G Spencer Martin - San Antonio Rampage, AHL (2013, 63rd, COL)

[shello]

Definitely my favorite goalie for this years draft (just ahead of Fucale), planning on catching a few more Stealheads games this year to see him play more than I did last year, and his minor midget year. I think a possible first round selection is possible but 2nd round more likely. What do you guys think?


Catches: Right
HT: 6.02"
WT: 186
Birthdate: 1995-06-08
Birthplace: Oakville, ON

Season Team GP GAA W L T Pct
11/12 Mississauga St Michael Majors 15 3.98 2 7 1 0.885

Click to read more...

 

[Aaron Vickers]

Not a lot of buzz for him which is surprising given his hot start. Won seven of eight games alone in November, allowing just 15 goals. He's near the top of the OHL in most of the statistical categories.

We've named him our inaugural goaltender of the month

Future Considerations announced today that Spencer Martin of the Mississauga Steelheads has been named draft eligible Goaltender of the Month for October.

http://futureconsiderations.ca/martin-named-fcs-goaltender-of-the-month/

I'm sure we'll hear more buzz about him as the season goes on. He's had a terrific start to his draft season.

 

[shello]

Surprisingly still really underrated so far, like you said once the season gets older he's going to take people by storm and surprise a few. Been incredible this season, one of the main reasons why the Steelheads aren't around the bottom of the OHL standings. Been back and forth between 1st and 2nd in GAA for the league for a little bit now.

 

[Guy Flaming]

We talked to him recently.

 

[member 147413]

I'd take him over Fucale without any hesitation, frankly I've always thought Fucale as overrated.

 

[shello]

I'd take him over Fucale without any hesitation, frankly I've always thought Fucale as overrated.

If he keeps this up which I think he will I would too. Fucale is the best goalie for the draft right now but by not as much as people think.

 

[shello]

Figured I'd bump this thread considering the season is a little over and more people have seen play.

He's cooled down recently compared to his hot start carrying the team, but that's expected from a young goalie.

 

[NHL Fanatic]

He has had a really strong first half. Although he cooled down a bit towards the end he still has one of the best numbers for draft eligible goalies. Other than some rebound control issues he's been solid.

 

[johna2626]

His statline this year in San Antonio:

18 GP, 2.31 GAA, 11 wins, 0.924 SV%, 1 Shutout.

Pretty good numbers this year, and has continued to improve every season since being drafted in 2013.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Epic bump but glad to see it. Martin has been very solid in the AHL and the roster in front of him hasn't been exactly stellar either.

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Never thought I'd see someone bump this old thread but good to see. Martin deserves recognition and is certainly a fine prospect at 21 years old. He's a rock for the Rampage.

 

[Foppa]

Martin is why I am ok with the Avs dealing Pickard and not Varlamov if they can maximize return of assets better in that way.

 

[johna2626]

Epic bump but glad to see it. Martin has been very solid in the AHL and the roster in front of him hasn't been exactly stellar either.

Never thought I'd see someone bump this old thread but good to see. Martin deserves recognition and is certainly a fine prospect at 21 years old. He's a rock for the Rampage.

Had to double check to make sure this was the correct Spencer Martin LOL

 

[TheKingSlayer]

Martin is why I am ok with the Avs dealing Pickard and not Varlamov if they can maximize return of assets better in that way.

Neither are likely to return significant assets with the goalie market saturated with mediocre starters like Varly and Pickard.

On a more related note - always nice to see a good ol Canadian boy developing well.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

Neither are likely to return significant assets with the goalie market saturated with mediocre starters like Varly and Pickard.

On a more related note - always nice to see a good ol Canadian boy developing well.

Now, now, now, being the 12th goalie among NHL starters in QS% is average, not mediocre. I'll agree with you on Pickard for now.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

Anyways I'm very happy this has been bumped as Spencer Martin hasn't been given any sort of looks from the notable prospect circles. He's a for sure Top 10 goalie at the AHL level and borderline top 5 goalie in the AHL right now. I've been a big fan of Martin since his draft year+2 where he pretty much was the Mississauga Steelheads (his head coach at the time even said Martin was the only reason the Steelheads had a chance at the playoffs). Of course Martin was injured in Decemeber (ACL) and the Steelheads tanked to the bottom of the OHL.

Then it came to the transition from Major Junior to Pro hockey (Just ask Halverson, Demko, Nedeljkovic, Blackwood). If you've been following the rookie goalies that enter the AHL you can see the transition can be rough, especially if you are 20/21yo. This is where it got weird for Martin. Obviously Pickard/Will were ahead of him on the depth chart and took the two AHL spots which left Martin in the ECHL. In the ECHL results were mixed, he wasn't given a lot of playing time and his play was inconsistent when he finally did get some playing time.

When Martin was called up to the AHL though he did very well. Posted two Quality Starts out of three starts in his first call up. Then at the end of the season Martin went on quite the tear posting 4 out of 4 Quality Starts, four wins, two shutouts and all of this against Grand Rapids x2/Bakersfield/Texas. Martin ended his first pro season as the third best rookie goalie in the AHL behind Carruth and Saros positing a 0.57 QS% and a 5.45 GSAA.

