The Hockey PDOcast - Goalies We're Excited To Watch This Season

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Kevin Woodley to put together a list of goalies we're excited about this season. The list includes goalies who could break out this year, have already recently broken out and are now looking to cement their status with even more opportunity, have something important to prove in their current situation, or are ones we're just generally looking forward to watching.There will be a couple of new episodes each week that will be Patreon-exclusive only for our subscribers, and won't be appearing on the free feed. To gain access to all of that content make sure you've subscribed to the PDOcast's Patreon. The subscription provides you with the ad-free version of every single episode we do this season, and they will be available for you to listen as soon as we're done recording.We've also finally got some merch available for our listeners! If you'd like to get your hands on a PDOcast shirt or hat to rep the show, you can do so here. We've recently added a really fun new option on there to celebrate the start of the season. If you've already subscribed to the Patreon, one of the perks that comes with it is that you get a discount on all of the show merch.I'd also recommend subscribing to our Youtube channel. We'll be posting full shows on there more regularly this season so that you can watch along with us. I'm hoping to grow the channel this year, so each subscription, like, and comment is greatly appreciated.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Progressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey-O-Cast. My name's Demetra Filippovich. And joining me is my good buddy, Kevin Woodley. Kevin, what's going on, man? Not much. Training camps have opened.

It's exciting time of year. Get to talk to you. All ready to go for the season. Yeah, I'm looking forward to this. And also, you got a new logo over your shoulder there. That's killer. I do. Yeah, I'm recording from the new home office.

We're working on it. We'll keep adding stuff as the year. it goes along. I just like that it's a goalie mask. It is. Well, it's the Pediocast logo. So, you know, we ought to rep the goalies. But I've got it flashing nice and bright here today because we've got our resident

goalie expert on the PDO cast on the show. And so we're going to have some fun. Here's the plan for today. I wanted us to do a theme of goalies. We're excited about this season. Now that could take a bunch of different forms, right? It could be goalies that are just in different. different situations compared to the past.

And so we're curious to see what that looks like. Goleys who find themselves in a promising opportunity to have a big year. Goleys were just interested in to see how they do. Maybe ones we're excited to watch. We're invested in them. We did this last year, I believe, around this time at the start of the season. And it was fun. I enjoyed it.

I think the listeners enjoyed it as well. So I wanted to bring the exercise back. And yeah, let's get into it. I've got like a surprising number of goals. on my list, it feels like we didn't have necessarily as much movement, maybe as off-season's past. Something we talked about is the goalies are typically now locked up and under contract. There was nothing available in unrestricted free agency for the most part. So there hasn't been that much movement.

But whether it's because of, you know, contracts or development or new coaches, like it does feel like a bunch of these goalies are in fascinating spots to either continue their development and hit the next level or just to answer questions, though, have. So we'll get into all that today. I'll give you the floor. You're the guest. You're the goalie expert. You know much better than I do on this. So who's a top of your list? We don't have to go in order necessarily, but just right off the bat, who do you want to start with as the goalie? You're most excited to watch the season. Yeah. And this is a guy that, you know, like I, every year I get asked to sort of identify my breakout candidates and he's at the top of

this list. I don't know. Maybe some people, like he hasn't been on all the lists I've seen for this category and maybe that's because he's played enough in the NHL that it doesn't count. So maybe I'm cheating this one a little bit. But it's Jacob Fowler. And or maybe it's because Jakob Dobusch was so good and is also probably going to continue to be really, really good. They've got a really nice setup there in Montauchat. Maybe it's because of the fact that there's a chance on to both days in the

NHL and Fowler keeps playing in the American League. I'm not sure. At the end of the day, though, his results last year were off the charts, good. You and I have talked about this before. Small sample, absolutely. But his adjusted say percentage, so his performance relative to his environment, and I'll throw the caveat now. This is all coming from ClearSight Analytics. The company founded and run by Stephen Valacette, former NHL goal tender. But he's like plus 2.2%. So on 100 shots, he is saving the Montreal Canadians more than two goals. So say two goals every three games, maybe every four games,

if they're good with shot suppression, better than average. Only Devin Cooley was better on that rate stat in the National Hockey League last year among guys who were semi-regular. So again, it is a small sample. But then you talk to other goalies around the league.

Like he's one of those guys that I think if you pulled other goalies, they'd be excited to see where this is going. Like he's a guy that they identify to me. And there's also some bias here. went to Boston for the USA hockey goaltending symposium this summer and got an invite from Alfie Mies showed

former, or the former NHL goalie, University of Mian goalie coach, to come watch Jeremy Swyman skate and Swayman had Jacob Fowler out there on the ice with him in the summer. And you listen to Jeremy Swamman talk about Jacob Fowler when Fowler's in net

and as much as there's a Bruins Montreal thing that should make that never possible, like he's so abusive. And then you see the skills, you see the patients. There's a Sorokan level patience on his edges and with his hands that just makes me really excited for where this goes.

Development's not always linear. You know, there's probably going to be some ups and downs here, but he's the guy I'm most excited to watch in the National Hockey League this year, in part because of what he did in a small sample last year. And because it was off an 878 expected, I'm not sure people realized how good he was. Well, it's nice to hear the team USA is finally getting a good goalie

to look forward to. to after a long drought at the position. I had Fowler on my list. I had Dobish on my list as well. I kind of included them as a tandem for Montreal. I think both are interesting for different reasons, right? All the stuff you mentioned for Fowler, only 17 games last year. So it is a small sample, but I think the tape was very exciting.

I believe you and I talked about it, like after one of his early starts and we were blown away by how he looked in that. For Dobish, though, like, what a revelation he was last year. Not that it came out of nowhere because he'd put some stuff on tape the year prior, but scaling it up to the usage he had where 43 regular season games and then what 19 playoff appearances really sort of cementing himself as one of the big stories even in defeat that we're going to remember from the 2026.

Postseason gets rewarded for it with a nice three-year extension, which kicks in the following season. So he's still under $1 million this year. And if they go with this tandem of Dobes, who's 25, Fowler, who's turning 22 in November, both guys under one million. Still have Sam on Dembo, as you mentioned, on the books for one more year. We'll see how they sort of divvy up those starts. We'll talk more about three goalie rotations and sort of how more teams might be using that

or utilizing it this year. But yeah, I think all of that is fascinating. Something I've been noting in terms of my projections for the HABs, right? Because I think people are uncertain kind of how to view them. Like they had a very quiet summer for the most part, pretty. much Chris Kreider was the only real addition to last year's team. Despite them having caps base, it seems like they're biting their time waiting for a big addition as opposed to spending it now on stuff that's not really going to move the needle. They had this remarkable run

to the East Final. I don't think anyone was necessarily expecting them to match that again or exceed that this season. But something I've been looking at is there was a long stretch last year where they were just giving away points because of how much Sam Montaubo was struggling and how much he was playing early on. And eventually they went to Dobish more full time and sprinkled in Fowler. And the splits are pretty staggering, not only from a results perspective for like the goalies individually, but just as a raw like team point total projection, right? In Montembo's games, they played at an 86 point pace in Fowler's 96. And then in Dobish's, they were a hundred and twenty one point team. Now, I'd expect that to come back down earth a little bit. But if all of a sudden

you're telling me we're going to get 84 games of Dobish and Fowler and they keep on this upward trajectory. I feel like that's going to balance out whatever regression we expect from the habs and they could probably repeat as one of the top three teams in the Atlantic again. And having both of them gives you the flexibility to not to be able to sort of manage the ups and downs that come with an NHL season for a young goaltender, right? Like you to manage the expectations, we've seen other goaltenders of that age where when the expectations shift, so does the result. because those are hard to deal with.

