Prospect Info: Michael DiPietro

[CpatainCanuck]

How much is a guy going to improve by playing against weaker competition than what he's already handled okay? And it's not as though he could've played 40 or 50 more games, plus he wasn't just sitting around doing nothing, he was practicing regularly with NHLers and working with a top goalie coach. No matter what, it wasn't going to be anything close to an ideal situation for him or for the vast majority of prospects this past season.

Err, Dipietro is an AHL level goalie right now. He was 28th in save% in the 2019/20 AHL season. Would you make the same point, better phrased, about all hockey players: "how much are they going to improve by continuing to play hockey at their current competition level?" Playing games and practicing is kind of how players improve. You don't see young players voluntarily take a year off in order to work with skills coaches.

It's true that COVID meant that there were no great options for Dipietro: he would either be playing in the AHL without Clark for most of the year or working with Clark for most of the year without playing games. That doesn't nullify the reality that what happened to Dipietro last year was bad.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

You said that moving to Abbotsford would correct the issue of another team's prospect playing instead of Dipietro on their farm team that they own. Given your response, I'll assume that you realize that you had taken on a ridiculous position.

Thinking that the Blues, or any other american team, would have sent their prospects to play in Canada is a ridiculous take.
No excuses for how this organization handled that situation, but there's no chance whatsoever it would've happened in Abbotsford.

 

[Johnny Canucker]

Thinking that the Blues, or any other american team, would have sent their prospects to play in Canada is a ridiculous take.
No excuses for how this organization handled that situation, but there's no chance whatsoever it would've happened in Abbotsford.

I’m not so sure we ever see Michael DiPietro as a full time NHL goalie to be honest

 

[iceburg]

I’m not so sure we ever see Michael DiPietro as a full time NHL goalie to be honest

With enormous respect JC, that can be said about every goalie ever drafted throughout history....

 

[Siludin]

I’m not so sure we ever see Michael DiPietro as a full time NHL goalie to be honest

I think you can be patient with goalies and it can pay off. Look at Binnington.

 

[VanJack]

I’m not so sure we ever see Michael DiPietro as a full time NHL goalie to be honest

Not sure what you could possibly base this pessimistic view on......In his rookie season in the AHL, DiPietro was sensational on a team that bled scoring chances almost as badly as the Canucks.

He was the consensus MVP of the World Jr. Championship a few years back when it was in Victoria and Vancouver.....and probably would have won the award if that edition of Team Canada had been able to put a puck in the ocean.

And his list of awards in Ontario Hockey League is almost too long to mention, including a Memorial Cup with Windsor and playoff MVP with Ottawa and a list of all-star appearances. Wherever he's played for any length of time, his save percentage has never been less than .910 despite being on a couple of real bad teams.

I know one thing.....you'll never convince me that DiPietro would have been any worse than Holtby was last season, and at a fraction of the contract cost.

 

[Hit the post]

I know one thing.....you'll never convince me that DiPietro would have been any worse than Holtby was last season, and at a fraction of the contract cost.

At the very least, OJ probably would've been able to get more games in as I believe the main reason he was left off the roster at times was because of cap reasons. And if anybody needs icetime to get better/develop, it's OJ.

 

[mratch19]

Watching Dipietro celebrate with the team after winning gold was beautiful.. Willing to travel to the bubble and be a third goalie, fully knowing he might not get to play. Supports the team through practices and being a good teammate. I hope he works his way into the backup role behind Demko soon. Seems like a character fella!

 

[VanJack]

Watching Dipietro celebrate with the team after winning gold was beautiful.. Willing to travel to the bubble and be a third goalie, fully knowing he might not get to play. Supports the team through practices and being a good teammate. I hope he works his way into the backup role behind Demko soon. Seems like a character fella!

Absolutely!....he was worshiped in Utica for his commitment to off-ice causes and from all reports might have been one of the most popular players to ever suit up for the Comets.

And although he didn't play a minute at the World Hockey Championships, just being around this team and it's improbable run to the finals has to be positive for his development. Based on what happened in Vancouver this season, it makes you feel good for him.

He just needs playing time.....hopefully he gets 50-55 starts in Abbotsford next season.

 

[KingofSurrey]

Not sure what you could possibly base this pessimistic view on......In his rookie season in the AHL, DiPietro was sensational on a team that bled scoring chances almost as badly as the Canucks.

He was the consensus MVP of the World Jr. Championship a few years back when it was in Victoria and Vancouver.....and probably would have won the award if that edition of Team Canada had been able to put a puck in the ocean.

