Drafting and developing a franchise goaltender is a tough thing to do. It is made so difficult because there is a set learning curve at the position. Traditionally, netminders develop at a much slower pace than skaters. When the mental part of the game is factored in, it is no wonder that so many top prospects never hit the big time. With that being said, it is time to take a look at the top 10 NHL goaltending prospects.
As far as criteria go, a goaltender is no longer considered a prospect if he has played more than 25 NHL games in any single season, more than 50 career NHL games, or is older than age 23 as of Jan. 1, 2025. With that being said, here is my list of what could be the next wave of NHL starters.
Honorable Mentions: Sergei Murashov, 20, Pittsburgh Penguins; Drew Commesso, 23, Chicago Blackhawks; Carter George, 20, Los Angeles Kings; Ilya Nabokov, 21, Colorado Avalanche; Mikhail Yegorov, 18, New Jersey Devils
10. Joel Blomqvist, 23, Pittsburgh Penguins
It took a while for Joel Blomqvist to grab a spot on this list, but he’s here now after emerging as a legitimate future starter last season with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. After spending his entire career overseas in Finland with the Liiga and Mestis, he made the trek to North America full-time in 2023-24 and quickly became someone to watch for the Pittsburgh Penguins. His rookie season in the American Hockey League (AHL) was impressive as he finished with a 25-12-6 record alongside a 2.16 goals-against average (GAA) and .921 save percentage (SV%). He also was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team, Second All-Star Team, and took part in his first All-Star Game.
This season, Blomqvist impressed the brass enough to make the Penguins’ roster out of training camp and earn his first start in the NHL on Oct. 10, 2024, against the Detroit Red Wings. He made 29 saves in a 6-3 win and ended up playing eight games before being sent back down to the AHL. Since then, he has gotten into seven games sandwiched between short stints in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, seemingly usurping veteran Tristan Jarry on the depth chart and forming a 1A/1B tandem with Alex Nedeljkovic.
Like most young goaltenders trying to establish themselves in the league, Blomqvist has had his ups and downs. But he clearly has the potential to be a starter, given his size, athleticism and calmness in the crease. He might benefit from more time in the AHL, instead of being a 1B in a tandem, though, as evidenced by his struggles lately after sitting for weeks between starts.
9. Leevi Meriläinen, 22, Ottawa Senators
It’s been a long time since the Ottawa Senators had a prospect goaltender with the potential to be a starter. While it’s not a guarantee that Leevi Meriläinen will be one, in his small sample size this season in the NHL, he certainly has given experts and fans something to think about. His numbers so far are Vezina Trophy caliber: 1.99 GAA, .925 SV% and three shutouts in 12 games. Those are eye-popping stats from someone who hasn’t really been on the radar as a high-end prospect since he was drafted in 2020. His emergence came at a good time, too, as he filled in admirably for starter Linus Ullmark when he was hurt and popped off a 5-2-1 record in January alongside a 2.02 GAA, .928 SV% and two shutouts.
Related: Ottawa Senators Prospect of the Week – Leevi Merilainen
Meriläinen has probably already taken Anton Forsberg’s job as Ullmark’s backup next season and might get that role sooner rather than later if the rumours are true about Forsberg being on the trade block. Forsberg will be an unrestricted free agent (UFA) in the offseason, and considering he has caught the eye of general manager Steve Staios, I think it’s pretty certain that Meriläinen has won a full-time job in the NHL if he continues the trajectory he’s on right now.
8. Jakub Dobes, 23, Montreal Canadiens
Another new entry in the top 10, Jakub Dobes has given Montreal Canadiens fans a lot of hope that they will have an elite 1A/1B tandem (a la maybe Ullmark/Jeremy Swayman) in a few seasons alongside Jacob Fowler. He broke into the NHL with a bang, posting his first shutout in his first start on Dec. 28, 2024 – against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, no less – and proceeded to rattle off five wins in a row, all while posting a 1.60 GAA and .940 SV%. While he has come back down to earth since then with a sobering 3.40 GAA and .877 SV%, he has still put himself in the conversation for the future of Canadiens goaltending and usurped fellow prospect Cayden Primeau on the depth chart.