Again, you have such a nice balance. You've got Marco Marciano who's built a good relationship with both of those guys there as the goal league coach after spending time with him in the American League. So he was a part of that development in the American League. So they're just in a really good spot. And I know in that market, you know, having two, there's still this, I remember sort of they were nervous

about having three and the perceptions and there's a lot of talk around it. and then you talk to some of the guys involved. Obviously, Jake Allen didn't love the three goalie rotation, but other goalies thought that it was beneficial in certain ways. So like having two in Montreal is not a bad thing. Like we've come a long way from the days where having two means you don't have a number one. They've got two really, you know, guys that project at an elite level.

Interestingly enough, totally different styles of play, like totally different strengths and weaknesses between those two, which makes it even more fascinating to watch. So, you know, patience from an observer standpoint, Right. Like, you know, that the development isn't always a straight line. And then if one dips a little bit, it's not the end of the world because you have the other one. You can go back and forth and just see where it comes out at the end.

Like options are the best thing to have as we move towards an increase in tandems around the league. And they've got two, yes, inexperienced and incredibly young, but just incredibly talented options in Montreal. What a great place to be. So if anyone was putting together a betting market for where you'd start your list, who you'd include as your number one goalie. I think Jet Greaves would have been the heavy favorite on that list. And I'm pretty surprised he didn't start with him. He's number one on my list.

I guess like I think we're past his breakout, aren't we? Like, I mean, I've been sort of had him atop my list for, you know, two and a half straight years because the results were so good when he was up. They finally bring him up. The results over the course of the year weren't as high as they were on shorter samples. Again, inevitably some ups and downs. but if you know Jet, you know he's gone to school on on where the ups and where the downs came

and how he can level them off a little bit. So yeah, like he'd be high on my list. I just, I'm not sure he still classifies as pure breakout. I think he's broken out based on what he did last year. I guess my argument would be there's levels to it though, right? And I think it's one thing that kind of, you know, he'd done it previously in these like five game samples where he'd look amazing and you and I would be like pounding our fists on the table

being like more Jetgreaves like kill us 10 15 20 more games of this and then last year we finally get the 55 games but now he gets the three year extension this summer right five million per narrowly avoiding arbitration with the team he's 25 years old he's coming off that 55 game season i think there's a certain level of expectations for the organization with the zack warrensky situation this summer right like how i feel like they're feeling a certain level of urgency to keep moving in the right direction and make the playoffs and kind of keep him happy and hopefully he stays around there's a lot of uncertainty with a bunch of their other young players they're looking for positive signs of growth continued growth for this team and the season he had last year was

interesting to me where there's two chunks of it essentially right there's part one when dean evison was still the coach and he really evison did like really leaned into jeggreeze i think because partly Elvis was struggling and Greaves was clearly the superior option and maybe he was feeling like like he was on the hot seat. So there was a stretch I remember where they were just playing Greaves like both legs of a back to back and really leaning on him as the workhorse goalie. Then Evanson gets fired. Rick Bonas comes in and they split those starts more evenly. Grieves was still the 1A but it was more of an even distribution between the two. But the environment changed pretty significantly as you'd expect from a Rick bonus team. Right. Like they really slowed their game down,

had an added emphasis defensively. I'm still not sure it's in their best interest, given the person out long term, to be playing that way. But I imagine for a goalie, it was a more advantageous environment. They cut down what they were giving up in general by quite a bit. I was looking at it.

They were giving like five fewer shots against per game under bonus than they were with Everson. And now Elvis is out to start the year. He had his surgery about a month ago. He's out indefinitely. They bring in two veteran goalies. In the meantime, right, Phoenix Copley, who's 35 in January and has played 10 total NHL games the past three years. And this week they bring in Camp Talbot, who just turned 39, and is coming off probably the worst year he's had in the NHL.

And it's Jets time. Like, I'm curious to see what his workload looks like, how he handles those expectations, whether he's got another level to his game because he was really good last year. But I think he could be even better. And so putting all that together, I think he's like in a fascinating spot. He's eighth in the Vesna market right now in terms of the highest odds. And so people are on this in terms of being incredibly high on Jack Reeves. And yet I'm not sure it's even reached a point where I'm like, you know what? Everyone is as high on him as you and I are.

Yeah. And you worry a little bit about overplaying him too. Like, you know, was it 55 last year? And as you said, stretches where, you know, you worried about maybe playing the wheels off him a little bit. First taste of that type of workload in the National Hockey League. Again, ups and downs. The highs weren't as high overall. Like he doesn't finish as high as he was in the sort of shorter samples, his performance relative to that environment,

even as it cleaned up down the stretch. And I think just having been through it once, he'll be better for it. And I think there's value. Like, Cam Talbot is as good a vet. as you'll find in terms of the way he thinks the game, the way he manages himself through a season. Like there are lessons to be learned from having that influence around. Now, Elvis Merslickens has, you know, he's been around,

but not to the degree that Camp Talbot has, right? Like Talbot has seen some things. And there might be some value there and having him as a sounding board and a guy that Jet can go to and talk to about, you know, this process he's going through as a first time number one goal tender. you know, like, I don't know that he's had that. You know, we actually talked to J.F. Barubei, going way back names for you, about his role. Because Jet sort of gave me his name as a guy when he was first starting out in the American League that really provided that mentorship and was important to him.

And I think Camp Talbot can be that guy too, because as high as we've been on Jet for as long as we've been, you know, and you're right before anybody else was, right? We were banging that table, as you said, and the underlying number. suggested they needed to be banged. But he's never really had that guy in the NHL. That, you know, like he's been in competition with Elvis. I'm sure they had a great relationship and they shared, you know, lots of, you know, tips and advice. But Talbot might be perfect for him as he basically takes a giant step in his career last year

and now has to not just repeat it, but maybe repeat it with longer stretches of the highs we've seen in the past if this team's really going to make some, you know, noise about getting back into the playoffs. Yeah, I'm curious just to see how they play as well. I mentioned how much less they were giving up from a Shaw volume perspective. He was also, like, his say percentage was pretty consistent. I think it was actually identical during Evanston's time at the start of last year and

after bonus took over. But he gave up like 2.4 goals against per game or something down the stretch with bonus. Like they were much better defensively. And so it's just an interesting environment. It's definitely in stark contrast to when he first captured. our attention, right? Like there were those times where he'd come in for a spot start and he'd stop 40 out of 42 shots he faced or something. Right. There's not going to be a lot of those this season for as long as Rick Bonas is the coach. So it's a different set of challenges. Yeah. And it's totally,

you know, now the challenge is more mental, right? And you've been there a little longer. Like you just, you, when he gets called up in those other opportunities, it's just come out and battle like crazy as much as you can. And when you're seeing 40 shots a night, you turn the brain off. But as the environment becomes more predictable and the shots are suppressed more under Rick Bonas, like it does require a different approach. The thing is, the way he thinks the game, I don't think that's going to be a problem. Like I don't think it's an adjustment

where he's going to be like, I can't do this. There are some goalies that just, man, give them 40 shots a night, they'll stand on their head. Give them 25 and they struggle to sort of find that balance. And I don't think Jets going to be one of those. So looking forward to sort of, you're right. He's another guy that I'm looking forward to watch. Well, it's interesting how he just sort of came out of nowhere to win out as well here, right?