This year Martin was supposed to be eased into the starting position in San Antonio behind an excellent AHL goalie in Jeremy Smith. Smith was injured and Martin ran with the starting position to the top of the AHL. Still a lot of season to go so there's a chance Martin could falter but with Smith back in the line-up any bumps Martin has will be eased along by Jeremy Smith. My only wish this season is that Martin gets at least one NHL start as he's the only goalie out of the six goalies the Avs had in training camp to not play at least one minute in a NHL exhibition game.

Also (two of the Avs board mods can verify this) at least one of the Vegas scouts view Spencer Martin as a Top 10 goalie prospect and is disappointed that Martin isn't available for the expansion draft.

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Martin will start his first NHL game tonight.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I'm not sure why Martin is virtually ignored among the other top goalie prospects playing pro. He was selected to the AHL ASG and is making his NHL debut tonight. Very excited to see him.

 

[Foppberg]

I'm not sure why Martin is virtually ignored among the other top goalie prospects playing pro. He was selected to the AHL ASG and is making his NHL debut tonight. Very excited to see him.

He's Avs property that's why even our best players don't get the recognition they deserve until they go to bigger/Eastern markets.

 

[member 147413]

I'd take him over Fucale without any hesitation, frankly I've always thought Fucale as overrated.

Cool! A hindsight post where I don't look like an idiot hahahah

Not surprised by Martin though. He's smart and puts in work.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

How Martin's debut went last night for those curious...

That was about as positive as a debut from a 21yo goalie in their 2nd pro season as you can get in the circumstances. Something I noticed as the game wore on was Martin adjusting to the speed of the game. After the first period I said that Martin was just primarily focused on stopping pucks with not much emphasis on where he was putting the rebounds. As the game wore on we could see Martin getting possession of the puck more often. By the time we were in the last half of the 3rd period he was doing really well getting control of pucks and not giving the Sharks extra offensive opportunities. I also thought the guys in front of Martin did well to step up in front of him which helped him slow the game down.

Also as many of you noticed Martin is more aggressive in his crease depth than pretty much every other NHL goalie. It's a little funny to see him like that when barely an hour earlier I just finished watching Windsor/Niagara and Niagara goalie Stephen Dhillon liked to get very aggressive as well. This aggressive crease depth from Martin will be interesting. Martin can keep being aggressive but he'll have to learn to adjust in-game when teams start realizing what he's doing and take advantage of it by making him commit to the shot and pass it for an open net. The plus side though is his speed can mitigate whatever issues this aggressive challenging may bring up.

If the Avs had to run a Varly/Martin tandem it would be the quickest tandem in the league. I'm not sure how much of Martin's game was pure adrenaline but he was moving out there. Whether it was dropping to his knees, moving across the crease or going into the reverse-VH Martin had only one speed and it was quick. Obviously Martin isn't going to reach Varly's top end speed but something you can see is that Allaire/JIF influence already where Martin isn't losing his positioning like a younger Varly did when making those quick movements.

This game was also the type of puck handling game that we'll see from him for the rest of his career. 20% of the time Martin will make a great stretch pass or just a good decision with the puck. 60% of the time Martin will make the right decision with the puck by either covering it or just settling it down. The other 20% will be Martin misplaying the puck which leads to at least a scoring chance or a goal. This game we saw a scoring chance from Martin misplaying the puck behind the net in the 3rd. I don't view Martin missing the puck on the play that lead to the 2nd goal as misplaying the puck. Goalies miss the puck tons of time. Martin did get back into the net on time and in position.

One part of Martin's game we saw small pieces of was his "battle" mentality. One big positive about Pickard is how he battles for the puck and wins during scrambles. Martin was never really in one of those situations during the game. Martin did fight through screens (quite literally moving players out of the way) in order to track the puck and make sure there wasn't a cross ice pass that he was behind on.

All-in-all this game was a positive for Martin. This was probably the best start we've seen from a 21yo rookie goalie in the Avs organization in a while (Small sample size but it sounds good right?). I'm happy that the coaching staff is looking to give Martin more starts and will not relegate him to the bench for a long period of time. Now is a good time for Martin to learn what works or doesn't work at the NHL level. This is an important first step and I can't help but feel happy for the guy despite the outcome for the game.

 

[Raymoondo]

I remember he was my favourite player on my favourite OHL team when I was in high school in Mississauga. Really nice guy, gave me an autograph with a smile on his face even though he looked really tired. Really glad to see him have success for my second favourite NHL team

 

[Curufinwe]

He's Avs property that's why even our best players don't get the recognition they deserve until they go to bigger/Eastern markets.

I don't think Stolarz got any more press outside of Philly last year when he made the AHL ASG as a 21 year old.

 

[S E P H]

 

[lakai17]

How on earth does a ahl team get 68 shots on net in regulation?

Either way congrats to Spencer!