2026 NHL Draft Profiles: Goalies

Goalies... voodoo... etc.

Won't belabor this introduction. I'm no goalie scout, but these are names who have had some hype from people I follow, and if you want better scouting from actual scouts you can also just watch this:

TOBIAS TREJBAL

• League(s): USHL
• Height: 6'4"
• Weight: 185 lbs
• Birthdate: Nov 9, 2007

Has a good chance to be the first goalie taken this year. He was tied for 2nd in the entire USHL in save percentage with .916, and has a commitment to UMass in the NCAA next year. The goalie he tied with, and the goalie who finished at the top, are both a year or more older than Trejbal. From the scouting reports, scouts rave about his combination of size and mobility, and gives good grades to his butterfly mechanics and post discipline.

Trejbal gets knocked for his glove hand, strength, and puck tracking when it goes behind the goal line. There are conflicting opinions on his scanning and rebound control, and overall projection. His draft range, from what I can tell, is anywhere from a first to a third rounder depending on who you ask. He's not a consensus-best guy, but he might be the guy I like the most for the nothing that's worth.

DMITRI BORICHEV

• League(s): MHL
• Height: 6'3"
• Weight: 198
• Birthdate: Jun 19, 2008

Ranked by NHL Central Scouting as the top international goalie, Borichev is the other guy who could be the first one taken in the draft. He's also one of the youngest on any ranking list I've seen. He played for Loko's junior team in Russia's MHL league, where he finished tied for 15th in the league in save percentage with a .929. Among U18 goalies, he ranked 3rd. He was one of Russia's top goalies in their "international" games – meaning he was the U18's top goalie in their friendlies vs Belarus.

Borichev has a good mix of decent size, plus he is considered to have elite mobility in net. He's supposed to already be a very technical goalie with precise "robotic" movements. Honestly it seems like almost everything a goalie is supposed to be good at, he gets good grades for them. The exceptions are his blocker hand being considered a bit weak, having a stance/posture that's too low and leaves the upper part of the net open once he goes into the butterfly, and not being great at seeing through screens.

YURI IVANOV

• League(s): MHL
• Height: 6'2"
• Weight: 165 lbs
• Birthdate: Sep 12, 2008

Ivanov is THE youngest goalie on this list, in fact he may even be the youngest entirely in this draft for goalies. He plays for Spartak in the MHL, the same team as the Leafs' Alexander Plesovskikh. For most of the year he was the team's main backup,with a .924/.928 sv% between Spartak's two junior squads in a combined 28 games. But when their main starter got hurt early in the playoffs, Ivanov took over in the playoffs and has been dominant – he is second in the league for the playoffs with a .939 save percentage in 10 games, only .002 behind the leader who is almost two years older. It's worth noting that Spartak plays in the good conference of the MHL, so his numbers aren't juiced by playing easier competition.

Stop me if you've heard this before, but Ivanov is described as being extremely athletic, showing elite power from his knees when changing directions even while maintaining his butterfly. His lateral movement in particular is said to be very quick and precise when he's "on". He is also said to be an intense competitor, taking good routes in the crease, and showcases good awareness and scanning to know where the puck and various players are on the ice around him. After looking into all of these goalies, I think Ivanov is my personal favourite choice for a later round pick.

PATRIKS PLUMINS

• League(s): Latvia
• Height: 6'3"
• Weight: 216 lbs
• Birthdate: Jan 7, 2008

Didn't have him in my radar at all, and didn't see him mentioned much, and then the World U18s came around. He leads the tournament in save percentage with a .952, including a 43 save upset win over Team USA in the quarter finals. Apparently the deep diving goalie scouts were at least aware of him before this (or are now acting about it), he's played all year in Latvia's pro leagues – 5 games in the second tier, and 16 games as the backup for Zemgale in the top pro league. Even though he was a backup and didn't have a full workload, he did lead the league in save percentage there with a .927.

Scouts like his hands – meaning his glove and blocker – as well as his rebound control, making him kind of the opposite of Trejbal. Continuing that theme, his lateral skating and explosiveness gets knocked as well although there's some differences of opinion on that. He'll probably be a later pick unless a team puts a LOT of stock on his international play.

