Leaf's Goaltenders: Drafting and Development

[Batrous]

The last goalie to play 100 games for Toronto whom they drafted and developed was Reimer in 2006. Since then of the goalie prospects they have drafted only a few of them have played with most of them only playing *a handful of games (Woll has only managed to play in 4 games but he has at least looked good in those games - the challenge with him seems to be injuries, Sparks and Bibeau were traded although Sparks did play in 37 games for Toronto).

So my question is: Is the bigger problem for Toronto when it comes to the goalie situation more to do with the team's development of goalies or their scouting/drafting of goalies?

*: Edit - sorry missed a word

Click to read more...

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Most likely a bit of both, but I think development more so than drafting.

I say that because we have goalies with solid profiles and weaknesses that get fixed by more successful goalie coaches, but ours never seem to get fixed.

We are not drafting goalies who have huge flaws.

 

[BlueBaron]

The last goalie to play 100 games for Toronto whom they drafted and developed was Reimer in 2006. Since then of the goalie prospects they have drafted only a few of them have played with most of them only playing *a handful of games (Woll has only managed to play in 4 games but he has at least looked good in those games - the challenge with him seems to be injuries, Sparks and Bibeau were traded although Sparks did play in 37 games for Toronto).

So my question is: Is the bigger problem for Toronto when it comes to the goalie situation more to do with the team's development of goalies or their scouting/drafting of goalies?

*: Edit - sorry missed a word

It feels like we don't take the position seriously. We never draft them high. It's a risky position but looking at what Andersen cost us and the current market it wouldn't hurt to invest in finding a goalie of the future.

It appears to have been identified as an issue so I'll watch and wait.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

It feels like we don't take the position seriously. We never draft them high. It's a risky position but looking at what Andersen cost us and the current market it wouldn't hurt to invest in finding a goalie of the future.

It appears to have been identified as an issue so I'll watch and wait.

I don't think drafting them high (or often) is necessarily the issue. After all, Jack Campbell was the highest drafted goalie playing in the playoffs this year, and other than Hart, I am not seeing many goalies I would take over the guys we ultimately selected with high picks in the last few years.

It is ultimately about drafting the right guys and having the staff to get the most out of them. There are usually not too many goalies worth drafting in any given year. Most are taken by the early 4th round, but a few slip through the cracks.

This year, the two headliners are (deservedly) Topias Leinonen and Tyler Brennan. Not the headliners that Oettenger, Cossa, Askarov, Wallstedt were in recent years, but guys who comfortably fit in that late 50's-early 70's range as a prospect and could be developed into something good. The Leafs would be wise to strongly consider either of them if they are available at 79.

Another one who is not mentioned at all is D+2 Nick Malik, who has been one of the best starters in the Liiga as a 20 year old. High end athleticism, solid size, needs some more technical refinement but has improved a lot over the past few years. Bonus: He played for the Soo, so I am sure Dubas knows a decent amount about him.

After that, it drops off a lot, and this is where smart drafting helps. Hugo Havelid and Sergei Ivanov have shown extremely well, but they are under 6'0". It is a risky proposition, but easily a risk you take in the 7th round, and some teams may even decide to take earlier. Reid Dyck has subpar numbers and was not a starter in the WHL despite playing on a weaker team, but has shown flashes of brilliance behind some very subpar teams. Another thing to consider: Given the weaker 04' (and even 05') goalie crop for Canada, you are looking at a guy who could very well be Canada's WJC starter again. With that comes national resources and big game opportunities; both are important for development. The same could apply for Czechia's Jan Spunar, although Michael Hrabal could steal opportunities from him. There may be a few other considerations (i.e. Niklas Kokko), but you are looking at about a dozen guys worth drafting this year.

The point of all of this is: Drafting Akhtyamov or Peksa or anyone else who doesn't have a profile, or drafting a guy earlier than they should be taken, does nothing to help our issue. Have patience, wait for the right guys, and then pounce when they are there. Those opportunities are going to be there for the taking. Worst case, there is nothing wrong with adding a few Petruzzelli or Cavallin projects. These guys can often be as good of bets as anyone.

 

[BackPassChampions]

Coaching may have had a impact here.

It's a shame we held on to Briere for as long as we did.

 

[Stephen]

I think it begins with poor amateur scouting and is exacerbated by poor development.

