Time for another series at McKeen’s from our scouting staff. The 2026 NHL Draft season is well under way, and our scouts have been busy soaking in the action around the globe. Analyzing early season play can be difficult, perhaps even a bit of a ruse. Hot starts aren’t always sustainable, and cold starts are not always indicative. However, players can still catch our attention in positive ways and that’s what this series intends to highlight.
These are Liam Crouse’s GOALIES
Carter Casey
Medicine Hat Tigers - Goalie - 6-foot-2, 181 pounds
Coming into the draft season, few goalies stood out with a D-1 resume as intriguing as Casey's. As a high school goalie from Minnesota with rather uninspiring numbers compared to others who garnered NHL attention in the past, Casey wasn’t on many radars until an untimely injury to the Waterloo Blackhawks starter, which got Casey the call-up. In just 5 regular-season games, Casey won the starter’s crease and took Waterloo to within one goal of winning the Clark Cup, posting a .918 save percentage across all 15 playoff games. Now, in his draft year, Casey has transitioned to the WHL part of an American wave of goalies entering the CHL due to the new rule changes.
In the small amount of WHL action Casey has seen, he has been nothing short of spectacular. In his 30+ save shutout performance over Portland in just his second ever start, Casey played the game nearly perfectly in every moment. He’s demonstrated that at least when he is in the zone, he may possess elite-level traits in every major skill. He’s calm yet moves with intensity, plays aggressively yet knows how to control his depth, has explosiveness and mobility yet is smart and calculated, anticipating and tracking play at a high level. Yet his hands are his best asset, and as of now, are arguably the best I have seen in a draft-eligible goalie.
It’s hard to poke holes through his game so far. The only minor technical concerns he has are potentially inconsistent rebound control and a stance where he can resort to getting low and narrow with some double coverage of his hands over his pads. But at the same time, he’s shown excellent rebound technique in many situations, and with how well he tracks pucks and recovers, he is always mitigating a rebound by being right there. The biggest concern is that his goalie partner, Jordan Switzer, is currently monopolizing the crease. And while it is a strong possibility that Casey could eventually take over, so far and for the foreseeable future, Casey won’t be getting the same opportunity as some of the other goalies in his class, which isn’t ideal for his development. But the skillset is enough to like where Casey looks like he could be a potential starter in the NHL and a strong candidate for a top 64 pick.
Casey gets to the top of the crease on a quick low-to-high slot pass. Shows off the quickness, gets set, and makes a great high glove save with perfect tracking.
Casey aggressively challenges the shooter, establishes really good backflow to match the shooter’s pace, and with great patience, makes an easy stop, staying with the play the whole way.
Casey takes a good route over to follow the player with the puck using a simple shuffle, then adjusts deeper to match the shooter coming in closer, then stuffs the shot with a projected blocker and great eyes on the puck all the way.
Ryder Fetterolf
Ottawa 67’s - Goalie - 6-foot-0, 185 pounds
Another blue-chip American goalie who transitioned to CHL hockey before heading to the NCAA after going 49-0-0 in USHS Prep last year, Ryder Fetterolf is currently one of the best-performing draft-eligible goalies, becoming the leading netminder for a promising Ottawa 67’s team.
Similar to the second round pick from the OHL last year, Jack Ivankovic, Ryder Fetterolf is an undersized goalie oozing with loads of raw physical potential. His skating already looks to be the best in the class, being very precise and extremely quick on his feet. He also possesses a high degree of mobility and has tons of leg power, where he can explode from any position and rob shooters. An intense and aggressive goalie, Fetterolf plays the position with incredible purpose, giving maximal effort on every shuffle and every slide. Due to his aggressive nature, he can be a little erratic at times, moving excessively. But he has a very strong base in his stance, is great positionally managing angles and routes effectively, and is a great tracker, and has shown a decent level of cognitive processing already.
While Fetterolf lacks the size of the normal NHL goalie, it shouldn’t diminish his talent and potential. His level of play early on is very promising, and while he has some areas of his game to tighten up, like rebounds and being calmer in the net, his work ethic and runway as the starter for a great team should give him ample opportunity to improve throughout the year. He’s also fortunate that goalies similar to him, such as Jack Ivankovic, have been breaking down the barrier of small goalies shouldn’t be drafted high, which means that being a top 64 pick is certainly not out of the question.
Fetterolf makes a strong push off the post, exploding laterally and upward through the crease to make the stop.
Here, Fetterolf is reading the play extremely well. He’s matching the speed really well, adjusts deeper to account for the pass, and then uses incredible agility to quickly change direction and stretch out.
Again, Fetterolf uses good routes, adjusting his depth, making a quick and fast push over to the center, grabs more ice, uses backflow to adjust deeper, and makes a good glove save.
Parker Snell
Edmonton Oil Kings - Goalie - 6-foot-2, 179 pounds
Parker Snell is one of the major Canadian draft-eligible goalies this year, coming out of a decorated CSSHL career before becoming a tandem with the Edmonton Oil Kings, where he’s off to a hot start.
The 6-foot-2 goaltender plays much bigger than his height would suggest. He holds an upright upper body and long, projected arms; he keeps wider of the body to appear to take up more net than his peers of the same size. What’s really impressive, though, is how stable his stance is throughout his movement. Snell’s arms never even twitch unless he’s making a save with his hands. His whole upper body moves as one structured unit with so much precision that it’s hard to believe he’s just 17 years old. It gives him a huge efficiency advantage. His hands are always in the best position to make a save whenever he’s traveling, and he moves so smoothly, with his upper body never lagging. To see this level of detail and calmness in the net already is a major green flag and gives the impression that he has a strong work ethic to achieve such technique and should continue to develop rapidly.