Because think back to all that time when like, Daniel Tarasov was the top prospect there and everyone was excited to see what he'd look like. And then he winds up moving on. Elvis had that stretch where he came into a league and was on fire. And even though like he's out to start the year, but regardless, this is clearly going to be his last team, last year one way or another with Columbus.

His contract expires. He's been looking for a trade or on the trade market for seemingly five straight years now. So the other backups of this moment are guys in their mid to late 30s. And so the path is cleared pretty sufficiently. I think like this is Jake Greaves's team. He's going to be their starter moving forward. And they gave him a three year extension in line with that as well. So they clearly believe in that as well.

There's a challenge here too for Camtale. But as much as the environment has changed under bonus, and it should benefit his game. And again, the strengths of his game in terms of his ability to process and read the game and anticipate, again, just thinks that at a really high level. for all the criticism that seems to get thrown at Elvis Merzlikens, the reality is, yes, consistency was a bit of an issue, but he gave them some really good stretches,

where again, you know, especially pre-bonous, where I'm not sure people realize just how tough that environment was, goalies were being asked to stop bullets in their teeth. And he did, like, for really, for long stretches. I mean, again, I think that's the hardest thing to do is be consistent behind a bad defensive team, which is why I was so impressed with what Devin Cooley did last year. in Calgary, right? So don't, like there's, as much as people are quick to want to move on from

Elvis, and I understand that that's the likelihood in Columbus, there have been some stretches there where he has got them points and wins largely because of his play behind them. And, you know, the risk, maybe less so now that bonus is there, but the risk is you miss those stretches as a team where, you know, it's not just enough to have a backup come in and provide a steady presence. you needed Superman back there every night. And there were nights where Elvis gave you. Elvis did things that not everybody can do athletically and sort of within his game and his abilities.

And some of these veterans, again, hopefully the environment allows them to succeed because they aren't going to be asked to make some of those saves or they'll put themselves in a position to make those saves easier than Elvis maybe did. But I just, I'm an Elvis, I guess I'm going to get labeled on Elvis Apologist. I just think, and I looked at the next.

numbers and again consistently over time you know they dipped but there were stretches there where he was the reason they were getting points all right we got to keep it moving because i i recognize the irony of the last show we did literally the end of it i had jana goldman on and at the end we were talking about fantilli still not having a contract how indecisive columbus is an organization has been with their young players this summer and i profess like i'm i'm fed up with it i'm sick of talking about it I'm blue jackets out and then of course my first submission to this list

is hey you you brought up Graves not me man like I already had him as established I always look for it listen don't ask me

who I'm looking forward to watch I look forward to watching all the goalies yeah we should do a list of goalies you're not looking forward to watch a very short podcast that's sure

okay who's next on your list um I you know Devin Levi and Evanston um you know just you know talking about a guy that trains in the offseason spent some time in Montreal

Jett goes to see him and his coach, Marco Ramando, wasn't the only one. Some other young goalies made that journey as well to get an opportunity to work with Marco. It's seeing the work that Devin does there. You know, always believed in the talent of this young goaltender. Love his approach. It hasn't always translated.

I don't think Buffalo when he got his opportunities. Buffalo is one of those teams were dependent on the opportunity you got. And that could shift, like not just timing-wise within a season, depending on who was healthy, but like on a night-to-night basis. I'll never forget the year where Eric Comrie just basically got handed every shit start. Like just like, and you look at the end of the year and he had an expected say percentage of 8.58. And people are like, oh, he's not an NHL goalie.

I'm like, nobody is with an 8-58. Like, nobody is. And so there were stretches where Devin got some of those starts, right? Like, and that was kind of a, like, real technical term on my end here, Demetri, but it was a really weird team. It was hard to sort of, you know, some guys, and you had this huge disparity environment between one goalie and the next. Like I'm talking like 20 and 30 points swings. It's almost like they'll be like, hey, we're going to suck tonight and we know we're going to suck tonight.

That's his start. And so I think there are some things in his game. He's in Edmonton now. If you sort of, you know, look to Calgary and you watch Dustin Wolf and the success he's had is a quote unquote, undersized goaltender by actually playing less aggressively. And Devin having a lot of aggression in his game early in his career. Like that's an adjustment I think they're going to try and make. I haven't had a chance to ask Devin where he's at with it.

I'm looking forward to seeing him as we get into the preseason and a visit here early in the regular season. But for all those reasons, whether it's him trying to succeed with some aggression in his game or him trying to find comfort playing less aggressively. And for a head coach that typically likes aggressive goalies, like where does he find that balance. How does he allow his skill set, which is undeniable, give himself the best chance to succeed behind a team that I think will be better defensively, but better defensively and fits the strengths of your game are not always synonymous. And so I'm really curious. I've never stopped

living in the talent and the work rate of this kid. And I'm curious to see how much of an opportunity and what he does with it in Evanton. And it might require some patience if indeed he's trying to make an adjustment that big in season against NHL shooters. I go back to a conversation with Mark Andre Fleury earlier in his career. Henrik Lundquist, same thing, right? Like the hardest part, Hank was famous for playing deep and the hardest part of learning to trust that was in practice, where guys had so much time and space,

there was an exposure there. And Flower talked about it when he was in Pittsburgh still, trying to play more conservatively. You know, one of Jenny Malcon and Sidney Crosby have time and space and practice to pick you apart and trusting the process. That's kind of probably what Devin Levi is looking at. If he's trying to make this adjustment, you know, with McDavid and Drysidal bearing down on him every day in practice.

And so might require some patience. But I'm excited to see where it goes. Excited to watch him. Because like I said, I really do believe in the mindset, the approach, just the professionalism, everything about Devin Levi. He has some goalie quirks that we like in the goalie world that have maybe not always been appreciated by people around him in Buffalo. That's another thing under a Mike Babcock coach team

that I'm interested to see. You know me, Dimitri. Let your goalies be your goalies. Don't try to make them something they're not. And kind of curious to see how they find that balance as well with Devin Levi. Well, you mentioned that opportunity. I think he's going to get it. because unfortunately, Brady Anderson's already hurt.

And regardless, even if he hadn't been, I imagine the vision after they brought him in was managing his workload pretty diligently in the regular season, keeping it pretty low and hoping he's available for the start of the playoffs. I think we've got a long enough track record right now to know that there's going to be a stretch during the season where Tristan Jari looks amazing. And there's going to be articles written about how he's finally put it together and figured it out. And then there's going to be a stretch where he looks unplayable. and they're going to be looking at Devin Levi

to fill in those starts in the meantime and so he's going to get opportunities and it's a big spot for him and I'm looking forward to it as well so that's a good shot. I had him out as an argument. History says that history says Jari will start

exceptionally well and so that might not be a bad thing especially if Devin's working on getting more comfortable playing a more neutral positional game it gives him more time to get comfort with that. All right well speaking of Jari let's go to his former team and a goalie that I want to include on this list is Sergey Mureshov. Now, I know typically you prefer for us to talk about goalies who have put enough data and tape in the NHL

for us to feel more comfortable evaluating them. We've only gotten that, what, five-game cameo from him last year, essentially a very small sample. And the OHL, sorry, he was remarkable. He had a 9-19 percentage in the regular season and then a 9-31 in the, in the Calder Cup playoffs gives us another right-handed catching goalie, which is very exciting. Also, when you talk about opportunity,

you know, the penguins, despite being flush with so much cap space, decided to let Stuart Skinner walk in free agency to Winnipeg. And for a very reasonable price that they easily could have justified, it was 3.75 times two.

