Top 5 goalie prospects in 2018 NHL Draft

By Nick McAdam | May 29, 2018

BOISBRIAND, QC - OCTOBER 27: Goaltender Olivier Rodrigue #33 of the Drummondville Voltigeurs protects his net against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada during the QMJHL game at Centre d'Excellence Sports Rousseau on October 27, 2017 in Boisbriand, Quebec, Canada. The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada defeated the Drummondville Voltigeurs 2-0. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

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COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – MAY 10, 2018: The Czech Republic’s goalie David Rittich (L) in action in the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Group A Preliminary Round match against Russia at Royal Arena. Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS (Photo by Anton NovoderezhkinTASS via Getty Images) /

2. Lukas Dostal

Lukas Dostal has and will be the future of Czech Republic goaltending for a long, long time. Six seasons he’s spent with the same exact club and country, all years in which Dostal has put up some amazing stats.

The 18-year-old is ranked the top European goalie and the second-best keeper available for a reason — solid save percentage numbers with a career-high .958 percent and keeping a respectable GAA of at least 2.30 over the past few seasons.

Dostal likely has the most postseason experience out of all of the goalies on this list with six appearances over the course of his career in the Czech’s development leagues.

He’s been the Czech Republic’s No. 1 guy simply because of his brilliant consistency. For a country that isn’t Canada, USA, Russia or Sweden, it’s usually rare to find a goalie that can put up save percentage numbers of above .900 percent. Yet, Dostal has never failed to do that for his country.

The goalie has also played a hunk of games each season reaching above or around the 25 mark, which is nice to see for his age and the level he’s currently playing in.

There might have been a glitch in the system, but there must have been a game at the U16 level where Dostal let in 15 goals in one game. Maybe the NHL All-Stars were visiting the country at the time.

Consistency, reliability and trust are some of the few critical qualities that Dostal contains. He can fall right to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings or the Philadelphia Flyers; all of which would surely like to have a prospect like Dostal in their system.

Note: The picture does not match the player in this slide.

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