G Gabriel D'Aigle - Victoriaville Tigres, QMJHL (2025 Draft)

[Number 57]

He doesn't seem to be considered a potential 1st rounder anymore?

 

[Wintersun]

He doesn't seem to be considered a potential 1st rounder anymore?

Potential and tools are still there, but seems like he's hit a bit of a wall in development for now. We'll see how he faces this adversity.

 

[MNRube]

He doesn't seem to be considered a potential 1st rounder anymore?

Somebody needs to tell the people from NHL franchise mode, because they seem to think he’s the next Patrick Roy

 

[Dirtyf1ghter]

I stopped believing in him. He has the size, he worked a lot before arriving in Q thanks to excellent supervision but he did not take the step. The 2025 draft is still far away but he is still not No. 1 on his team. He is far from the best CHL goalies born in 2006. We can forget the first one. He's not a goalie like Knight, Askarov or Wallstedt. He's too late. Perhaps he will manage to fill it after the 2025 draft but his development does not indicate this path.

 

[Wintersun]

I stopped believing in him. He has the size, he worked a lot before arriving in Q thanks to excellent supervision but he did not take the step. The 2025 draft is still far away but he is still not No. 1 on his team. He is far from the best CHL goalies born in 2006. We can forget the first one. He's not a goalie like Knight, Askarov or Wallstedt. He's too late. Perhaps he will manage to fill it after the 2025 draft but his development does not indicate this path.

He is on the team with the best goalie in the Q. Not surprising he isn't the #1. I would not be surprised to see him traded actually, and then we'll have a better read.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Massive regression statistically from D'Aigle

 

[Hinterland]

Massive regression statistically from D'Aigle

While development is never linear...especially when talking about goalies...I never was all that high on this kid. He's gonna get drafted but he's definitely gonna be more of a project than other goalies available. There's lots of upside but he was never gonna be the top goalie of his draft year...as many thought he'd be.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

While development is never linear...especially when talking about goalies...I never was all that high on this kid. He's gonna get drafted but he's definitely gonna be more of a project than other goalies available. There's lots of upside but he was never gonna be the top goalie of his draft year...as many thought he'd be.

Like any promising future draft eligible prospect, we expect them to make progressions year by year. But as we know, that doesn't always happen.

 

[Hinterland]

Like any promising future draft eligible prospect, we expect them to make progressions year by year. But as we know, that doesn't always happen.

Depends on your expectations I guess. If you had him as the top goalie of his class then I guess you're disappointed. I'm not really disappointed. On the plus side, I'm not really worried about him either. He's gonna bounce back next season. He's gonna have to show some kind of improvement at some point next season if he wants to avoid falling like a rock. I think he will improve though. He'll be fine. But even if he doesn't I guess he's gonna get drafted anyway.

The problems with him are real though. He does get treated very well in Victoriaville. They give him a fair amount of starts despite his struggles and they give him the easier starts. You can also tell that his teammates are trying extra hard to give him goal support and boxing opponents out. Still, D'Aigle has all sort of problems keeping things together most nights. He has zero confidence and can't seem to track the puck well. A game vs the Titan mid January was a pretty good summary of his season. Titan had zero business being in this game but somehow got a point thanks to D'Aigle. Victoriaville came out as hot as it gets, dominated the Titan completely. They were in cruise control, scored four goals in period 1 while allowing just two shots on D'Aigle. In period 2 however, D'Aigle invited the Titan back into the game with two soft goals and he gave up another soft one late in the 3rd. Victoriaville still won but D'Aigle needed a support of 8 goals from his teammates for the OT win.

I noticed this from other teams as well. When facing D'Aigle they seem to be more willing to shoot from far out or from bad angles knowing that he doesn't track the puck well and is likely to crack eventually. Still, D'Aigle doesn't see a lot of rubber most nights which is really only due to the remarkable work of his team. Sometimes I wonder though if facing more shots would actually help him. Maybe facing just two shots in period 1 of the game mentioned above didn't really help his concentration.