I was looking at it. Like, there's no frills in that deal either for Stu Skin. It's no trade protection, no signing bonus money, getting paid less salary in year one. Like it was if they felt like Miroshov wasn't ready or they wanted to bring back the tandem from down the stretch last year, they very easily could have just brought back to Skina. They chose not to.

It looks like it's going to be She Loves and Murashab and Ned. And so I guess you can include both guys. I'm very interested. I can't wait to watch Sheelovs in particular in the shootout because I want to know whether last year was just statistical anomaly or if there's something seriously wrong. I know you and I have spoken about this and how in one-on-one situations during live play, none of these issues cropped up. And then you got to the shootout and he gave up 13 goals on 22 shootout attempts

and gave up a goal on the only penalty shot he phase as well. So there was some weird mismatch between those two. But yeah, I think it's going to be fascinating. I love when a new goalie like this, especially a high prospect who performed so well in the HL gets thrown into the mix. I imagine he's going to get a long long. look in Pittsburgh and yeah maybe we can revisit this in season after he's had some starts under his belt but i wanted a shot him out here as well when you're thinking about you know

breakouts or guys who could really you know open our eyes to them this season and be like kind of like i'm curious to learn more about him because he's performing so well i feel like he's probably near the top of that list yeah i mean a really a really high-end prospect um this is probably sooner in terms of pro reps than you'd like ideally in terms of of again the patterns of the game and connecting those dots. Pittsburgh didn't have a single goalie that finished sort of above their environment last year, which is a little concerning. Miroshoff in that small sample actually had a pretty good defensive environment in front of them,

underperformed it just slightly, but at a similar level to where she loves in Skinner finished last year. So, you know, it's an interesting juxtaposition to be willing to give opportunities to such young goaltenders. and don't forget, like, Joel Blumquist is still highly regarded as a prospect as well and has had some success, not last year, but had some success in the past in the National Hockey League. Like, it looks like there's a goalie there. But you've got this veteran team that, you know, because of the Crosby's and the Malkins

and the Littangs feels like it's a more of a win now situation. And goaltenders who just don't have a ton of experience, even she loves, right? like never been the guy guy. It was really good coming off the bench in the playoffs last year. Some questions about whether if they'd gone to him a little bit sooner, that series might have looked a little different.

And that's the thing about Artur's. You know, you talk about the shootout and all these different things. At the end of the day, the one thing you never question about Shilovs is his ability to sort of handle big moments, right? And like that matters. That matters.

The other things you can work on, like his first year in Vancouver where, you know, the playoffs ended against Edmonton, a lot of teams went to school and his inability to sort of manage and figure out traffic in the NHL. And then the next year against, you know, he gets the game one start against the Canox. And what does Calgary do? Starts throwing pucks from the point with bodies in front of the net. Like everybody went to school on that. Playoffs exposed you. I thought he figured that out last year. His numbers against screens were much better in Pittsburgh. So those types of things you can get better at. how a young goaltender handles pressure and big moments and expectations,

that's often difficult to read and it's often difficult to quantify. But every time he gets these opportunities in high pressure situations, he performs, like he plays his game. And usually to the end degree, like there's a, they athleticism shines through in big moments. He has the ability to just sort of make saves that other guys don't. Like he's so long and so explosive laterally.

So giving him another year to sort of. stack the foundational things that he continues to work on and the experience in the NHL combined with that athleticism and more than anything else his ability to handle it between the years like you know as excited as everyone is about Miroshoff and as much as Joel Blumquist is still a really highly regarded prospect like Seeluffs has already been through the learning curve that those guys have yet to go through in the NHL and so I'm excited for him at this opportunity I recognize that it comes the expectations are different without Stuart Skinner, right? We saw Levi-Marer Lane in last year. Two years ago,

sensational. Last year, did the expectations change and he struggled with it. Is he a worst goaltender or just did the expectations create a bit of, you know, issues in terms of doubt and tension in the mind, which creates tension in the body. Like, you won't see that with our jersey loves. He's never had this opportunity before without the insulation of somebody else around him. I'm looking forward to seeing how he manages it. He might be a guy that surprises a lot of people for all the attention that's being paid to the people behind him on the step chart. Well, and he got a pay raise this summer from the contract he was previously playing, right, because the penguins after acquiring him were inheriting the deal he had with the Canucks

previously. But despite giving him more money this year, the commitment wasn't that extreme. They essentially just did another one-year deal, punted the decision to next summer when he'll once again be an RFA. And so it'll be interesting to see, like, how all this shakes out and how they handle that, how they perform. And it's, it's an interesting spot

because I think the penguins are going to be competitive once again. Their offense is going to score a lot of goals. They'll get run support. The defense, we'll see, like probably their best peer defenseman last year was Parker Watherspoon

and they traded him to Vegas. So we'll see what the environment is like, but the opportunity is there. And so I'm excited to watch how it shakes out. Okay, let's keep him moving. Who do you want to shout out next? Oh, I don't have a lot of details on his game. You know, and I have some questions about whether it will translate in the NHL behind a team that is probably looser defensively than most people would expect, given the coaches, compared to the installation he had in the American League.

But I'm excited to watch Sebastian Kosa with the Utah Mammoth. As much as they're a team, you're like, hey, you look at teams that, hey, do they need to add a veteran and some experience in the crease? Like, this is his opportunity. It's a massive one. And I'm really excited to see what he does with it. You know, I don't know enough about his game to sort of have like any deep insights on it. I've talked to some people sort of around him and around his summer training. And they think he's ready for this.

And they think he's, you know, like going to, you know, basically show people, everybody that's doubted him, including in the Red Wings organization, that that was a mistake. And so it's a fantastic opportunity. And I'm excited to. see what he does with it. At the same time, you know, this is not a great defensive environment. And everything, everybody you talk to in Detroit talks about how, hey, were the numbers in the American League for all their goaltenders, not just him, how much of that was a product of a really structured defensive environment by American Hockey League standards. He's not going to have that

in Utah. And so that adjustment and the adjustment from the outside analyzing him, like recognizing that you're going to need some, you're not going to be able to go off the wrong numbers here. going to need to sort of see how he does relative to sort of the adjusted stuff. I'll be fascinated to watch him and excited to watch him because he waited a long time in the American League. I don't think he always got a fair shake down there with the Red Wings in terms of the opportunities and how slow they were in coming. This is a big jump. There's no sort of dipping your toe in here. It's him and Vamalka and not a lot of safety net. So there's pressure that comes with that and I'm excited to see. And like I said, I know some people

that that work with him and know him and they think he's, He's very ready for this opportunity. I hope so too. He was very high on my list. Now, you and I spoke about him quite a bit when we chatted in July the last time I had you on, but I did want to revisit it. And, you know, I can tell you for a fact, like the, and I'm sure you heard the same things, like the Red Wings were very skeptical that he was ready for this.