Over the past 20 years going back to even the Justin Pogge pick, we saw a string of big athletic goalies who didn't seem to have a strong technical game, ability to read plays but instead got by on spectacular reflexes, desperation saves and that street hockey mentality. Maybe they look for the pure athlete first and foremost and hope for the best, but I'm not sure.

Just look at the list of guys like James Reimer, Jonas Gustavsson, Jussi Rynnas, Garrett Sparks, they all just played kinda wild and inefficient, didn't quite get the Allaire program, didn't quite have the modern hybrid techniques.

 

[Menzinger]

Definitely a mix of both poor drafting and development.

Leafs were among the worst pro teams in terms of drafting and development in that 2000-14ish period. I think the development side of things started to get better under Shanahan but amateur scouting has remained questionable (still TBD under Dubas').

Though coaching seemingly has also been a problem. One of the teams few bright development success stories was Reimer, and I remember there was a bunch of media stories describing how he was frustrated with how the Leafs guys wanted to change his style/game.

The other problem is goalies are absolutely voodoo and I don't think any team has them fully understood. Most success stories often seem to be luck than anything else

 

[kerk]

ian scott is probably the best goalie prospect they've had and he's just run into terrible luck to the point where nobody's even sure if he's going to be able to play regularly again. woll has had some injury issues as well. i think it's a bit of drafting/development, but there's been some bad luck along the way as well.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Definitely a mix of both poor drafting and development.

Leafs were among the worst pro teams in terms of drafting and development in that 2000-14ish period. I think the development side of things started to get better under Shanahan but amateur scouting has remained questionable (still TBD under Dubas').

Though coaching seemingly has also been a problem. One of the teams few bright development success stories was Reimer, and I remember there was a bunch of media stories describing how he was frustrated with how the Leafs guys wanted to change his style/game.

The other problem is goalies are absolutely voodoo and I don't think any team has them fully understood. Most success stories often seem to be luck than anything else

I don't think it is as voodoo as it is made out to be now that I have looked at it. There are a few outliers, but a lot of the good guys were dominant.

 

[Lightsol]

The last goalie to play 100 games for Toronto whom they drafted and developed was Reimer in 2006. Since then of the goalie prospects they have drafted only a few of them have played with most of them only playing *a handful of games (Woll has only managed to play in 4 games but he has at least looked good in those games - the challenge with him seems to be injuries, Sparks and Bibeau were traded although Sparks did play in 37 games for Toronto).

So my question is: Is the bigger problem for Toronto when it comes to the goalie situation more to do with the team's development of goalies or their scouting/drafting of goalies?

*: Edit - sorry missed a word

If anything, it's bad luck. The Leafs have been spending picks on goalies. They've had goalies looking good during development, like Woll and Scott. Then... injuries and they're back to square one. It's just bad luck that you spend a pick a year on goalies (well, except for the mid-10's period), only to have the handful of goalies in that group who actually appear to be advancing get derailed by injuries, while the ones who don't advance are healthy.

 

[Buds17]

I'd deem the drafting to be problematic if the team just wasn't giving itself enough kicks at the can via selecting a suitable amount of goaltenders. Development might be the biggest issue though in a seven round draft (*dependent upon how many picks are ultimately retained or replaced each time around). While any team probably holds fancier hopes for the higher picks, it is nevertheless both great and ultimately necessary to extract some value from the later stages of the draft.

 

[makbeer]

The one goalie I wanted them to get was justus annunen in 2018 with the pick they used in the late 2nd to get durzi i believe.

that one kinda stung at the time.

 

[613Leafer]

Other than Rask, who we traded and who turned into a top 3-5 goalie from the last 15 years, Woll as an early 3rd rounder is the highest we've drafted a goalie since the mid 1990s.

Now I know some people will jump on and say "look at Lundqvist" or whoever drafted in the later rounds. Sure - but take a look at how many goalies get drafted in the late vs early rounds. You have about 20 goalies taken in each draft, with maybe ~2 being drafted in the first 45 picks (1st or early 2nd) and 1 of them becoming a starter, and then ~18 being drafted out of the remaining 5 and a half rounds. The odds of finding a Lundqvist, or even a Kuemper with the later picks are pretty terrible, even if due to the overall volume of picks used the league as a whole tends to draft a lot of starters with later picks.

So where we're willing to use picks is certainly having an impact. Though even beyond that, we must just be bad at the development side. Because we've drafted a bunch of goalies, signed a bunch of undrafted Euro/NCAA goalies, and in the last 30 years Reimer is easily the best goalie we've internally developed, and the 2nd best is probably Telqvist, which is a pathetic 1-2 punch for 30 years of work.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

I know I've posted about this many times but the Leafs management and scouting staff need to stop letting size get in the way of selecting good goalies.