FILIP RUZICKA

• League(s): WHL
• Height: 6'8"
• Weight: 229 lbs
• Birthdate: Mar 24, 2008

Ruzicka is another Czech goalie playing in North America, specifically on Brandon in the WHL. He's the biggest goalie on this list at 6'8", which is probably the largest driving force for his draft hype. In the WHL he was their main starter, playing 42 games with a .906 sv% in the regular season and a .936 sv% in the four game playoff series where Brandon got swept. Among the WHL starters, he had the 7th best save percentage. He'd be tied for the best in the playoffs, for what that four game sample is worth.

Aside from Ruzicka's size, scouts like his athleticism – both his explosiveness and his flexibility. He also gets good grades for his calmness and puck tracking. The knocks on him are his coordination and control, even if he's explosive and flexible he can get wild and out of control. His mobility once he drops into the butterfly is also said to drop off. However, one thing I've seen every scout say is that he is one of the most improved goalies in this draft, especially around his coordination and fine mechanics. He's another guy who's rankings are all over the place.

ROBERTO HENRIQUEZ

• League(s): USHL
• Height: 6'2"
• Weight: 185 lbs
• Birthdate: Apr 29, 2007

Henriquez is the only re-entry goalie on this list, and I'm mentioning him because I almost wound up including him in last year's goalie list. He was also the top goalie by save percentage in the USHL. He's got a unique background, being born to parents from Slovakia and the Dominican Republic. He likely wasn't drafted last year because he mostly played in the NAHL, and when he joined the USHL he had not great numbers on a bad team. But this year, his breakout season helped him upgrade his NCAA commitment from the University of Maine to a top program in Boston College.

From the scouting reports, he's described as having a high motor and elite athleticism. His skating and movements are described as one of the most fluid and effortless-looking in this year's draftable goalies. The speed of his game processing allows him to anticipate the plays developing in front of him quickly as well, giving him excellent positioning. He's considered to be more technically advanced, but that's likely because he's a re-entry that has one year of experience over the newbies in this year's draft class. His weaknesses are more on being too low when he's down in the butterfly at times, giving up more of the upper part of the net, having hand placement too low at times and having inconsistent aggression.

HARRISON BOETTIGER

• League(s): WHL
• Height: 6'3"
• Weight: 183 lbs
• Birthdate: Dec 11, 2007

Boettiger is an American goalie who was part of the US NTDP last year, so he's always been considered a top goalie prospect. This year, because he was a late 2007 birthday, he was too old to play again for the NTDP but his NCAA team didn't need him yet, so he joined Kelowna in the WHL for his gap year between that and his NCAA commitment to Denver. His .911 sv% in 41 games was good for 4th in the league among all goalies regardless of age.

Boettiger's strengths are his mobility and quickness, built on top of a foundation of solid mechanics. He gets good grades for tracking the puck and being able to anticipate the play in front of him. The weaknesses I see mentioned by scouts honestly sound pretty minor – slight problems with his hand positioning, not maintaining upright posture consistently, and being inconsistent in having good angles. I've seen one scout say he's arguably the most well-rounded goalie in the draft this year, another saying something similar in that he's a jack of all trades but master of none sort of guy. He probably won't be the highest goalie taken, but will likely among that next group.

SAMUEL HRENAK

• League(s): Czechia U20 / USHL
• Height: 6'3"
• Weight: 183 lbs
• Birthdate: Mar 19, 2008

Hrenak is a Slovakian goalie who split his season between Slovakia and the USHL. In Slovakia he played some in junior and some in Slovakia's second tier pro league for Slovakia's version of the NTDP. In those pro games, he faced over 50 shots per game on average including a lot of dangerous chances, and still wound up with an .888 sv% in 16 games that the junior team all lost. He's got a lot of late hype thanks to his strong performance since coming to North America – a .918 sv% in his 9 games, where he was 7-1-1. If he had played enough games, that would rank 2nd in the entire league. And then he followed it up by stealing the show at the World U18s, hosted by his home country. He had a 4-0-0 record leading his team to the gold medal game.