Dobes was one of the top goalies in the NCAA during his last two seasons with Ohio State, and, despite an average rookie season in the AHL in 2023-24, he has proven he can handle the duties of an NHL goaltender this season. He has even looked better than Samuel Montembeault at times, and with a foundation of size, athleticism and quickness, he could turn out to be one of the steals from the 2020 Draft.
7. Michael Hrabal, 19, Arizona Coyotes
Going into the 2023 NHL Draft, Michael Hrabal was one of the top names when it came to goaltenders. Ranked as high as 26th by Craig Button of TSN, and finishing second in NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings, he was projected to be one of the first goaltenders off the board. He ended up being selected after Adam Gajan (35th overall, Blackhawks), but the Arizona Coyotes were happy to see him still available when they were up at 38th.
With a rare combination of size (6-foot-6) and athleticism, Hrabal could be number one on this list before long. After spending one season in the USHL with the Omaha Lancers, he joined UMass in the NCAA and got a surprisingly high workload for a freshman goaltender. And it’s easy to see why they gave him so much time in the crease. He had a 2.59 GAA and .912 SV% with two shutouts in 30 appearances, which ranked in the top five for freshmen. This season, he’s had a sophomore surge with even better numbers than last season and has already hit 30 starts alongside a 2.42 GAA and .924 SV%.
Related: The NHL’s Top 100 Prospects
Hrabal was also a prominent fixture on Team Czechia at the 2023 U18 World Championship and back-to-back World Juniors in 2024 and 2025. He was a top-three player at both the U18s and World Juniors and helped lead his team to bronze medals in 2024 and 2025. The Coyotes’ goaltending pool needed a boost, and they got it with Hrabal, who could be taking over for either Connor Ingram or Karel Vejmelka in the very near future.
6. Devon Levi, 23, Buffalo Sabres
Devon Levi has emerged from the depths of the NHL Draft (212th overall in 2020) to become one of the biggest up-and-coming goaltenders in the sport. Now a Sabre after being included in the Sam Reinhart trade, his ascent started at the 2021 World Juniors when he broke Carey Price’s SV% record and finished with a minuscule 0.75 GAA and almost-perfect .964 SV% in seven games. Surprisingly walking away with only a silver after losing to the Americans in the gold-medal game, he still was deservedly named as the tournament’s best goaltender, a top-three player on Team Canada and was included on the All-Star ballot.
However, Levi didn’t let the disappointment of losing gold derail his development. No, he used it as fuel to dominate the NCAA with the Northeastern Huskies. Showered with accolades throughout the 2021-22 season, he was named an NCAA (Hockey East) Player of the Week six times, Rookie of the Week once, and Rookie of the Month three times. He also filled his trophy case with the Mike Richter Award given to the NCAA’s best goalie and the Tim Taylor Award given to the NCAA’s top rookie. Then to top it all off, he was named a finalist for the Hobey Baker. To say he had a good year would be a massive understatement.
Related: Sabres’ Goaltending Future Bright with Devon Levi
Returning to the NCAA for his sophomore season in 2022-23, Levi avoided the slump and posted a 2.24 GAA and .933 SV% in 34 games. He then signed his ELC with the Sabres and made his highly anticipated NHL debut against the New York Rangers and promptly recorded his first victory. Shutting the door with 31 saves, he led the Sabres to a 3-2 overtime win and quickly became a fan favorite. That was just the beginning too, as he finished with a 5-2 record. While his numbers weren’t out of this world (2.94 GAA, .905 SV%), he showed that he could play in the NHL.
