The Anaheim Ducks already have a solid situation in net, with John Gibson between the pipes. However, it seems as though the Ducks may have found another high-end goaltender, in prospect Lukas Dostal.
Dostal was selected by the Ducks in the third round of the 2018 NHL Draft. Since then, he’s spent the majority of his time in Finland, where he’s turned into one of the top goaltenders in the country’s highest professional league.
Goalie Lukas Dostal (ANA) is selected as the best player for the month of October in the Finnish #Liiga. https://t.co/9hN7rOSsru
Last season, Dostal posted an excellent 1.78 goals against average and .928 save percentage in 43 Liiga games, at just 19 years old. Those stats were good enough for Dostal to rank second in the league in goals against average and third in the league in save percentage. This season, he hasn’t slowed down one bit, with a ridiculous 1.56 goals against average and .947 save percentage in his first nine games of the year.
It could certainly create an interesting situation for the Ducks, given that John Gibson is signed to a long-term deal and despite a down year, remains one of the league’s best goalies. Should Dostal end up transitioning well to North America, Anaheim could have two very capable goaltenders.
That said, we can’t be positive that Dostal will turn into a legitimate starting goalie. All signs may point in that direction but if we know anything about goaltenders, it’s that they’re unpredictable. As far as we can tell though, Dostal does look to have a very high ceiling.
We’ll likely still need to wait a couple years before we see Dostal get into any NHL action and for the time being, he’ll remain one of Anaheim’s top prospects. However, don’t be surprised if he does turn into a starting goaltender in the NHL down the road.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
What's your long-term projection for Lukas Dostal?
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