Ian Scott – 2017 NHL Draft Prospect Profile

Ian Scott

2016-17 Team: Prince Albert Raiders (#33)
Date of Birth: January 11, 1999

Place of Birth: Calgary, Alberta
Ht: 6’3″ Wt: 168 lbs
Catches: Left
Position: Goaltender
NHL Draft Eligibility: 2017 first-year eligible
Twitter: @IceScott99

Rankings

  • THW (Pike’s Picks): not ranked (final)
  • Future Considerations: 74th (final)
  • ISS: not ranked (May)
  • Bob McKenzie: 40th (Mid-season)
  • Craig Button: 65th (final)
  • The Hockey News: 62nd (final)

The 2017 NHL Draft class has a handful of intriguing goaltending prospects. You’ll hear names like Jake Oettinger and Michael DiPietro discussed quite a bit, but there are a few secondary prospects that could provide some good value for teams in the middle rounds of the draft. Prince Albert Raiders goaltender Ian Scott is one member of that secondary group.

The third-ranked North American goaltender by NHL’s Central Scouting Service, Scott physically is what NHL clubs seem to want in young goaltenders. He’s tall and lanky and has a frame that can add on some muscle to fill out a bit. He’s also a strong positional goaltender, who’s able to cut down angles fairly well.

Ian Scott
Ian Scott (Lucas Chudleigh / Prince Albert Raiders)

Despite having some fundamentals, Scott’s had mixed results in the Western Hockey League. His save percentages were very consistent – .892 and .895 – but while he played twice as much in 2016-17 as he did in the prior season, he won one fewer game. That’s more of a reflection of the drop-off of the team in front of him rather than Scott struggling, but the lack of progression isn’t all that encouraging. Through two WHL seasons, he’s been good enough to keep his team in games, but he hasn’t been good enough consistently enough to steal games.

The good news is that Scott still has strong fundamentals and has played a lot of hockey over the last few years. The bad news is he hasn’t yet been a dominant goaltender at the junior level. His results may discourage a few teams from taking a chance on him early, but his fundamentals will probably attract a team to him if he lasts past the second or third round.

NHL Draft Projection

Scott has had a lot of variability in his rankings, so he could realistically go anywhere in the second, third or fourth rounds – depending on if teams go on a goalie-taking run.

Quotables

“A goaltender who balances challenging opposing shooters and when to drop back into his crease and hold the fort…cool when handling shots to the glove hand, keeping the glove angled according to net position and the situation in front…swallows up high shots without any rebounds, pinning pucks to his chest or belly pad…quickness is elite and whether it be his pads or glove hands, he was constantly flashing his limbs at pucks…has a lanky frame, but makes himself look massive in the net by being assertive in the crease.” – Future Considerations.

Statistics

Strengths

  • Big goaltender, uses his size well
  • Good rebound control
  • Good anticipation

Under Construction (Improvements to Make)

  • Needs to work on consistency
  • Occasionally gets over aggressive, cheats out too much

NHL Potential

If Scott is going to be an NHLer, he’ll have to be a starter. He has the size of the prototypical NHL starting netminder but hasn’t exhibited the consistency (or the elite numbers) to quite get there yet.

Risk-Reward Analysis

Risk – 1.5/5, Reward – 4/5

Fantasy Hockey Potential

Goaltender 7.5/10

Awards/Achievements

Ian Scott has represented Canada at the World Under-17 Challenge, the Under-18 Worlds and the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. He won a gold medal at the Under-17s.

Interview/Profile Links

Videos