And his list of awards in Ontario Hockey League is almost too long to mention, including a Memorial Cup with Windsor and playoff MVP with Ottawa and a list of all-star appearances. Wherever he's played for any length of time, his save percentage has never been less than .910 despite being on a couple of real bad teams.

I know one thing.....you'll never convince me that DiPietro would have been any worse than Holtby was last season, and at a fraction of the contract cost.[/QUOTE

Yah with DiPietro as the Canucks backup this year..... we may have missed the playoffs....... heh, wait a minute....

 

[Johnny Canucker]

Not sure what you could possibly base this pessimistic view on......In his rookie season in the AHL, DiPietro was sensational on a team that bled scoring chances almost as badly as the Canucks.

He was the consensus MVP of the World Jr. Championship a few years back when it was in Victoria and Vancouver.....and probably would have won the award if that edition of Team Canada had been able to put a puck in the ocean.

And his list of awards in Ontario Hockey League is almost too long to mention, including a Memorial Cup with Windsor and playoff MVP with Ottawa and a list of all-star appearances. Wherever he's played for any length of time, his save percentage has never been less than .910 despite being on a couple of real bad teams.

I know one thing.....you'll never convince me that DiPietro would have been any worse than Holtby was last season, and at a fraction of the contract cost.

You didn’t see the NHL game played by him I guess huh?

 

[kcunac]

Not sure what you could possibly base this pessimistic view on......In his rookie season in the AHL, DiPietro was sensational on a team that bled scoring chances almost as badly as the Canucks.

He was the consensus MVP of the World Jr. Championship a few years back when it was in Victoria and Vancouver.....and probably would have won the award if that edition of Team Canada had been able to put a puck in the ocean.

And his list of awards in Ontario Hockey League is almost too long to mention, including a Memorial Cup with Windsor and playoff MVP with Ottawa and a list of all-star appearances. Wherever he's played for any length of time, his save percentage has never been less than .910 despite being on a couple of real bad teams.

I know one thing.....you'll never convince me that DiPietro would have been any worse than Holtby was last season, and at a fraction of the contract cost.

Agree with everything except not sure it would have been a good idea for his development to play backup this season. I would have liked to see one more dominant season in the AHL first. Also, our team only had a chance to win games this year when the goalie stood on his head, and I don't think that is putting DiPietro is a position to succeed.

Despite the current management's best efforts DiPietro is still a quality goalie prospect with a bright future. Hope he can dominate the AHL next year and get some NHL games and then be the full time back up to Demko in 2022-23.

 

[Blue and Green]

Err, Dipietro is an AHL level goalie right now. He was 28th in save% in the 2019/20 AHL season.

22nd, not 28th. Also, from watching the vast majority of Utica games that season, I know that the quality of shots that the Comets' goalies were facing was fairly high due to shoddy defending.

Never said he was NHL-level this season. What I said was that playing an additional 16 games or so in AHL Light-- and don't kid yourself about how much easier that league was this season, losing so many players to the taxi squads plus defections to Europe-- probably wouldn't have helped his development much more than what he got from three months of practicing with NHLers and working with a top goalie coach.

 

[GreatSaveLuongo]

Ripe him another season in AHL and lets see whst happens... If Holtby is taken id could see us signing a veteran backup for 1yr

 

[Pip]

22nd, not 28th. Also, from watching the vast majority of Utica games that season, I know that the quality of shots that the Comets' goalies were facing was fairly high due to shoddy defending.

Never said he was NHL-level this season. What I said was that playing an additional 16 games or so in AHL Light-- and don't kid yourself about how much easier that league was this season, losing so many players to the taxi squads plus defections to Europe-- probably wouldn't have helped his development much more than what he got from three months of practicing with NHLers and working with a top goalie coach.

genuinely curious if any other top goalie prospects were treated this way this year.

 

[Hit the post]

genuinely curious if any other top goalie prospects were treated this way this year.

heh, St Louis Blues obviously felt different. But what do they know. (not saying the Blues goalie prospects are top prospects but still propects).

 

[Pip]

genuinely curious if any other top goalie prospects were treated this way this year.

