FlamesNation prospect wrap-up: Jon Gillies

No one ever said developing a goalie was easy. Jon Gillies was drafted six years ago, has collected a ton of hardware, and put up great numbers along the way at every stop. Yet he’s still not quite NHL ready yet, as his half-shaky, half-alright big league stint indicated.

Is this the year he finally breaks through?

Gillies was a standout for the Indiana Ice of the USHL (he even scored a goal!), picking up a top prospects game selection, a scholarship to Providence, and the #75th overall pick of the Calgary Flames.

His time at Providence was very promising. Gillies never slipped below .930 in all three years of his college career despite a heavy workload (he played at least 34 games per year. College seasons can be around 40 games), picking up tons of All-Star and All-Rookie team nods, the Tim Taylor award (top NCAA rookie), a national championship trophy and MVP award, and a World Juniors gold (as the backup, but still counts).

His transition to the pros didn’t go so well. Gillies picked up two shutouts through his first seven pro games, but also severely injured his hip, ending his year prematurely. Gillies’ second season was marked by struggles, getting outplayed by Czech import David Rittich and barely hanging onto a starting job.

Gillies was given the starter’s role out of the gate in Stockton, and pretty much took over the position full time when Rittich left for the NHL (given that the other options were rookie Tyler Parsons and Mason McDonald, there was really no one left). Besides a brief appearance in November, Gillies didn’t see big league action until February when Mike Smith got injured. His first three starts were promising, putting up .920+ numbers in all three. However, his next three starts were pretty bad. Gillies remained on the bench until the final few games of the season, winning the last two.

He finished the year in Stockton, trying to save their season during their desperate playoff race. Gillies put up a .917, .931, and a .933, nearly dragging them into the postseason, but coming up just short.

Gillies had his peaks and valleys throughout the year, but the good news is that it was mostly peaks. Eighteen of his 38 starts saw him finish the game with a save percentage above .915 (average performance) compared to only four of his starts falling below .850 (putrid performance). The rest fell between those two performances. Gillies was generally a great goalie this year in the AHL, and when he’s off his game, he’s not that bad.

Among qualified AHL goalies (1,440 minutes) he was one of the better goaltenders and also among the youngest in the top 20. He’s ranked 12th out of the 41 qualified goalies in SV%, which is pretty good. He also saw a pretty heavy workload compared to most, ranking 13th in shots against.

His NHL numbers aren’t that great, which is fine. He’s a goalie who isn’t ready quite yet (if that near centre-ice goal against Colorado is any indication), but he did have his moments when he was simply a brick wall.

Although it may seem this way, it is certainly not a make or break year for Gillies. He may seem like he’s been around for a very long time, but he’s still only 24 and a year away from arbitration. He’s still an RFA until he’s 27. Given the general goalie development arch, there’s still a lot of runway left.

If he’s in the AHL for the majority of next year, that’s fine. His NHL showings demonstrated that he’s not exactly ready for the spotlight but is also probably not that far away. There’s still a little bit of polishing required, and given that he’s waiver exempt, the Flames don’t have to bring back the three-headed beast next year.

Gillies will be in the mix for the NHL backup job next year. He’s currently trailing behind Rittich as of this moment, but he’s still a strong candidate for the job. It may be too early to declare him the successor to Mike Smith, but if he has another strong year of growth, that could certainly be a possibility.

Andrew Mangiapane | Brett Pollock | Emile Poirier | Austin Carroll | Morgan Klimchuk | Hunter Shinkaruk | Spencer Foo | Rasmus Andersson | Tyler Wotherspoon | Oliver Kylington | Josh Healey & Adam Ollas Mattsson | Mitchell Mattson | Hunter Smith | Mason McDonald | Tyler Parsons | Juuso Valimaki | Nick Schneider | Adam Ruzicka | Matthew Phillips | D’Artagnan Joly | Glenn Gawdin | Zach Fischer | Dillon Dube | Filip Sveningsson | Eetu Tuulola | Adam Fox | Linus Lindstrom | Pavel Karnaukhov & Rushan Rafikov