Canadian: two of the 13 top prospects in the NHL in front of the net

Dose
Crédit: Photo by Rich Gagnon/Getty Images

For just under two years, Jacob Fowler’s name has been everywhere when discussing the Montreal Canadiens’ prospects. And with good reason.

What you need to know is that he is well-regarded not just in Montreal. Scott Wheeler, who ranks prospects for The Athletic, clearly hopes to see Fowler develop well.

Why? Because in his ranking of the top 20 drafted goalie prospects, Fowler is placed second.

Only Yaroslav Askarov (Sharks) ranks ahead of him. And even better: they are the only two goalies who fall into the “category 1” of the expert’s prospect ranking.

Let’s remember that among skaters, Ivan Demidov is ranked first in Wheeler’s list.

Fowler is having an excellent season, and it would not be surprising to see him make the jump to the pros once his season with Boston College is over.

From there, we’ll see what he’s made of.

As for the rest of the ranking (of 20 players), I have two other observations. The first is that among the 20 prospects, there are only four Canadian goalies… including one from Quebec.

Where is the next generation?

  • Sebastian Cossa (3)
  • Devon Levi (5)
  • Carter George (10)
  • Evan Gardner (19)

Of the group, three have been developed in the Canadian Hockey League (two in the West and Carter George in Ontario) while the Quebecer has gone to the NCAA to further his development.

It’s not an ideal situation… especially considering that Canadian goalies are not exactly plentiful in the NHL.

And finally, we note that Jakub Dobes is ranked 13th. This means that Montreal has two of the 13 most promising drafted gems who are not yet fully established in the NHL, according to Wheeler.

Not too shabby.

In Brief

– Artemi Panarin would have liked to play in the Four Nations tournament.

– The Rocket in action.

– To read.

– Brock Nelson wants to stay in New York.

– Interesting.