Top Prospect Contender: Dustin Wolf
By Ryan Pike
4 years agoIt’s been a long, long time since the Calgary Flames drafted a goaltender that was worth a damn at the NHL level. Craig Anderson, drafted in 1999 by the Flames (and then re-drafted in 2001 when he didn’t sign), is their last drafted netminder who became a bonafide NHL starter.
So you can understand why there may be some hesitance to completely buy into the Dustin Wolf hype. That said, the kid is really, really good.
A brief history
A product of Tustin, California – just outside of Anaheim – Wolf played his minor hockey in the Los Angeles Jr. Kings system before being recruited into the Western Hockey League in the 2016 Bantam Draft. After spending a season apprenticing as Carter Hart’s backup, he broke out in 2018-19 as one of the top goaltenders in the WHL. He was a First Team Conference All-Star, the WHL’s leader in save percentage and goals against average, and he was the top scholastic player in the CHL.
After being drafted fourth-from-last in the 2019 NHL Draft – he’s only 5’11”, you see, which is short for a goalie – he actually found another gear in his game. He was arguably the top goaltender in all of Canadian major junior hockey in 2019-20 and backed up Spencer Knight for Team USA at the World Juniors.
The case for Wolf
We dug into this last month, but it’s worth repeating: Wolf is really good at playing goal. Bearing in mind that Everett does play a fairly structured defensive game, but he’s a steadying presence on the back end and can turn games around with a few big saves – the Silvertips were floundering in their visit to Calgary in December, but Wolf made some big saves and gave them time to figure things out.
Statistically, he’s been one of the best goalies in all of Canadian junior hockey for two seasons. He may be the most promising prospect the Flames have had in net in decades primarily because he’s not big – physically big goalies just block pucks, while smaller goalies have to rely more on technique and tactics. He’s Carter Hart good, and he has another year in junior to keep developing before he goes pro.
The case against Wolf
These are all going to be nitpicks, admittedly:
- He’s small by goalie standards, which may become an issue when he faces pro shooters with regularity.
- He’s a goalie, and the Flames have had horrendous luck with drafting and developing goalies. When they were drafted, guys like Brent Krahn, Mason McDonald, Leland Irving, Tyler Parsons and Jon Gillies were all highly touted. Injuries, inconsistency and flat-out bad developmental luck have seemingly impacted all of ’em.
Until Wolf has seen pro shooters, it does make a lot of sense to be skeptical about how good he could be.
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