Like other goalies on this list, Hrenak gets rave reviews for his skating and edges to make powerful lateral pushes, allowing him to cover a lot of the net even as the puck moves east-west on him. He also has quick reflexes in his legs and hands, reportedly adjusts to different systems and environments well (from an overwhelmed junior team to a tight structure on a top in the USHL). The concerns about him are over his posture at times, maintaining his angles during scrambles due to him being too aggressive and busy, and over-committing.

RYDER FETTEROLF

• League(s): OHL
• Height: 6'0"
• Weight: 185
• Birthdate: Jan 5, 2008

The only OHL goalie and the shortest goalie on this list, Fetterolf is unique in more than just a couple of ways. Will Scouch put me onto him with rave reviews from himself and from people he talked to who think he has star potential despite the lack of size. He led the OHL in save percentage for all goalies (.923) on an above average but not elite Ottawa team, playing a decently heavy workload at 41 games. He's an American goalie who came over to the OHL just this season, having played in high school prep leagues before. He has a commitment to Penn State starting next season.

Fetterolf has all the skills you'd want a shorter goalie to have. He has elite speed and mobility with quick footwork, great edgework, explosive lateral movements in the crease while staying in control and not getting too wild and aggressive to take himself out of position. He has an excellent brain as a goalie in terms of scanning the ice and anticipating the play to be ready for when and where shots will come.

The flaws that Fetterolf is said to have is focused mostly on his lack of size and a need for more strength in his push offs. He is said to have a problem where he looks/plays small when he goes down into a butterfly, and honestly that's something I also notice a lot when I watch Akhtyamov play. Mind you, Artie isn't that much bigger as a goalie and he seems to be doing okay these days, so that doesn't make me less interested in Fetterolf as a later round pick. He seems like a guy you could get in the very late rounds given his size concerns, and since he's going to the NCAA you'd have more time to let him develop there before needing to sign him.

YEGOR RYBKIN

• League(s): MHL
• Height: 6'7"
• Weight: 207
• Birthdate: Dec 3, 2007

Rybkin is on the older side of the goalies on this list, but he's also one of the biggest and most mobile, flexible and athletic goalies in this year's draft too. I'm just going to quote a scouting report I read on him that, for clarity, wasn't universally positive, because it summarizes the top reasons why he's interesting as a goalie prospect:

The athleticism is outstanding, and the technicality in his movement is pristine as well. It’s hard to find a goalie whose movement mechanics are as refined as Rybkin’s, let alone one that is listed at 6-foot-7.

The down sides of him is that he gets poor reviews for his reads and tendencies to bite on fakes, and while he's athletic there are some mechanical issues to his movements in the crease that apparently need work (I'll trust the goalie scouts I'm reading on that kind of thing). The other concern is that he just doesn't have a lot of experience.

Last year, Rybkin played in 11 games. That's it. Three of them were in the VHL in his D-1 season for the record, which is kind of nuts. But this year he only played in 11 games again, and all of them were in the MHL this time. His numbers in those 11 games were good, but not "great" for other top Russian goalies in junior and in his age group. But he suffered an injury in November and didn't return to play all year.

The lack of playing time is why Rybkin doesn't have as much hype as you'd expect. However, that size and athletic profile has him being talked about enough that I'm sure he will get drafted by someone, just not as high as he would otherwise.

Thanks for reading!

I put a lot of work into my prospect articles here, both for the draft and Toronto's prospects. I do it as a fun hobby for me, and I'd probably do it in some capacity even if PPP completely ceased to exist. But if you like reading my work, some support would go a long way! I pay for a few streaming services (CHL, NCAA, USHL, the occasional TSN options for international tournaments that are broadcast) to be able to reliably watch these prospects in good quality streams. I also pay for some prospect-specific resources, such as tracking data and scouting reports from outlets like Elite Prospects, Future Considerations, McKeen's Hockey, The Athletic, and more.

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