And I think their actions spoke as such because they kept them buried in the HL. And after everything that's happened in Detroit, the past couple months, you could even stretch it further than that. I don't think we should necessarily view them as the authority on good takes and player evaluations. So I'm not going to hold that against COSA. I think he's going to get a fair shake and a clean start here. And that's exciting.

The reason why this is important is two straight years, the mammoth have just belligerently overworked about him. Right? Two years ago, was it, 22 straight games or something like that? They played him down the stretch while they were hanging around a playoff opportunity. And then last year, 64 games for him. No other goalie in the league played 60 regular season games. They finally make the playoffs.

They have a competitive round one series losing in six to Vegas. I think they should feel like they're entering this year, trying to compete with those top three teams in the central for one of those seeds, trying to play multiple playoff rounds. And so that's going to come with even extra workload in the back half of the season. And I think the mammoth correctly recognized that they need to, be more careful while managing that if they're going to accomplish it. And so they go out, you and I already spoke in July about, you know, they clearly value

COSA quite highly because it's rare to see a first round pick traded for any goalie, let alone one who just has not played in the NHL yet. Like he was drafted in what, 2021. And he's played 45 minutes of NHL action, faced 14 shots so far at this level, played 134 HL games and they acquire him, they spend that 23rd overall pick at the draft

and then they give him a two by two to be the backup. So yeah, it'll be fascinating to see that. He's got the physical tools. Certainly, we'll see how he deals with NHL shooting talent

and some of the adjustments that are going to have to come with that. But it's just such a... Especially the way they defend. Like the pace of the game is so high overall and they give up a lot of sort of of difficult shots that require pace and big goalies that have to move east west like that that's

what they surrender and so and yet pamelaka does it really well like he's not a small man and he moves so well in the crease and listen i i i trust their their goalie scout clay adams um you know he's he's a guy that's made some really astute he's been a part of really astute decisions around the goaltending um their goalie coach cori schwab is kind of overlooked and underrated as as one of the guys who's been around a long time and had some really good results with a lot of different styles of goal tenor so I think he'll be able to do some good things there and you know like listen I may talk about the defensive environment and it's a bit of a surprise how loose it is given the coaching staff but credit when we talk about vimalka playing all these games not to jump ahead to ebugs and

three goalies and stuff like that we can we can sort of pull on that thread later but you know kudos to the Utah mammoth being one of the teams that started their practice goalie last year and managed it in a way that allowed Vamelka to avoid a lot of the reps in practice that wear a goalie out and contribute to the fatigue and this trend towards playing less. Like if you're playing an entire game in practice, that's one less you get during the regular season. And they had a practice goalie and they used him purposely, very purposely last year,

to negate some of the wear and tear that other guys are on the league ultimately have to go through. I love the idea that I told you as your homework today that we're going to talk about goalies. We're excited to watch the season. And then you had ebugs on your list of goalies. You're excited to watch the season. So maybe we can say that for that.

You can shout out some of your favorites. I won't be shouting out favorites. But I do think there is a discrepancy. I'm seeing it already in terms of how teams are approaching this. That I think is going to be worth noting as the season goes on. And again, it won't be as difficult a season from a load management standpoint because it's not as condensed as last year. but some teams are treating it as very much a tool for them to rest guys

and some teams frankly appear like they don't even really want one. So we can revisit that as it goes. Well, and COSA is a 6-6 freak, but they also have Michael Harabo in the system and he's making his jump to pro hockey. He got a taste at the end of last year, but he had dominated the NCAA player really. And so that's more of a down-the-line projection.

He's still only 21 and it'll take some time. but it's interesting to kind of all these pieces in Utah and how excited we are about their long-term trajectory and what the goalie situation is going to look like by the time they ultimately achieve that peak. Okay, so I guess we're giving you COSA as your shout out here. Let's go with a goalie from that draft class who finally got his opportunity full-time last year,

and he's already broken out, but I wasn't necessarily viewing this list as like guys who are technically breaking out, but just guys who I think are going to have extra opportunity. And that's Jesper Walsden. Right. 45 combined games last year between the regular season and playoffs. He makes 2 million this year and then he's in arbitration eligible RFA that's going to get paid pretty sizably next summer.

Yep. Philip Gustafson is starting his 6.8 times 5 extension this season and gets paid a lot up front in the first two years, including a full no move clause. yet he's out for at least the first month or two while recovering from hip surgery they bring in Calvin Pickard to be the backup but I imagine we're going to see a lot of Esper Walsstead and they made their intentions pretty clear I think after I remember at the start of the playoffs

you were tasked with breaking down the goalies and their strengths and weaknesses ahead of round one and you were pretty undecided in terms of which way they were going to go and I think you profiled both guys and they just ran with Walsstead and gave him the net and he performed well, especially in that Dallas series. Now, the reason why I find this interesting

beyond like he had a really good year, he's top 10 in the Vezna Oz, he's going to be playing behind a good team again this year and playing a lot is, and this is a big if at this point as we're recording, but if Quinn Hughes is going to be there for more than just this coming season and that's going to come with a contract extension

around 20 million or whatever, there's just no universe in which they can justify the luxury of keeping both Gustafsson and Walsed, especially with Walsed's next deal coming up as well. And so if they're keeping him, we can talk about a Gustafsson trade when that happens in the future. They'll need him to get healthy first. But for now, like Walshead is going to get the lion's share of the starts,

which he got for stretches last year, but not really full time in the regular season. And so similar what we just said about Jekreys, I think that comes with a certain level of, expectations, especially for a team that while Hughes is there, is trying to compete for a Stanley Cup and build off of last year. And he's just going to have to not only repeat what he did last season, but now do it more frequently playing like two out of every three games or whatever. And so I think that makes him a really interesting goalie heading into the season. Okay. So there's a number

of different things we can go there. Like, first off, that is a really, that's a goalie friendly environment, right? Like, that's a place where goalies want to play. I actually think Calvin Pickard will have success there early on. because the game is somewhat predictable. He reads it so well. The environment, if it's similar to what both Walsstead and Gustafson had last year, if it's similar this season, like two of the highest expected say percentages in the league, you know, that's more what Calvin Pickard had two years ago in Edmonton

compared to the tire fire he played behind in his starts this year. And we saw the success that he had two seasons ago. So I actually think that's a pretty astute pickup for them and then a chance for him to go down to the minor leagues when Gustafson is ready. and be a veteran guy. As far as Gustafson goes, if indeed they have to sell on him because of contract stipulations, as you know, if he if, and like as you said, a big if,

if Hughes resigns and the things get tight and Walshstead needs a deal, like the good news is presuming the injury doesn't change this pattern. Gustafson is due to have a really great year. and it's I can't explain it he's not the first guy to do this I point to Craig Anderson historically as another but like last year Gustafson relative to environment was like almost bang on league average just slightly below so in terms of how he played relative to the quality of shots he faced the year before he was like one of the best guys in the league and that pattern goes back like five years now alternating average seasons with incredible seasons now if your lows are league

average, that's actually really good, right? Like, that's not a criticism. That's, that's a feature, not a bug, as they like to say. But when he's on, like, his highs are so high the years he has in every second season, like, and again, who knows what a hip surgery does to this in terms of where he's at in his recovery and the work he's put in. But if that trend continues, man, like, that's the time to sell. And I don't think his contract is onerous. The one thing that, leaves you a little worrisome is just the big moment results haven't been there. Like Walsda, sorry, Gustafin's a guy who's going to get you there, right? Help you get to the playoffs.