This isn’t to say he lacks raw skills either. He’s an exceptional skater, using the shuffle as his preferred method. He’s quick, and even though he never likes to show it, it’s clear that Snell has a great deal of mobility and power locked away there, as one does not move that smoothly without mobile joints. He tracks pucks perfectly. He will never lose sight of the puck, regardless of where it goes. His saves are thoughtful and meticulous, and he makes sure to track the puck all the way in and then tracks them out, recovering after rebounds with grace. Despite being 4 inches smaller on paper, he plays exactly like Anthony Stolarz, with how he positions himself, and is exceedingly calm and deliberate. There isn’t anything wild about the goalie; he plays in a way where you know what to expect of him, making him a reliable and projectable option, which could potentially lead him to being the number one goalie of this class.
Snell lets out a bad rebound here, but he recovers, making an athletic stretch-out save, having his glove nice and projected.
At the start of the clip, Snell does a great job tracking the pass quickly out from behind the line to the slot. He makes a really good push, extremely smooth and controlled, with some quickness to get out there. Then later, he follows a high-to-low pass, in a perfectly stable stance, calm push, and a really great route to get the stop.
Here, he follows a royal road uphill pass perfectly. He takes a good route to gain depth on the shot, traveling parallel with the puck. He leads with his eyes, then his full upper body moves as one unit with perfectly projected gloves.
William Lacelle
Rimouski Oceanic - Goalie - 6-foot-1, 172 pounds
As a D-1, no goalie was more impressive than William Lacelle over the course of the full year. A rare QMJHL first-round pick, Lacelle ran away with the starter's crease in Rimouski last year after severely outplaying St-Hilaire, a former 3rd string on Team Canada at the world juniors, while being 4 years younger than him. Lacelle boasted a .909 SV% with a whopping 27-5-3 record, becoming one of the best starting goalies in the QMJHL at 16, doing so at 5-foot-11 at the time. This year, Lacelle has hit the ground running, shouldering even more of the workload and putting Rimouski on his back so far.
Lacelle is a born competitor. With Rimouski transitioning into a rebuilding period, Lacelle has to work overtime to keep them afloat and is the best player on the ice in a Rimouski jersey night in and night out to steal games. Lacelle appears to be the pinnacle of athleticism in this class at present. He has incredible control over his edges, and with his gifted mobility, he’s able to explode in any direction when prompted. He loves to aggressively challenge shooters when he can, opting for the old-school challenge at the hash marks to establish gap control on breakaways. He makes the aggressive style work due to his ability to quickly adjust his feet and his awareness of his angling and gauging the shooter’s speeds.
Unlike other aggressive/athletic goalies, such as Samuel Meloche, who possesses similar innate abilities and size, Lacelle is not erratic. He moves with maximum intensity every play, yet is still able to keep his body stable and in check. He has some work to do, particularly on rebounds and potentially his hands, but as a raw goalie prospect with his mental feats of competitiveness and performance, he’s one of the most intriguing goalies in the class.
Lacelle pops up from an RVH to the top of the crease for a slot shot very quickly. He makes a great save, then reacts quickly to the bouncing rebound and explodes laterally to make an awesome save.
A 1-on-0 situation here on Lacelle, he stays very patient on his feet, establishes great backflow to gap the shooter, and calmly stays with the puck all the way to make an easy save.
As Lacelle begins to see the high-to-low pass, he begins to quickly retreat to his post, where he stays open as he recognizes cross-ice passing opportunities. When the pass comes, he just has to make small movements over to get square, thanks to his depth control, and makes the save.
Xavier Wendt
Tri-City Americans - Goalie - 6-foot-1, 165 pounds
As a product of Shattuck St. Mary’s, Wendt was one of the USA’s top goalie prospects coming into this season, and like so many high-end American goalies have done, Wendt has entered the CHL in place of the USHL, joining Tri-City. So far, he’s been running away with the starting job, as he’s a beacon of light for an uninspiring Americans squad with a seemingly unreliable backup.
Xavier Wendt may, in fact, be the fastest goalie in the draft class. His explosive pushes are akin to similarly sized Dustin Wolf, zipping around the crease smoothly like he weighs nothing at all. If Lacelle is the peak of athleticism, Wendt is the peak of skating. His quickness and precision have been astounding so far. He can engage in play at a moment’s notice and be able to seemingly teleport through his crease at will. He’s very smart with his depth management and knows which routes to take, always looking for an opportunity to grab more ice to fill out more net when he can.
If there were a dictionary for the gold standard goalie stance, it would have a picture of Xavier Wendt in it. He holds his gloves in front of him, covers up high very well, and has an appropriate knee bend and hip flexion. It allows him to be very light on his feet, yet always ready for a shot. Wendt has also shown cognitive aptitude, processing play very quickly, and tracking pucks very well. Combining his skating and positioning with an intense play-style and athleticism makes for an extremely exciting goalie to watch, and someone who could go very far in the NHL if he continues developing.
On a rush cross-ice pass, Wendt makes an unbelievably fast and smooth push over. He takes a smart route deeper in the crease and was so fast that he could slide and keep his upper body upright, where others would have had to stretch out instead.
Here, Wendt is simply shuffling along with the play. Stays a bit deeper, so he maximizes travel time. He uses that picture-perfect stance, keeping it nice and stable through motion, and on the last push, he quickly finds the puck and makes a nice glove save.
Completely disengaged from the play as his defense has full possession, an unexpected turnover forces Wendt to jump into being ready. He gets to the top of the crease in a flash, out of being fully relaxed, gets set, and snags a crazy glove save.