CHL Goaltenders: Roy Talent

Goaltending is often regarded as a tricky position for NHL scouts to scrutinize as many of them have not played the position themselves. McKeen's Director of Scouting Max Giese was a goaltender and now coaches the position locally in Wisconsin. He provides his insights on some of the top goaltenders available this year from the CHL including Olivier Roy, Edward Pasquale, Scott Stajcer and Nathan Lieuwen.

Olivier Roy (2009), G, Cape Breton

Roy is currently the top goaltending prospect available in the 2009 draft .. although he's only 5-foot-11 and 163 pounds, he plays bigger than that because of his superb technique .. he is so consumed by making himself appear larger in the net that he often makes all of his extremities parallel with the goal-line, which leaves him susceptible to producing rebounds directly into the slot area .. he really has the butterfly style down to an exact science and his skating is exceptional .. his quickness, both reactionary and laterally are phenomenal .. plus, so much of goaltending is what's between the ears and Roy has never flinched when playing in a high-pressure situation .. he has that confident, calm and collect demeanor that is needed in a goaltender to survive the NHL.

Edward Pasquale (2009), G, Saginaw

A focused and athletic hybrid that could go in the first-round if a team falls for his dynamic combination of size and skill .. when the puck is in tight around his crease, he elects to have one leg pad flat on the ice and the other in a semi-vertical position, this allows him to recover swiftly without opening any holes or to collapse to a full butterfly instantaneously .. fiercely competitive and while he becomes scrambly at times, he makes a lot of secondary stops because he refuses to quit on the puck .. he plays too low in his stance and butterfly .. both his glove and blocker tend to sag toward the ice, especially while moving laterally, which is a big sin for a goaltender aspiring to play in the NHL .. this faulty habit will lead to shooters exposing him up high if not corrected and it has negatively affected his balance.

Scott Stajcer (2009), G, Owen Sound

Stajcer is a big, first save goaltender that fills the net with sound positioning and limits secondary scoring opportunities by controlling the rebounds .. scouts that are familiar with him say that both of his parents were NCAA athletes and his work ethic is strong .. he seems a bit heavy and needs to develop some buoyancy .. it appears as if you need a wrench to get him back up from his butterfly .. his ability to recover is horrible and once the play breaks down, he's literally down and out sitting there helpless in his butterfly, while the opponents enjoy wide open cracks at the net .. dexterity and recovery speed is something that he can work on through repetition and in the gym.

Nathan Lieuwen (2009), G, Kootenay Ice

Understandably, Lieuwen was the goat of the CHL top prospects game and rightfully so, but he is reminiscent of a young, untrained Mike Smith .. he's got that size and the crease movement to develop, but he goes down way too early and often plays with no rhyme or reason .. for such a big kid he plays very small in the crease because he needlessly hits the butterfly before the shooter makes a move and this exposes the upper half of the net .. when in the butterfly, Lieuwen's long legs cover the width of the net, however he needs to somewhat compact his butterfly because he currently gives shooters holes to expose in tight around his body .. definitely a project, but still worth another long look because of that size/lateral mobility combination.