 

[Dirtyf1ghter]

In QMAAA, he was very prepared and physically exceptional. Confidence in him must have been lost. Bad in Q, bad in the U17 tournament, bad in the U18 tournament, bad in HG, he's bad that's all. He was simply overrated. Two U16 goalkeepers far surpass his QMAAA statistics and a 3rd Patrick Deniger, praised by Alexis Joseph in an interview, is on his bases.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

In QMAAA, he was very prepared and physically exceptional. Confidence in him must have been lost. Bad in Q, bad in the U17 tournament, bad in the U18 tournament, bad in HG, he's bad that's all. He was simply overrated. Two U16 goalkeepers far surpass his QMAAA statistics and a 3rd Patrick Deniger, praised by Alexis Joseph in an interview, is on his bases.

Yeah, I think this is spot on. Goaltending is pretty easy to scout. Look for the goalies that stop pucks at a high rate pre-NHL. The shooters are not that good. If you are good, you’ll stop a lot of shots. Some of them do so year after year. Those are usually the ones who continue it on into the NHL.

People overcomplicate this stuff. Being 6’5 215 doesn’t matter if you stop 89% of the shots.

 

[Hinterland]

Yeah, I think this is spot on. Goaltending is pretty easy to scout. Look for the goalies that stop pucks at a high rate pre-NHL. The shooters are not that good. If you are good, you’ll stop a lot of shots. Some of them do so year after year. Those are usually the ones who continue it on into the NHL.

People overcomplicate this stuff. Being 6’5 215 doesn’t matter if you stop 89% of the shots.

I disagree. I'm not a scout but I don't think goalies are easy to project. With goalies, a lot is decided between the ears. Especially nowadays where some of the 6'5 kids are moving just as well as the 5'10 kids.

As a goalie you need to be able to focus for full games, track the puck well no matter if you're peppered with shots or barely see any rubber. You also need high confidence and short memory, especially after goals against. You need positional awareness as well. If you keep on losing your net you're no good. That's especially true for smaller goalies. The better your positioning, the less you're in scrambling mode, the better you're prepared for shots.

Finally, the NHL is nothing like college or junior leagues because the workrate is much different. Much tougher schedule and the shooters are much better as well. So that makes it even tougher than before to not just bring it for full games but for every game of the season.

There's just a lot of mental work that goes into this. Lots of different things for goalies to learn and deal with. Some things are also very tough to maintain so there's always gonna be up and downs. Spencer Knight is a good example. Even the most promising goalie prosprect can suddenly run into problems of something is bothering him mentally.

As a skater you have to be mentally ready as well and it's gonna be tough to stay in the NHL if you're not but the mental requirements for goalies are definitely on another level. And I just think that scouting what's between the ears is very tough. You can see the result on the ice but you'd probably have to see what's going on inside a prospect to judge how solid he is mentally, how he'd deal with adversity etc.

I think that development is never linear and that's particularly true for goalies.

So I may never have been all that high on D'Aigle but I also think it's way too early to write him off now just because he's trending in the wrong direction. A bit of confidence, improved focus during games and a shorter memory could already be enough to turn the ship around. He's big and fairly mobile, a solid athlete so it's really all between the ears for him.

 

[Dirtyf1ghter]

I don't buy the size argument.

I don't understand why NHL franchises continue to cling to tall goalies who are worse than smaller ones when NHL lacks good goalies.

These smaller goalkeepers end up in the European leagues. KHL is full of small goalies who put up better stats than the big ones.

A goalie like Juha Metsola hasn't played a single NHL game and he's not the best I mentioned among the small goalies. I am convinced that throughout his prime he will have been in the 64 best goalkeepers in the world.

It's discrimination. If you're good, you're good. If you're 180cm tall and you're better than a 195cm goalie in the SHL or KHL, he'll be better in the NHL.

Concerning D'Aigle, he is very far from 89% anyway.

 

[Hinterland]

I don't buy the size argument.

I don't understand why NHL franchises continue to cling to tall goalies who are worse than smaller ones when NHL lacks good goalies.

