaining to watch

[@undertakerpitt]

Specifically the later Stand-Ups. McLean and Ranford put on clinics basically every night

[@ben7002]

Imagine if he was Butterfly goalie...

[@odiecalodie]

Mr Plante and Mr Parent would beg to differ.

[@TonyDanger]

I can't stand the new modern era of systematic goaltending, it's so boring.

[@CMTT]

Ouh that U2 intro song has run its course . Time to retire it

[@undertakerpitt]

They stopped using it in 2014

[@CMTT]

I just outed myself as dropout Canucks fan. Oh well

[@undertakerpitt]

@@CMTT the post-2011 years were hard, i get it

[@CMTT]

@@undertakerpitt I gave up my tickets after 2010, next season they had their best run for the cup since 94. Go figure