I just took a look at how some of the goalies I liked from previous drafts are progressing and they are all doing pretty damn well since being drafted.

I wanted to draft Dustin Wolf in the late rounds in 2019. Since being drafted, he posted a .935sv% and then a .940sv% in junior. Then he put up a .924 in his first AHL season and a .927 in the playoffs.

In 2020 I wanted Dyland Garand. Mind you, he went a few spots before we could pick him where we had selected Ahktyamov. Since Garand was drafted he has posted a .921 and then a .925 in junior. Also had a .933 these playoffs.

In 2016 I wanted to take a late round flyer on Zach Sawchenko. He went on to be undrafted. Since then he's had a long journey but he's had decent numbers in Junior, college and the pro ranks. He appeared in 7 games for the Sharks this year and had a .901sv%.

All these guys had one thing in common and that was that they were considered "undersized" at around 6' or 6'1.

I dont think our scouting has been bad when it comes to our goalie prospects. I think some of the scouting profiles have looked great for some of our prospects. Woll and Scott both have great size, athleticism and technique. Ahktyamov same thing. I think our development staff has maybe failed them. Scott was looking great in Junior and then the few games he's played in pro but the poor kid's hips and groin just can't stay healthy. Woll should have way better numbers than what he has posted. Even though the Marlies defense has been brutal under Moore. He is a very big kid with excellent tools. Kallgren has good size and tools and doesn't have the numbers. I'm glad to see we are going in a different direction with the goalie coaching.

All I'm saying is that I wish we wouldn't overlook a goalie because he is maybe 2 inches shorter than what the league is looking for. Dustin Wolf would've been a hell of a lot better pick than Loponen in the 7th for example and would be our best goalie prospect.

 

[justashadowof]

If you break it down to the frequency of legitimate full time NHL starting goaltenders (7 plus years as an NHL starter), they come about once a decade or so for each organization.

As crazy as it seems the organization ain't that far off producing NHL starters. Since 1970, the Leafs have produced through the draft or amateur free agents the following:

Ron Low (1970): 382 NHL games
Mike Palmateer (1974): 356
Ken Wregget (1982): 575
Damien Rhodes (1987): 309
Felix Potvin (1991): 640
Tukka Rask (2005): 564
James Reimer (2006): 433

That's 3259 NHL appearances from just that list of 7 NHL goaltenders. There have been roughly 4000 games played per team since 1970.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Woll was a great pick .. big fast and athletic .. best 1 on 1 tender we got in system .. we will win most every shout out he is in da nets for .. but he is still lacking in positioning for odd man situations as he hunts pucks and gets himself out of position easily .. if we had a steady eddy Tampa type defense who boxes out forwards and does not give up a ton of 2 on 1s he would already advanced at Marlies and Leafs .. but we play da wrong type of offensive D which leads to issues for a tender like Woll .. you guys will all see this at some point in time .. no one can tell at this early stage of development if he can move closer to more of a Scott style tender .. but Scott has many issues 1 on 1 due to athletics/speed which will never get corrected .. to me you draft Will types and hope they develop .. or a real bright GM would build a D to accent his tenders strengths

 

[mydnyte]

The last goalie to play 100 games for Toronto whom they drafted and developed was Reimer in 2006. Since then of the goalie prospects they have drafted only a few of them have played with most of them only playing *a handful of games (Woll has only managed to play in 4 games but he has at least looked good in those games - the challenge with him seems to be injuries, Sparks and Bibeau were traded although Sparks did play in 37 games for Toronto).

So my question is: Is the bigger problem for Toronto when it comes to the goalie situation more to do with the team's development of goalies or their scouting/drafting of goalies?

*: Edit - sorry missed a word

our goaltending has been in the upper 3rd of the league since then, so, does it actually matter that much?
it would be nice to develop one, and cheaper, but, picks are better spend on F & D since they are the bulk of the team, and the most turned over.

 

[mydnyte]

I know I've posted about this many times but the Leafs management and scouting staff need to stop letting size get in the way of selecting good goalies.

I just took a look at how some of the goalies I liked from previous drafts are progressing and they are all doing pretty damn well since being drafted.