But whether it's playoffs or international play, like in those really difficult moments, it just hasn't had the same level of results. And that's why I don't worry about Walshstead because he kind of has. Like his performance in the playoffs, yes, pressure changes expectations, change this year. I use the Merlin, an example in Ottawa already on this podcast. But the difference would be Esper Walsh had faced all those expectations and pressure as the number one starter in the playoffs. And he had no problem with them. Right. Like again, we don't get to see inside their heads. There are signposts along the way. We see what they do between the pipes. But between the ears,

it's all about sort of reading situations. Do they play their game? Do they start to play differently under pressure? Do things change? Sometimes even if the results aren't there, are they at least failing as themselves, or are they trying to make changes in pressure moments and they don't look anything like what they look like in the regular season? Like sometimes there's nothing you can do about it, but do they change? Walshstead sort of checked all the positive boxes there.

And so, you know, there's no guarantees. It is a small sample still for him. But if I was placing a bed on guys that I would expect to sort of handle all the extra pressure of the expectations he faces, this year. I think we've seen enough signs that he'll handle it just fine. I agree. I agree.

All right. We've got time for a couple more. Okay. Who do you want to talk about? Oh. Well, let's go old school here because of the opportunity and because it's an opportunity, again, to sort of go back to my first guy in Jacob Fowler and how it was other NHL goalies that, you know, sort of pointed me in this direction or in his direction.

or in his direction because of how high they were on him, Michael DiPietro was finally getting a shot. And, you know, I remember talking to Brandon Bussie about this last year as he was having his breakout with the Carolina Hurricanes. And Bussie's like, he should have been in the NHL last year. Should have been the NHL this year. Like he's ready for the NHL. We're finally going to get to see that, right?

Like they trade Eunice Corpusallo. Interestingly enough at the expense potentially of another guy I'm really high on who, you know, again, curious if he clears waivers, had a great tiny sample result at the end of last season. And that's Dylan Garan with the New York Rangers. The Rangers acquire Corpusallo, push Garan down to number three and in need of waivers so that the Boston Bruins getting rid of him to create space

because they don't think DiPetro is going to get through waivers yet again. So, you know, Mikey's a guy that I know from his time here in Vancouver. Actually, I think he went by Mikey here. I don't even think he does anymore. So Michael DiPietro is a guy. I know dating back to his draft and some time I spent in a video role, even when he was with hockey Canada, know him from some of the camps there in the summers.

Like I hard not to like this kid. As good a person as you'll find, his game has evolved. It was clear it was going to need to. It has, like a lot of goalies in Boston. He's found sort of his game and been able to sort of adapt it to what they want. Not a huge goaltender, but blessed with a ton of athletic. and I think he's sort of learned how to rein that in and play a more patient calmer game within that. Is it going to translate right away?

Like his boxed in a team like ever since they lost Bergeron, they lean heavy on goal tending. And that makes this a difficult assignment. Swayman was so good last year. So yeah, spelling him is not easy. There's a lot of pressure here, right? Michael's waited a long time for this opportunity. We don't cheer for teams. I always say this.

As a media person, we don't cheer for teams. cheer for good stories and great people. And D. Pietro checks both those boxes. I can't wait to see him in the National Hockey League this year. And my belief in is, even if there are some ups and downs early, if you give this kid a chance to sort of get his feet under him in comfort, he will deliver for you. 45 games of Providence last year. 930s, 8%, 34, 8, and 1 record with a 1.9 goals against. So, yeah, I'm excited.

He's earned it. And it should be fun. I, you know, Swayman was really, really good. And I think the raw numbers didn't even give them enough credit. No, they didn't. What a big bounce back area had with a normal training camp and process preparing after the down year prior. So, yeah, we'll see how that shakes out. I've got two others that were on my official list that we haven't gone to yet.

Then I had a couple honorable mentions we could rattle through. Throw them at me. I'll be quick. The first is, yeah, okay. Uh-huh. How you laugh. I'm familiar with the game. You can't fool me.

Joel Hofer. So 26 years old, he makes 3.4 million this year. Then he's an RFA after this season that coincides with Bennington's contract expiring. He's going to be a 34 year old UFA next summer. We already saw the changing of the guard, I thought, in the back half of last year, in terms of how they were distributing the starts, right? Like at the start, they were still going like 60, 40 or so in Bennington's favor. By the time we got to March and April when they made that spirited.

push as they do seemingly every year to get back into the playoffs it was like 75 25 in hofer's favor and he outplayed bittington last year there were some lows along the way particularly early in the year like he had a catastrophic first month of the season i think he's played like his four games he played in the first month he got pulled twice he had like a 780 say percentage or something and then the highs were really high um i've noted this stat previously and it's not an aberration for a goalie to have really good numbers in the games they win, but his were just insane. Like six of his 24 wins were shutouts.

He had like a 945 save percentage in those games, barely giving up over a goal against per game. And I imagine they're going to want to scale up his usage even further from the 46 games he played last year, even with Bennington still there for one more season. And I'm curious to see what that looks like because I thought the highs were genuinely special. And now he just needs to get that consistency,

I guess, which is true for any goalie trying to make this sort of a leap in their career. So I think he already kind of broke out last year, but like solidifying his role seems to be a theme for me with a lot of these goalies. Yeah. And then this will be an opportunity. You would think, again, it probably depends on Bennington as well. Really interesting to note, like he finished his top 20 and adjusted save percentage. If you, you know, take away the guys that just had a cup of coffee, right?

Minimum 250 chances against. He's right there 20th in the National Hockey League. Almost a goal every 100 shots, just barely behind Dustin Wolf, similarly had a brutal October, but was really good the rest of the way. The difference that I see is in environment a little bit. And I'd be interested to, if I had more time to sort of go look at the games that you really liked and see what that environment looked like then compared to earlier in the season, he finishes the year with an 894 expected, you know, which is up in the top portion of

the league. Jordan Bennington finished the year with an 880 expected. it. So with more playing time, with more opportunity, might come more tougher starts, more difficult assignments. Again, some of this, I think to your point is depending on the time of the year with the blues, with the blues, like their inconsistency in terms of how they played in front of their goaltenders is part of this equation. But that's a pretty wide swing between two guys on the same team, 14 point discrepancy. And so if you start giving hope for some of those, starts getting some of those tougher starts, is he able to, you know,

to sort of sustain the level at which he outplayed that environment as it worsens. And I think, you know, I'm not sure we're expecting them to be great this year. So that's certainly a possibility. Yeah, part of it is because they fell out of the race. They became a seller. So they traded really a couple veterans and then just started playing younger, better players in their place. And we're like, oh, all right.

Well, we should have just probably done this all along. But I think that's both pretty well heading into the season. And they did get healthier as the year went along. So I think that probably attest to some of that environment. environment change. We can't do this list without discussing this next goalie, the last guy on my official list. And I saved him for Alaska because I already know everything you're going to say about it, but we just can't do this list about including them. And that's, that's Yaroslav Ascarov. Like, I know what you're going to say about the lows, the questions on the technical

side, uh, on managing certain situations on being really high on Ned. And he outperformed him last year, particularly down the stretch when Ascarov's wheels just really fell off yet, you know, the Sharks are a team were really excited about looking to see if they can make that leap into the playoffs this year. They added a bunch of salary and even further young talent and players just getting better organically heading into this year. And, you know, you hope that the defensive environment is going to improve because it was a mess last year and the personnel you could only do so much with it.

