I like that they think more highly about Formenton than many do here
Haha a lot more highly than I do. Hopefully they're right.
I dunno how to feel about this article. They give detailed scouting reports on the prospects, which would be great, but absolutely no credentials for the writer, so I have no idea whether to believe anything he says.
I do not like how everyone has given up on Gustavsson so readily. A year ago he was one of the top few U20 goalie prospects in the world. Had been Sweden's starter at U17s, U18s and U20s at the appropriate age. The size is a slight concern but it's not like he's under 6'.
A June birthday, he was barely 20 at the start of the season, and then Högberg got hurt, so he was up from the ECHL backing up McKenna. In his first four games he gave up two goals on 35 shots, four goals on 43 shots, three on 31 and one on 35.
Off to a pretty good start, that's a 2.5 GAA and .931 SVP. So good, in fact, it looked like he was on the verge of stealing the starting job from McKenna, as the latter was having a bit of a rough patch with ten goals against in three games; those last two starts of Gustavsson's were consecutive, with McKenna backing up.
Meanwhile, at the NHL level Condon had completely unravelled out of the gate, so they had to call up McKenna. As luck would have it, the first two games after McKenna's callup were back-to-backs against the offensive powerhouse Syracuse Crunch (who would finish first in the AHL in GF). I dunno if the pressure got to him or what, but he was pulled at 31:13 of the first game after five goals on 13 shots. They went back to him the second game and he was pulled at 27:56 after four goals on 13 shots.
Condon started the next game, against another high-powered offense in Toronto, and gave up six goals, playing the full game. The next night, again against Toronto, Gustavsson played the full game, giving up eight goals on 41 shots.
His next two games he started to settle down, giving up four goals each game, but they both went to overtime (a win and a SOL), and his SVP wasn't atrocious. From then on he was solid for the rest of the year. I did the math and if we just give him a flier on those first three games after McKenna was called up, he goes from a 3.38 and .887, to a 3.00 and .899.
Still not extraordinary numbers, but lets have a look at the other top five goalie prospects who played in the AHL last year and what they did in (and their age at the start of) their first AHL seasons:
Thatcher Demko (20) 45 - 2.68 - .907
Adin Hill (20) 40 - 3.16 - .906
Alex Nedeljkovic (20) 25 - 3.40 - .881
Ilya Samsonov (21) 37 - 2.70 - .898
Tristan Jarry (20) 33 - 2.69 - .905
Eric Comrie (20) 46 - 3.12 - .907
Ok I couldn't decide between Jarry and Comrie so that's six.
After that horrendous start for Nedeljkovic, just two seasons later he was already one of the best goalies in the AHL last year at 22.