I wanted to draft Dustin Wolf in the late rounds in 2019. Since being drafted, he posted a .935sv% and then a .940sv% in junior. Then he put up a .924 in his first AHL season and a .927 in the playoffs.

In 2020 I wanted Dyland Garand. Mind you, he went a few spots before we could pick him where we had selected Ahktyamov. Since Garand was drafted he has posted a .921 and then a .925 in junior. Also had a .933 these playoffs.

In 2016 I wanted to take a late round flyer on Zach Sawchenko. He went on to be undrafted. Since then he's had a long journey but he's had decent numbers in Junior, college and the pro ranks. He appeared in 7 games for the Sharks this year and had a .901sv%.

All these guys had one thing in common and that was that they were considered "undersized" at around 6' or 6'1.

I dont think our scouting has been bad when it comes to our goalie prospects. I think some of the scouting profiles have looked great for some of our prospects. Woll and Scott both have great size, athleticism and technique. Ahktyamov same thing. I think our development staff has maybe failed them. Scott was looking great in Junior and then the few games he's played in pro but the poor kid's hips and groin just can't stay healthy. Woll should have way better numbers than what he has posted. Even though the Marlies defense has been brutal under Moore. He is a very big kid with excellent tools. Kallgren has good size and tools and doesn't have the numbers. I'm glad to see we are going in a different direction with the goalie coaching.

All I'm saying is that I wish we wouldn't overlook a goalie because he is maybe 2 inches shorter than what the league is looking for. Dustin Wolf would've been a hell of a lot better pick than Loponen in the 7th for example and would be our best goalie prospect.

well, we drafted Peska who posted .936 in 56 games and .919 in 13 playoff games, so, there is him, and he is 6'2"

Scott's been basically injured since we drafted him, i really dont trust Woll's hockey sense, he looks like he has trouble following the play to me.
cant really comment about development before they get to the Leafs farm team, or out of their countries, as they are really being developed by the teams they play for.

 

[The Iceman]

Since 2005, the goalies the Leafs have drafted are:

• Tuukka Rask, Round 1, 2005
• James Reimer, Round 4, 2006
• Grant Rollheiser, Round 6, 2008
• Garret Sparks, Round 7, 2011
• Antoine Bibeau, Round 6, 2013
• Joseph Woll, Round 3, 2016
• Ian Scott, Round 4, 2017
• Zachary Bouthillier, Round 7, 2018
• Artur Akhtyamov, Round 4, 2020
• Vyacheslav Peksa, Round 6 2021

That’s just 10 goalies picked in the last 17 drafts.

Only three teams have drafted fewer total goalies since 2005. Montreal and Pitt who drafted a franchise goalie and Boston...YUP we drafted their franchise goalie for them.

Leafs own 3 draft picks. Are they going to spend one on a goalie?
Probably not.

 

[diehardleafsfan9878]

well, we drafted Peska who posted .936 in 56 games and .919 in 13 playoff games, so, there is him, and he is 6'2"

Scott's been basically injured since we drafted him, i really dont trust Woll's hockey sense, he looks like he has trouble following the play to me.
cant really comment about development before they get to the Leafs farm team, or out of their countries, as they are really being developed by the teams they play for.

Woll doesn't have any trouble following the play. Not sure how you've come to that conclusion. Kallgren is often slow with his reactions, did you get the 2 confused?

 

[hockeywiz542]

Why do the Maple Leafs struggle when it comes to drafting goalies?

How do the Leafs find themselves without NHL goalies that they've drafted? And can they find some stability in goal at the draft?

theathletic.com

The Leafs’ goalie pipeline is currently fractured, and you don’t need an overpriced plumber to make that diagnosis. Dryden McKay and Keith Petruzzelli, goalies with strong pedigrees in college hockey, are signed to AHL deals. But those two can’t solve what ails this team in the crease — a lack of quality goaltending prospects coming through that pipeline for some time now.

......................

How did that happen?

In 2005, the draft moved to seven rounds, the current length. The goalies taken in that draft are either elder statesmen in the goaltending fraternity (Carey Price, Jonathan Quick) or have since retired after NHL careers (Tuukka Rask, Ondrej Pavelec) so this felt like a good place to start to examine how the Leafs’ track record of drafting goalies stacks up against the other NHL franchises that have been drafting since 2005.