These smaller goalkeepers end up in the European leagues. KHL is full of small goalies who put up better stats than the big ones.

A goalie like Juha Metsola hasn't played a single NHL game and he's not the best I mentioned among the small goalies. I am convinced that throughout his prime he will have been in the 64 best goalkeepers in the world.

It's discrimination. If you're good, you're good. If you're 180cm tall and you're better than a 195cm goalie in the SHL or KHL, he'll be better in the NHL.

Concerning D'Aigle, he is very far from 89% anyway.

Yeah. Size isn't everything...as I said above I'm convinced the most important part for goalies is what happens between the ears. Still, size helps. Also, nowadays, even most of the bigger guys are phenomenal athletes and just as mobile as smaller guys. That wasn't really the case earlier. Smaller guys can still become top goalies but size definitely helps. You just cover more if you're big. Which is also a mental thing for skaters seeing less net. That's why NHL teams are eager to draft bigger guys.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I disagree. I'm not a scout but I don't think goalies are easy to project. With goalies, a lot is decided between the ears. Especially nowadays where some of the 6'5 kids are moving just as well as the 5'10 kids.

As a goalie you need to be able to focus for full games, track the puck well no matter if you're peppered with shots or barely see any rubber. You also need high confidence and short memory, especially after goals against. You need positional awareness as well. If you keep on losing your net you're no good. That's especially true for smaller goalies. The better your positioning, the less you're in scrambling mode, the better you're prepared for shots.

Finally, the NHL is nothing like college or junior leagues because the workrate is much different. Much tougher schedule and the shooters are much better as well. So that makes it even tougher than before to not just bring it for full games but for every game of the season.

There's just a lot of mental work that goes into this. Lots of different things for goalies to learn and deal with. Some things are also very tough to maintain so there's always gonna be up and downs. Spencer Knight is a good example. Even the most promising goalie prosprect can suddenly run into problems of something is bothering him mentally.

As a skater you have to be mentally ready as well and it's gonna be tough to stay in the NHL if you're not but the mental requirements for goalies are definitely on another level. And I just think that scouting what's between the ears is very tough. You can see the result on the ice but you'd probably have to see what's going on inside a prospect to judge how solid he is mentally, how he'd deal with adversity etc.

I think that development is never linear and that's particularly true for goalies.

So I may never have been all that high on D'Aigle but I also think it's way too early to write him off now just because he's trending in the wrong direction. A bit of confidence, improved focus during games and a shorter memory could already be enough to turn the ship around. He's big and fairly mobile, a solid athlete so it's really all between the ears for him.

I certainly don’t disagree that the position is more mental than any other.

I don’t disagree either that size is a plus. It cannot hurt. You take a 6’5 player with the same skillset as the 6’2 player. However, there just aren’t that many successful big goaltenders in the NHL. There are about as many successful goalies 6’5 and above as successful goalies 6’1 and below. That’s because there’s usually a sweet spot where a goaltender has a higher likelihood of having the skillset needed in all aspects of the game to succeed in the NHL (6’2-6’4). Bigger is not better if it doesn’t come with equal or better tools other than size.

As for D’Aigle, I won’t write him off, but the reality is that we’ve now seen two seasons of him against junior aged competition and he’s not performed well anywhere. I think he’s more talented than his numbers suggest and he could be a player who figures it out later on.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

I think at this age bigger goalies can get by because of size but as they go up a level their technical and athletic abilities become more and more important. If you are too slow moving in your crease or have poor technique then elite shooters will pick a goalie apart over time.

 

[wetcoast]

Yeah, I think this is spot on. Goaltending is pretty easy to scout. Look for the goalies that stop pucks at a high rate pre-NHL. The shooters are not that good. If you are good, you’ll stop a lot of shots. Some of them do so year after year. Those are usually the ones who continue it on into the NHL.

People overcomplicate this stuff. Being 6’5 215 doesn’t matter if you stop 89% of the shots.

I agree with this but projecting goalies for the NHL is alot harder than even Dmen and forwards are the easiest.