Levi began the 2023-24 season in the NHL with the Sabres, but eventually was sent down to the Rochester Americans after a mediocre 3.30 GAA and .891 SV% in 20 appearances. It became clear that he needed more seasoning in the AHL, especially with how the Sabres’ defense was playing in front of him.
Levi embraced AHL life and did quite well with a 2.42 GAA and .927 SV% in 26 games. He also faced (and stopped) a lot of rubber in the Americans crease, including a memorable night on Feb. 19 when he stopped 52 of 53 shots en route to a 2-1 overtime win over the Marlies. This season, he is still toiling in the AHL, but appears to be close to being too good for the league. He is one of the AHL’s top goaltenders, sitting with the fourth-best GAA (2.19), fifth-best SV% (.919), and tied for the lead in shutouts (five) with Ken Appleby.
Despite being slightly undersized at 6 feet, Levi uses speed and athleticism to make highlight-reel saves on a nightly basis and has proven to be difficult to beat in the AHL. If he can consistently translate those skills to the NHL, the Sabres’ crease might actually be a strength for the first time since Ryan Miller and Dominik Hasek were perennial All-Stars and Vezina Trophy candidates.
5. Jesper Wallstedt, 22, Minnesota Wild
Wallstedt was selected 20th overall by the Minnesota Wild and looks to be the franchise’s future in net. At 6-foot-3 and 214 pounds, he has the size that NHL GMs crave between the pipes. He is large and very active in the blue paint. He doesn’t shy away from the spotlight as he tends to show up large in the game’s biggest moments. He has the smarts to go along with his elite technique, which has him considered a “can’t miss” prospect.
Wallstedt made the jump to the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) straight from juniors in 2020-21. He played very well in his 22 games for Lulea HF, going 12-10-0 with a .908 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.23 goals-against average (GAA) playing against Sweden’s top pros as a teenager. He also posted a .923 SV% and 2.40 GAA in his two appearances at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship.
After being drafted by the Wild, Wallstedt returned to the SHL and continued to dominate as a 19-year-old. In fact, he ended up improving on the numbers from his draft year, finishing with a 1.98 GAA and .918 SV% along with three shutouts. Starring for Sweden at the 2022 rescheduled 2022 World Juniors in August, he outshined Cossa (who was selected five spots ahead of him) to the tune of a 1.62 GAA and .940 SV%; eventually leading his country to a bronze medal. He also was named the tournament’s top goaltender and a top three player on his team.
Wallstedt made his debut in North America in 2022-23 and is currently playing in the AHL with the Iowa Wild. His numbers weren’t as otherworldly as they were in the SHL, but they were still solid. In 38 games, he posted a 2.68 GAA and .908 SV% and was named to the AHL All-Star Game. Last season, he got his first start in the NHL, but had a rocky debut, allowing seven goals to the Dallas Stars in a 7-2 loss. He struggled after that, allowing four or more goals six times in his next 13 games in the AHL, proving that he still has more developing to do when it comes to his mental game. Fortunately, he got a couple more games in Minnesota to rebound from that loss – including a 24-save shutout against the Blackhawks – that hopefully rebuilt his confidence.
Similar to last season, Wallstedt has been forced to stay in the AHL. With Filip Gustavsson bouncing back to being an elite goaltender and Marc-Andre Fleury taking part in his swan song before retirement, he has only appeared in two NHL games this season. He has also struggled with the Iowa Wild, posting his worst numbers as a pro with a 3.53 GAA and .884 SV%. But there should be no cause for concern, as the team in front of him isn’t very good. Next season, he should get the reins as Gustavsson’s backup and hopefully get back to the form that saw him touted as one of the top goaltenders in the 2021 Draft.
4. Sebastian Cossa, 22, Detroit Red Wings
Surprisingly drafted ahead of Wallstedt, Sebastian Cossa is still in the running to become a solid starter in the NHL one day. In what some would call an underwhelming season in his draft-plus-one year, he led the powerhouse Edmonton Oil Kings to a WHL Championship and a Memorial Cup Final appearance but did it with inconsistent play throughout the year. He also posted the worst GAA and SV% of his WHL career finishing with a 2.28 GAA and .913 SV% in 46 appearances and lost the starting job to Dylan Garand at the 2022 WJC.