Since 2005, the goalies the Leafs have drafted are:

• Tuukka Rask, Round 1, 2005

• James Reimer, Round 4, 2006

• Grant Rollheiser, Round 6, 2008

• Garret Sparks, Round 7, 2011

• Antoine Bibeau, Round 6, 2013

• Joseph Woll, Round 3, 2016

• Ian Scott, Round 4, 2017

• Zachary Bouthillier, Round 7, 2018

• Artur Akhtyamov, Round 4, 2020

• Vyacheslav Peksa, Round 6 2021

That’s just 10 goalies picked in the last 17 drafts.

One could argue that quality goaltending prospects are taken towards the beginning of the draft. Nine of the 15 finalists for the Vezina Trophy over the last five seasons were drafted in the first three rounds.

Since 2005, the Leafs have selected just two goalies in the first three rounds. Woll has played four NHL games for the Leafs and the other one (*ducks*) is Rask.

Reimer has become the only goalie of consequence for the Leafs out of that list.

...................

Why not?

Talking to people in and around the last few Leafs’ drafts, one common theme emerged. There was often a belief from within the team, as part of their draft strategy, that the statistical probability of a goalie picked in the late rounds playing in the NHL was just as high as a goalie selected in the early rounds. Analytically, there was evidence from within the team to support that.

This is coupled with the odds of finding a star — or high-quality — forward or defenceman being greater with a higher pick. The return on their investment would come quicker. Goalies can be difficult for many scouts to evaluate. Some scouts I spoke to believe goalies often aren’t selected unless teams have an excess of picks. It was hard not to sense at least some skepticism from the Leafs about selecting a goalie early in the draft.

You don’t have to look very far in the NHL playoffs to support that line of thinking, either. Darcy Kuemper, the Colorado Avalanche starting goalie in the Stanley Cup Final, was picked in the sixth round in 2009. Igor Shesterkin, who backstopped the New York Rangers to the Eastern Conference final after arguably being the best goalie in the NHL this season, was drafted in the fourth round in 2014.

That approach appears to have been the play in 2017, when the Leafs nabbed Scott in the fourth round. Scott was ranked third among North American goalies by NHL Central Scouting heading into the draft. For a while, he had the best toolkit of any goalie in the Leafs’ pipeline, making the selection a smart one. But repeated injuries, which would have been difficult to predict, have resulted in him playing just seven games since 2019.

Nevertheless, there’s still an argument to be made that picking goalies earlier rather than later can lead to beneficial results.

 

[saltming]

I know I've posted about this many times but the Leafs management and scouting staff need to stop letting size get in the way of selecting good goalies.

I just took a look at how some of the goalies I liked from previous drafts are progressing and they are all doing pretty damn well since being drafted.

I wanted to draft Dustin Wolf in the late rounds in 2019. Since being drafted, he posted a .935sv% and then a .940sv% in junior. Then he put up a .924 in his first AHL season and a .927 in the playoffs.

In 2020 I wanted Dyland Garand. Mind you, he went a few spots before we could pick him where we had selected Ahktyamov. Since Garand was drafted he has posted a .921 and then a .925 in junior. Also had a .933 these playoffs.

In 2016 I wanted to take a late round flyer on Zach Sawchenko. He went on to be undrafted. Since then he's had a long journey but he's had decent numbers in Junior, college and the pro ranks. He appeared in 7 games for the Sharks this year and had a .901sv%.

All these guys had one thing in common and that was that they were considered "undersized" at around 6' or 6'1.

I dont think our scouting has been bad when it comes to our goalie prospects. I think some of the scouting profiles have looked great for some of our prospects. Woll and Scott both have great size, athleticism and technique. Ahktyamov same thing. I think our development staff has maybe failed them. Scott was looking great in Junior and then the few games he's played in pro but the poor kid's hips and groin just can't stay healthy. Woll should have way better numbers than what he has posted. Even though the Marlies defense has been brutal under Moore. He is a very big kid with excellent tools. Kallgren has good size and tools and doesn't have the numbers. I'm glad to see we are going in a different direction with the goalie coaching.

All I'm saying is that I wish we wouldn't overlook a goalie because he is maybe 2 inches shorter than what the league is looking for. Dustin Wolf would've been a hell of a lot better pick than Loponen in the 7th for example and would be our best goalie prospect.

We did air Dryden McKay. 5'11" and potential out the wazoo. Tbh I don't know much about him except his NCAA record tops guys like Miller and more recent, oettinger

 

[Voodoo Child]

You don’t take a guy high unless he’s a sure thing - that list a few posts up, only sure thing on it was Rask, taken high.

Looking at high drafted goalies, compared to best goalies taken, 2012-2017.