All of these goalies weren’t in comparable situations but I took a quick look at some goalies off of a top goalie prospect list:

• Spencer Knight- full season college plus NHL games
• Yarolav Askarov- KHL/VHL/MHL/International
• Jeremy Swayman- 9 games AHL 10 games NHL
• Dustin Wolf- WHL full season then 3 AHL games
• Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen- 13 games Liiga, 14 AHL, 4 NHL
• Justus Annunen- full season Liiga, 2 games AHL
• Stuart Skinner- 31 AHL games, 1 NHL game
• Daniil Tarasov- 16 KHL, 6 AHL
• Cayden Primeau- 16 AHL games, 4 NHL

The closest comparison might have been Joel Hofer himself who didn’t have a home AHL team to play for and only got into 10 games. I am probably missing some other prospects but this lists paints the Canucks as the outlier for their treatment of DiPietro

 

[Hit the post]

All of these goalies weren’t in comparable situations but I took a quick look at some goalies off of a top goalie prospect list:

• Spencer Knight- full season college plus NHL games
• Yarolav Askarov- KHL/VHL/MHL/International
• Jeremy Swayman- 9 games AHL 10 games NHL
• Dustin Wolf- WHL full season then 3 AHL games
• Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen- 13 games Liiga, 14 AHL, 4 NHL
• Justus Annunen- full season Liiga, 2 games AHL
• Stuart Skinner- 31 AHL games, 1 NHL game
• Daniil Tarasov- 16 KHL, 6 AHL
• Cayden Primeau- 16 AHL games, 4 NHL

The closest comparison might have been Joel Hofer himself who didn’t have a home AHL team to play for and only got into 10 games. I am probably missing some other prospects but this lists paints the Canucks as the outlier for their treatment of DiPietro

heh, still 6 more games than some guy that actually has his parent club owning that AHL team.

 

[VanJack]

You can only hope that with Ian Clark returning as Canucks goaltending coach, that DiPietro's almost total lack of game action this season won't impact him too badly going forward. And because he's just down the road in Abbotsford, they'll continue to be able to work together.

But no doubt 50-60 games in the AHL next season will do wonders for his development. Fortunately the NHL goaltending pendulum is starting to swing away from 6'6" goaltenders with bulky equipment....and back towards more athletic goaltenders who can read the play and have better lateral movement.

Looking at some of the goalies in the current NHL playoffs Nedeljkovic in Carolina is listed at 6' , 189; Grubauer is listed 6'1" , 188; Fleury is listed at 6'2", 185; and Varlemov is 6'2", 205; they seem to be doing just fine.

 

[Cupless44]

I’m not so sure we ever see Michael DiPietro as a full time NHL goalie to be honest

Starter will be determined but Ian Clark said in his interview he has no doubt at all DiPietro will be an NHL goalie. I will take his word.

 

[chaputonyou]

Watching Dipietro celebrate with the team after winning gold was beautiful.. Willing to travel to the bubble and be a third goalie, fully knowing he might not get to play. Supports the team through practices and being a good teammate. I hope he works his way into the backup role behind Demko soon. Seems like a character fella!

Completely agree. I like DiPietro a LOT and it looks like Ian Clark is committed to working with him to make him an NHL goalie. I really want him to get in at least 30 games this season before he starts looking at the opportunity to become the Canucks backup.

Everyone likes to dump on the Canucks on how much they screwed up with DiPietro this past season/taxi squad, etc. but let's not forget that Demko and DiPietro were both drafted by Benning and Co., Ian Clark (yes, stupid delays in not getting him a new contract, though that smelled like Aquaman) was hired by Benning. I'm pretty happy with the goaltending situation in Vancouver moving forward.

Chaput

 

[Bad Goalie]

All of these goalies weren’t in comparable situations but I took a quick look at some goalies off of a top goalie prospect list:

• Spencer Knight- full season college plus NHL games
• Yarolav Askarov- KHL/VHL/MHL/International
• Jeremy Swayman- 9 games AHL 10 games NHL
• Dustin Wolf- WHL full season then 3 AHL games
• Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen- 13 games Liiga, 14 AHL, 4 NHL
• Justus Annunen- full season Liiga, 2 games AHL
• Stuart Skinner- 31 AHL games, 1 NHL game
• Daniil Tarasov- 16 KHL, 6 AHL
• Cayden Primeau- 16 AHL games, 4 NHL

The closest comparison might have been Joel Hofer himself who didn’t have a home AHL team to play for and only got into 10 games. I am probably missing some other prospects but this lists paints the Canucks as the outlier for their treatment of DiPietro

Cull and company treated the goalie position as a revolving door in which if you were on the team he had to give you as close to equal time as he could.

- 27 yr-old John Gillies started the season with Jake Kielly as 1A and 1B. Gillies played 5 games and was recalled to St. Louis and didn't play another game again. 2.37 GAA/.902 SV%/3-1-0-1

- Jake Kielly played 5 games and then got hurt in practice. Hofer came in and played 2 and then Fitzpatrick got 1.Then Hofer got 3 more before Kielly returned. Kielly got another and Kielly was hurt in his next game and didn't play again. 3.62 GAA/.878 SV%/4-2-0-0.