So it might be kind of contingent on that, but I think they also just, you know, need him to be, I guess, more reliable is the term. And that's a challenge for every young goalie, because the athleticism and some of the highs are incredible. But the lows, as you saw really from like New Year on, were really bad. And I'm curious to see, I guess, what the start distribution looks like as well, right? Like they bring in your guy Eric Comrie.

They bring back a name from the past, Elias Hssonov, as well. I imagine it probably will just be Ascarov and Ned splitting the starts. but, you know, that's probably still going to come with at least 40 to 50 starts for Ascarov and how he does with Indos in a big year for him as well. He's an RFA next summer. It's going to be a big storyline for me to watch. Yeah, I'm curious too. Like, guys, I'm excited to watch. Absolutely put Ascar up on that list. You know, the Samsonov thing is really interesting to me because I know a little bit of

the backstory there. Like there's a guy who, you know, in Washington was resistant to change, right? I think people forget that when he came into the league, he was on that short list of the next great one from Russia. Like it was Schistairken, it was Sorokin, and it was Sampsonoff. And, you know, clearly he didn't get to the levels those guys have. And I know earlier in his time in Washington, there was a real resistance to doing things differently,

to adjusting his game. Kind of like, hey, like I, you know, we saw this with Jacob Markstrom when he was in Florida the first time, right? Like as a young goaltender, The goal of coaches there aren't stupid. They saw what needed to change. But when you're quote unquote, the best goalie, not in the NHL, when you're a guy who's being compared to Shastirkin and Seroquin,

like the way you did things worked for so long, it can be really difficult to get these, especially the high-end guys, high-end prospects, to buy into the fact that that might not work in the national hockey league. And when you look at Ascarov's strengths, he's so good along the ice when he's on his knees. he moves from his knees in the butterfly as well as some goalies move from their skates

but the reality is the game has changed and you talk to goalies around the league goalie coaches goalie directors like they all stress the importance of patience on the edges and so they tried last year at the beginning of the year to get him to narrow up his stance so that he could hold edges a little longer but I don't know that that's the strength of his game

and so this is where we talk about you know if I'm a GM, I avoid term because the game changes so fast that the strengths of a goalie might fit the game one year and four years later they don't. He's got some adjustments to make. I thought he did it at the beginning of last season. He kept his feet narrow. He kept them under him. And that's not an easy adjustment as a big goalie.

That ice feels like it's a long ways away. When you're narrow, you're inevitably further up and taller in your torso. It could be hard to get that buy in. By the end of the season, he looked more like he did a couple of years ago, lower, or wider, locked in, more prone to some of the attacks that take advantage of those types of of things. And so I don't know whether that was, hey, just a season wearing him down and some of the changes not sticking or whether that was a, you know, I want to go back to doing it my way. I genuinely don't know. I haven't asked that question as pointedly as I probably should.

But it sure looked like a bit of regression down the stretch. And as you've said, like some of that is just the team around him. You know, as you fatigue or as you feel pressure, it's that old golfers making a swing change. And they, you know, they're setting up to play a fade and they've made this swing change and it's good for their game. And all of a sudden they get into contention, back nine under pressure and the old swing comes back in your double cross.

Like under pressure, under fatigue, your old game tends to come back. And so has he put in the work? You know, is Samsonoff there to sort of, because Samsonoff right at the end in Washington and too late, finally started to buy into some of the things they were trying to tell him, needed to change. And he had this great late run.

And then he left for Toronto the next year. And so I wonder if there's any mentorship or any thoughts towards having that mentorship delivered. Like, hey, you've been great playing it this way. We might need you to think more seriously about making some changes. Because that way it just doesn't translate in today's NHL the way it did when you were drafted. And so probably putting too much emphasis on this because it's not his whole. game. It's not everything, but it's the one that stood out to me. And maybe that's a bias when I watch him. But I thought it looked really, it looked better at the beginning of the season. It looked

more familiar to seasons past by the end of it. And they're going to need him to probably keep making that adjustment, you know, if he's going to continue to climb. Because by the end of the season, yeah, it was a tough environment, but he finished, you know, 60th out of 71 goalies in terms of his performance relative to it. And obviously they're going to need better than that this season. If he's going to, you know, meantime, Alex and Dalkovich was well above expected last year. Like not hugely, but in a tough environment, he more than tread water for them. So, um, Ascarov's going to have to, there's work to do to sort of take away those

starts from Ned. Yeah, I believe his November was ridiculously good. And it was like, oh, okay, here we go. He's putting it together. And then from the new year on, he had an 865, say a percentage. his final 21 appearances. Yeah, and there's some professional stuff that, you know, like learning to be a pro. You know, I watched a couple of their practices here in Vancouver and there were some habits

there that like, man, changes like this don't come without work and they have to be daily. They have, you have to grind through them. And I'm not sure talking to people around it that that was as consistent as they would have like. So, you know, maybe other voices helped sort of him find that. So the couple honorable mentions I have, you already hit on a few of them earlier. I had Joseph Wool, you know, just to see if he stays healthy because I think the talent is there. And generally, being a rich target goalie, yeah, he is a great fit for that system.

Like his strengths in the way he's changed his game should fit beautifully if he can stay healthy in Philadelphia. Yep. I had Linus Almark on my list as well. I had Devon Cooley because I really enjoyed him last year. And I was coolie. I did video on Cooley recently because we're supposed to connect for a pro. read session, you know, early in camp here. And I kept talking about the numbers. Like, he had the best adjusted say percentage of any regular in the National Hockey League last year.

Like better than Logan Thompson, better than Scott Wedgwood, Sorokin. Hey, shout out Jake Allen, by the way, with six in that number for everybody that's, you know, nervous about New Jersey's goaltending situation. I don't think he realized just how good Jake was, even in a smaller sample. But I watched the video on Cooley. His explosiveness, the control within some of those explosive movements and his size, I'm not sure people realize how, like, just how good that combination is. Obviously, the numbers backed it up,

but when I watched it on video again just recently this week, I was just blown away. Like this, there's a reason teams are calling Calgary about him. He small sample, let's see if he repeats it. But, man, like from a late bloomer standpoint, he might, he might be one of the best examples we've seen of late. And, you know, what, two of the three guys atop the list I just mentioned, Logan Thompson, Devin Cooley would both sort of classify as that late bloomer.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to both him and Dustin Wolf's ability to just mess with Calgary's best laid tank plans. Best goal. Best goalie tandem in the National Hockey League last year. And what did that do for them? Yeah. Well, I think they still wish they were a little bit worse. That's what I mean.