2012: First taken: Vasilevskiy (19th), Best, same.

2013: Fucale (36th), Best: Saros (99th)

2014: Mason McDonald (34th), Shestyorkin (118th) - Very goalie rich draft with Demko (36), Nedeljkovic (37), Vanecek (39), Merzlikins (76), Sorokin (78) and Husso (94) being taken.

2015: Samsonov (22), the best goalie in a very good draft for every other position.

2016: Hart (48), who the Leafs should have drafted but didn’t.

2017: I’m stopping here because goalies seem to have a minimum 3-year development arc and Covid screwed up a lot of that, however Jake Oettenger was a home run at 26th.

There’s some voodoo involved - but it seems if a G is getting first round buzz he’s worth taking a pick on, but rarely if ever higher than 15th.

I would have loved the Leafs picking Askarov (2020, 11th), but it was never an option. I wouldn’t be at all upset if they used the 25th pick on whoever the best goalie prospect is, if indeed that’s the area he’s expected to go in, but this seems to be a mediocre year and there isn’t a lot of draft capital hanging around.

 

[Leafshater67]

I was really hoping they’d take a shot at Dustin Wolf. Impressive goalie despite being undersized and certainly worth a shot as a late round pick

 

[SeaOfBlue]

well, we drafted Peska who posted .936 in 56 games and .919 in 13 playoff games, so, there is him, and he is 6'2"

Scott's been basically injured since we drafted him, i really dont trust Woll's hockey sense, he looks like he has trouble following the play to me.
cant really comment about development before they get to the Leafs farm team, or out of their countries, as they are really being developed by the teams they play for.

MHL is not a good measuring stick for goalies, especially D+2 goalies. Most good Russian goalies are already getting sniffs at the KHL by their D+2 (some are even full time goalies) and Peksa is only going to be in the VHL (possibly not even as the starter) next year.

I know I've posted about this many times but the Leafs management and scouting staff need to stop letting size get in the way of selecting good goalies.

I just took a look at how some of the goalies I liked from previous drafts are progressing and they are all doing pretty damn well since being drafted.

I wanted to draft Dustin Wolf in the late rounds in 2019. Since being drafted, he posted a .935sv% and then a .940sv% in junior. Then he put up a .924 in his first AHL season and a .927 in the playoffs.

In 2020 I wanted Dyland Garand. Mind you, he went a few spots before we could pick him where we had selected Ahktyamov. Since Garand was drafted he has posted a .921 and then a .925 in junior. Also had a .933 these playoffs.

In 2016 I wanted to take a late round flyer on Zach Sawchenko. He went on to be undrafted. Since then he's had a long journey but he's had decent numbers in Junior, college and the pro ranks. He appeared in 7 games for the Sharks this year and had a .901sv%.

All these guys had one thing in common and that was that they were considered "undersized" at around 6' or 6'1.

I dont think our scouting has been bad when it comes to our goalie prospects. I think some of the scouting profiles have looked great for some of our prospects. Woll and Scott both have great size, athleticism and technique. Ahktyamov same thing. I think our development staff has maybe failed them. Scott was looking great in Junior and then the few games he's played in pro but the poor kid's hips and groin just can't stay healthy. Woll should have way better numbers than what he has posted. Even though the Marlies defense has been brutal under Moore. He is a very big kid with excellent tools. Kallgren has good size and tools and doesn't have the numbers. I'm glad to see we are going in a different direction with the goalie coaching.

All I'm saying is that I wish we wouldn't overlook a goalie because he is maybe 2 inches shorter than what the league is looking for. Dustin Wolf would've been a hell of a lot better pick than Loponen in the 7th for example and would be our best goalie prospect.

I think you can draft smaller goalies with the idea in mind that even though they may have good stats at every point, they really sink or swim in the NHL... And that there are a number of good ones with excellent stats every year but they still fail to make the NHL at a fairly disproportional rate.

There is not a huge bias against guys who are 6'0" or 6'1" (at best they may drop 25-50 spots vs. where they would be if they were a couple of inches taller depending on their other flaws), but more so on the guys who are under 6'0" (which would include Wolf). They need to exceptional like a Wolf, Saros, Khudobin, or Enroth to really considered these days, because about a decade ago when smaller goalies were getting selected more often, they would usually end up busting even if they put up well above-average numbers (like Daniel Hauser with the Winnipeg Ice this year or Sawchenko, who is really not that good of a prospect).