Spending most of the season in the ECHL with the Toledo Walleye, Cossa only got into three games with the Grand Rapids Griffins posting an ugly 5.57 GAA and .783 SV%. He was really good in the ECHL last season, but not at the level you would expect from a top-15 draft pick.
Fortunately for the Red Wings, Cossa was pretty good in his first full season in the AHL. He sported a 2.41 GAA and .913 SV% and had a 22-9-9 record in 40 appearances, leading the Griffins to their first playoff appearance since 2019.
Cossa has built on that success this season with the Griffins and is posting similar numbers, with a 2.38 GAA and .913 SV% in 31 appearances so far. He also made his Red Wings debut on Dec. 9, 2024, and posted his first win, a 6-5 shootout victory over the Sabres.
Despite Cossa’s initial struggles to acclimate himself to the pro game, he will eventually make his mark in the NHL as a starter with the Red Wings someday, as his toolbox of size (a gaudy 6-foot-6), athleticism, and ability to make saves in a variety of ways are things every goaltending coach, scout and general manager (GM) drool over. Basically what I am saying is, don’t give up on him yet. Furthermore, with Steve Yzerman’s success with his draft picks so far (see Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond), it’s probably best not to doubt his choice of Cossa over Wallstedt.
3. Trey Augustine, 19, Detroit Red Wings
Next up, the man that was selected a few picks after Hrabal, Trey Augustine. It was a little surprising to see who he went to though as the Detroit Red Wings already had Cossa in their system. But with Yzerman holding two second-round picks in a row, it was kind of a no-brainer to select a first-round talent like Augustine, even with that being the case.
Augustine was ranked third on NHL Central Scouting’s final rankings, and was the third goaltender off the board after Gajan and Hrabal. Another standout for the USNTDP, he put up ridiculous numbers for the U18 and USNTDP Juniors teams in his draft year posting a 2.13 GAA and .926 SV% in the former and a 2.34 GAA and .928 SV% in the latter. He was also a star for Team USA at the 2023 U18s and World Juniors, where he won a gold medal at the U18s, a bronze medal at the 2023 World Juniors, and back-to-back golds in 2024 and 2025.
Transitioning to the NCAA in 2024 with Michigan State University, Augustine took the college world by storm, and just like Hrabal, got a ton of work in the crease. In 35 appearances, he had a 2.96 GAA and .915 SV%, along with three shutouts and a ridiculous 23-9-2 record.
Just like his freshman year, Augustine has dominated the NCAA in his sophomore campaign and is again one of the NCAA’s top goaltenders. Surprisingly, posting even better numbers than last season, he has improved his GAA to a stingy 2.09 and his SV% to .925.
Blessed with incredible athleticism and awareness in the crease, Augustine could end up being better than Cossa and form a lethal one-two punch in goal for the Red Wings in the future. Judging by his dominance at the NCAA level so far, he has the potential to be an elite starter in the NHL, something that would be welcome in Detroit as they have not had one since the days of Terry Sawchuk and Chris Osgood.
2. Jacob Fowler, 19, Montreal Canadiens
Jacob Fowler is hands-down the Montreal Canadiens’ goaltender of the future, potentially becoming the first elite netminder to suit up for the Habs since Carey Price ruled the crease. Drafted 69th overall in 2023, the now 19-year-old has dominated the goaltending world since debuting in the United States Hockey League (USHL) with the Youngstown Phantoms in 2021-22. He hasn’t fallen below a .921 SV% or posted above a 2.28 GAA, which makes it even more surprising that he fell to the third round. In his draft year, he won the USHL Goaltender of the Year award finishing with a league-best 2.28 GAA and .921 SV% along with being named the Clark Cup MVP after leading the Phantoms to a championship.