That's the challenge, right? Um, you know, goalies I didn't have on my list despite being interested to see what happens with them this season. Because both they're veterans, but also you and I spoke about them a lot in detail last time or Jacob Markstrom in Florida. Um, Sergey Babrovsky in Toronto, Connor Hellebuck, TBD, uh, who is still somehow the betting favorite for the Vezna, despite the fact that we don't know when if or for who he's going to be. playing this season? And most importantly, people get sick of me hearing this for me, but like, what's the environment? Like, like, again, Connor Hellebuck will be a great goaltender regardless of where he plays. But if you want to get the best out of him, you better have a very specific environment. It's the same of every goalie, but him, like, it's not to the extreme, but it almost

is. Like, there's things he does that if you put him in the right environment, it takes a guy who is, you know, arguably the best in the world and puts him at the end degree. But if you don't have that environment, you're probably not getting the best out of him. A couple things I did want to talk to you about on the way out. One was, you know, I included some rotations in my list. We mentioned the potential for Montreal, for example. I think what Buffalo does is going to be interesting to watch New Jersey as well as you mentioned, like some of these just splits, especially now in a 484 game season to see what

that looks like and how teams operate. I think it'll be interesting. So Nico Dawes is another fascinating name. As good as Jake Allen was. And again, like I got to stress. Like we did our Vezna breakdown at Ingoal sort of using these numbers. It's like, hey, like Jake Allen should, you know, with more games should be in this conversation. So can he repeat it?

And then Dawes, Dawes has always had this ability to make the tough stuff, like make the difficult saves. He's been undone, tiny sample last year, but it was the first year where his numbers weren't completely caved in by bad goals, low percentage goals. He was basically giving up a low percentage goal every second game up until that point. They disappeared last year. If he can keep that up, he's always been good on the tough stuff. If he can get rid of the low percentage goals like he seemed to last year, if there's something that they've done or he's done or something that's made him more comfortable,

he's a guy that could have some really good success this year because he's, like I said, he's always managed the tough stuff. Well, it's just, it's really hard. Like we've talked about what it does to a bench. There's numbers like you lose 87% of the games. Your goal gives up a low percentage goal unless the other guy gives up one, two, like things like that. Like you can't survive one every two games.

If he's eliminated the bad goals, his ability on the tough stuff, there's a guy that could have a nice breakout as well. Now listen, I'm not saying this just because you're regular on the show. But everybody can have a breakout? What did I talk about? No, well, yeah, there's that. But I do genuinely view you as the best goalie analyst in the game. And that's why I try to have you on as often as I can to talk about the position.

How do you feel, though, speaking of devil's goalies about their prospect coming potentially for your crown as the best goalie analyst? Did you see the website he put out there, Yigarov, and his breakdown of his own play at BU? Because I thought that was fascinating. And I really hope we get to a point where he's good enough in his development to come to the NHL and that he's doing breakdowns at the NHL level and putting all the stuff people like myself are doing using the public down. out of shame because he's like hand tracking all of his own stuff and has all rebound stats and things like that exactly so so what's he doing like what's he really doing like he's basically for himself like this is this is the issue it requires hand tracking it requires you know the ability to sort of look at all these different categories and so i i you're right i

absolutely admire him for doing it um it's why i trust clear site analytics so much because that's what they do like a lot of the stuff that he's doing there are stuff that i have access to tracked into objectively and manually being the keyword. You know, is there anything that's perfect? No. But when I talk to teams around the league about some of the other systems that are relying on video and using other methods to sort of establish, you know, there's a degree of inaccuracy.

And not forget the stats because they're brilliant people creating the numbers. But the actual events being measured properly is an issue for a lot of it. So kudos to him, absolutely. I did find it interesting to watch everyone lose their mind. And I get it because he's a goalie. But to watch everyone lose their minds. And I basically pull up a website and look at similar stats. And I still question to this day.

I'm like, why isn't every NHL team looking at the same stats? In part because they're just not willing to spend the money. All jokes aside, if he ever chooses to do so, and it seems like he doesn't want to based on my chat with him, but I think Scott Wedgwood, when it's playing days or over can become the best goalie analyst in the game because when I had him on the show,

he was remarkable and I knew he would be. I told you. People who know him and you yourself vouch for him. He's so good. I love that as part of the chat, I had a section where I was like, so I solicited questions from our pal Kevin Woodley and he like instantly sat up in his chair

and was like, all right, here we go. And he knew what was coming. So you know what? Like I hope he has that last year, and I believe like, I mean, the level he plays. play that expecting it to continue for any goal it would be difficult one year over the next it was that good like repeating that is hard for the best in the history of the game but i hope it's and i believe

it can be part because of how well he thinks the game part of an ongoing upward trend because i want him to play for a long time because to your point as soon as he's done so am i i haven't got a chance as soon as that guy turns to media he's so good at what he does and he thinks it so well no he says he doesn't want to i'm sure he's going to be a coach or something um so we'll see how it goes but yeah he was phenomenal. All right, buddy, well, you're phenomenal as well. This was awesome to catch up with you. Feeling much more prepared for goalies this season. I'll let you promote some stuff on the way out because you've got a new podcast venture of your own cheating on me here and doing your own thing. So I'll let you tell the listeners a little about that and where they can

check you out for more of your takes. Oh, I had to pay some bills. I'm really honored that John Shannon asked me to be the co-host sliding into the chair that Landon Ferraro vacated on 100% Canucks. So obviously a lot more Canucks. focused on that one, although much to John Chagrin, I will work in the odd goalie take as well. And then Ingole mag, that's the main one, right? That's where the focus lies. If you're a goalie, if you're a goalie parent, especially if you're a goalie parent, if you're a goalie coach, there is no better resource online. Thanks to the generosity of people like Scott Wedgwood, like Alex Nadelcovic, all these goleys that Devin Kooley, that give us their time to watch

video with us and help explain how they see and break down the game, knowing that it will help the next generation of goaltenders, as Mitch Corrin would say, connect the patterns of goaltending. It's not a game of shots, as Mitch says, it's a game of patterns. And we have unprecedented video and access to NHL guys that will help you as a goaltender, whether it's beer league, junior, college, coming up as a youngster, connect those same dots and figure out how to read and anticipate the game at a higher level. We have, we're up close to 400 of those videos, Dimitri,

with over 40 goaltenders, including the Connor Hela Bucks, Thatcher Demco's like big names around the game. Carrie Price headed into the Hall of Fame. So, yeah, I would highly encourage selfishly that people go check that out. Subscription. Price is actually going up in a month and a half. It's only $50 Canadian right now.

I think that's two cups of coffee in the States. We will give you access to unbelievable. of a goal tending knowledge for that money. All right, buddy. Well, looking forward to all of your coverage of goalies this season and having you back on once the games get going, maybe we can revisit this list and see who's living up to the hype and who's let us down. I'm sure your list of guys letting you down is going to be very low because you're going

to tell me that their expected say percentage is actually 725 and they're outperforming it. Hey, I'm honest. I'm honest when I miss. No, you are. You are. Then I just blame volatility. You're the best in the business. Keep up the great work.

Okay, that is all for today. If you want to make sure you're getting to listen to all the shows we're doing this season, I highly recommend subscribing to the PDOCAST Patreon page. Our Patreon subscribers will be getting access to every single episode we do this year, and they'll be getting the ad-free version of all the shows who record on that feed as soon as we're done recording them. So there's no more waiting around for new shows to drop pretty much as soon as I'm done recording. I'll be getting it out for you to listen and enjoy.

in a very timely manner. We've got a lot of really fun stuff on that feed already. Last week we had Shana Goldman on right after the new CBA kicked in. The two of us broke down all of the contract extensions we saw around the league. We also had John Mattis on, and he helped me preview the Atlantic Division by working our way through the biggest questions we have for all eight of the teams in the Atlantic heading into the year, and we're going to keep the shows coming, especially now with the start of the NHL regular season only a week or so away,

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