- Joel Hofer played a total of 10 games. 3.33 GAA/.898 SV%/4-6-0-0/2 shutouts

- Fitzpatrick was mostly a backup, but did 3 games 1 in relief of Hofer getting blown up. GAA 3.97/SV% .894/2-0-0-0/1 shutout.

- Michael DiPietro arrived very late in the season and played 4 games before named assigned to the World Cup roster. 2.52 GAA/.916 SV%/3-1-0-0.

- Will Cranley was added late and played 1 game. 2.10 GAA/SV%/0-1-0-0

4 keepers were assigned by St. Louis and 2 by Vancouver.

Utica goaltending 3.07 GAA/.894 SV%/16-11-0-1

As of right now Jake Kielly is the only experienced goalie coming into ABBY. Arturs Silovs played 1 game for the Manitoba Moose whil wandering about the world in 2020-21. That 1 game in Manitoba 2 games with HS Riga/Latvia, 4 games with HK MOGO/Latvia, 1 game in Vancouver with no ice time/2 games with Latvia International tourney.

It remains to be seen where DiPietro will end up. He should play the majority of the AHL games and Vancouver should sign a 1-yr backup. Mikey is 22 years-old and has played a total of 42 professional hockey games in 3 seasons. 2 having been in the NHL. The kid needs to play as much as possible before being relegated to a backup role in the NHL. If Benning puts him on the NHL backup route this next season it's a good chance this kid's career potential will be ruined.

 

[Kearns]

Not sure what you could possibly base this pessimistic view on......In his rookie season in the AHL, DiPietro was sensational on a team that bled scoring chances almost as badly as the Canucks.

He was the consensus MVP of the World Jr. Championship a few years back when it was in Victoria and Vancouver.....and probably would have won the award if that edition of Team Canada had been able to put a puck in the ocean.

And his list of awards in Ontario Hockey League is almost too long to mention, including a Memorial Cup with Windsor and playoff MVP with Ottawa and a list of all-star appearances. Wherever he's played for any length of time, his save percentage has never been less than .910 despite being on a couple of real bad teams.

I know one thing.....you'll never convince me that DiPietro would have been any worse than Holtby was last season, and at a fraction of the contract cost.

DiPietro is a battler. He has been popular in the room on every team he's ever played. I would love for him to emerge as an NHL goaltender. I don't think he will. His low net coverage stances leave huge gaps high. His battle mindset may lead to over commitment. He will need to make a lot of changes to his game to be a Saros type goaltender in the NHL. He has a future in the game, no question; it may be in coaching.

 

[elitepete]

You can only hope that with Ian Clark returning as Canucks goaltending coach, that DiPietro's almost total lack of game action this season won't impact him too badly going forward. And because he's just down the road in Abbotsford, they'll continue to be able to work together.

But no doubt 50-60 games in the AHL next season will do wonders for his development. Fortunately the NHL goaltending pendulum is starting to swing away from 6'6" goaltenders with bulky equipment....and back towards more athletic goaltenders who can read the play and have better lateral movement.

Looking at some of the goalies in the current NHL playoffs Nedeljkovic in Carolina is listed at 6' , 189; Grubauer is listed 6'1" , 188; Fleury is listed at 6'2", 185; and Varlemov is 6'2", 205; they seem to be doing just fine.

6’3-6’7 goalies still dominate the NHL

Vasi - 6’4
Hellebuyck - 6’4
Price - 6’3
Markstrom - 6’6
Demko - 6’4
Gibson - 6’3
Lehner - 6’5
Fleury - 6’2
Bishop - 6’7
Rask - 6’3
Kuemper - 6’5

 

[Blue and Green]

As fans we tend to overrate prospects more than we underrate them but I think DiPietro has been underrated by a substantial portion of the Canucks' fanbase and media observers just because he is three or four inches on the short side by goalie standards. I watched almost all of his games in Utica in 2019-20 and liked what I saw, as did @Bad Goalie who has undeniably been a fairly reliable assessor of the abilities of prospects in Utica.

Ian Clark from June 11: "If I'm picking a goalie based on size, you probably want a goalie that's 6-foot-3... maybe 6-foot-4, but that of course is only one of the elements of input that goes into elite goaltending. You know, in a case like Michael DiPietro, you've got a guy who rates 10/10 on competitiveness, his instinctive ability to find creative solutions in tough moments, his ability to be patient on the speed and react to protect his outside and periphery, obviously the mental capacity of the game is a huge part. So, there's a lot of components to elite goaltending and Mikey hits a very high grade in a lot of them."

Ian Clark on new contract, duties and expectations for Demko, Holtby and DiPietro - Sportsnet.ca