Fowler then transitioned to the NCAA with Boston College and quickly became their starting goaltender in his freshman year. Again, he dominated, finishing with a 2.14 GAA and .926 SV% along with three shutouts and a 32-6-1 record in 39 appearances. The accolades rained down – as expected – as he was named to the First All-American, All-Rookie, All-Tournament, and First All-Star teams at the end of the season. He also led BC to the NCAA (Hockey East) championship and won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2024 World Juniors. To say he had a great season would be a massive understatement.
This season, Fowler has continued to be a superstar for Boston College and is now the second-best goaltending prospect in the NHL. His numbers are honestly mind-boggling, as he somehow has been better than last season, sporting a 1.67 GAA, .939 SV% and a career-high six shutouts. If Canadiens fans aren’t excited about the potential of this kid yet, they should be now.
1. Yaroslav Askarov, 22, San Jose Sharks
The foundation of the Nashville Predators’ success for the past decade was laid down in the crease. Pekka Rinne has built a Hall of Fame resume in Music City and has since passed the torch to Jusse Saros. With the future in mind, Nashville used the 11th overall pick of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft to select Jaroslav Askarov.
The teenage sensation was the highest-rated goaltender heading into the 2020 Draft. He was coming off a season that saw him dominate all three levels of Russian hockey, as he played nine games for SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL and put up a .920 SV% and 2.00 GAA as a 17-year-old.
Following the draft, he had another great season in Russia with another nine games in the KHL. He improved his numbers from 2019-20 with a .951 SV and 1.21 GAA and somehow went 5-4-0. Askarov’s performance at the World Junior Championship left a bit to be desired. Russia entered the tournament as one of the gold medal favorites, but he gave up five goals in a loss to the United States to open the tournament. He played well to get Russia into the elimination round but then allowed five goals to Canada in a semifinal loss and another four in the bronze medal game against Finland.
Askarov split his 2021-22 season between the KHL and VHL (Russia’s version of the AHL), where he posted a 1.81 GAA and .913 SV% with SKA St. Petersburg (KHL) and a 2.57 GAA and .899 SV% with SKA-Neva St. Petersburg (VHL). He also played three games in the VHL Playoffs where he recorded a 2.01 GAA and .937 SV%.
Askarov has all the tools to be a successful goaltender at the NHL level. His athleticism and powerful legs allow him to move from post to post at lightning-quick speed. His positioning in the crease is at an elite level, but he uses that quickness to recover on the rare occasion he is caught out of place. In what was a contract year for him in the KHL in 2021-22, he turned pro in 2022-23 and made his debut with the Milwaukee Admirals in the AHL. In 48 games, he finished with a solid 2.69 GAA and .911 SV%.
Last season, Askarov elevated himself to the number-one goaltending prospect in the NHL. He not only dominated the AHL with a 2.39 GAA, .911 SV%, and six shutouts but also posted his first NHL win with a 27-save performance against the Washington Capitals on Dec. 30. He’s very close to being ready for a full-time spot in the big leagues, but seeing the writing on the wall after the Predators signed Saros to an eight-year extension, he asked for a trade in the offseason. GM Barry Trotz accommodated his request and sent him to the San Jose Sharks.
With Vitek Vanecek and now Alexandar Georgiev as roadblocks in the NHL, Askarov has spent most of his time in the AHL again, this time with the San Jose Barracuda. But that hasn’t derailed his status as the top goaltending prospect. Fowler is inching closer and closer to taking the mantle, but Askarov still has it – for now.
All 10 of these netminders have the raw talent to become starting goaltenders in the NHL. However, we all know that talent alone doesn’t always make it to the highest level of the game. As such, it will be fun to watch the journey of these youngsters and how many of them live up to their full potential.
Sign up for our FREE NHL Prospects & Draft Substack newsletter
