The NHL Central Scouting Service released their midterm rankings on Monday. While there were many surprises in their rankings, which will be covered at some point in another articles, I’m going to focus on today on another area.
These midterm rankings also include the goaltender rankings. With good goaltending an essential part of a winning team it makes sense to keep the pipeline full of goaltender prospects. Though I can’t find the quotation again after the last draft it was made clear that the Stars aimed to pick a goaltender in every draft or two.
Last year it was Philippe Desrosiers, the year before Henri Kiviaho and in 2010 Jack Campbell. The only goaltenders outside of the NHL the Stars have are those mentioned and Maxime Lagace.
So what does the goaltender field look like this year? Are there any interesting goaltenders that the Stars could like the look of?
Interestingly the top goaltenders in North America, Thatcher Demko (NCAA), Edwin Minney (USHL), Blake Weyrick (USHL), Thomas Perry (NAHL) and Alex Nedeljovic (OHL) are all Americans.
There is only one goaltender who appears a possibility to break into the first round and that is Thatcher Demko. He’s been playing with Boston College and is a very impressive young goaltender. By the time he is drafted he will have finished the first year of being in the NCAA.
Another goalie who caught my eye was Kasimir Kaskisuo. He is a Finnish goaltender playing in the NAHL. This is his rookie season in the NAHL and has a 0.947SVS% through 23 games this season. Before that he was playing in the system for Jokerit. In his last year for Jokerit J20 he played 13 games and had a 0.905SVS%. He’s a big goalie at 6″2 185lbs. He is one of those later round picks that the Stars are likely to make when it comes to a goaltender.
Another is Prince George Cougars goaltender Ty Edmonds. Again, he’s another big goalie at 6″2, 175 and he is in his first full season in the WHL. While his save percentage isn’t particularly pretty, 0.890%, he’s playing on one of the worst teams in the WHL. He is performing well enough to have earnt himself an invite to the CHL top prospect game.
The last I’m going to point out is another Finnish goaltender though this one has stayed in his native Finland. His name is Ville Husso and I have a feeling you might want to make a mental note of the name. He is an 18 year goaltender who is making regular starts in the SM-Liiga. He is the top ranked goaltender in Europe.
The Stars need to keep making sure they have got those goaltenders in the system. The best teams in the league have some of the best goaltending and it runs straight through the system, not just in the NHL. By drafting those goaltenders every year you increase the likelihood of stacking up an impressive goaltender unit.