Devan Dubnyk: Goaltender of the Future?

Their is a lot to like about Devan Dubnyk. The Regina Saskatchewan native is a fromer first round pick of the Edmonton Oilers in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Although it was a questionable pick at the time, he is looking much better then the five picks that followed. Those players included Alexander Radulov, Petteri Nokelainen, Marek Schwarz, Kyle Chipchura, and Lauri Korpikoski. Although I'm normally not one who supports drafting goaltenders in the first round, It's hard not to like this pick.

It has taken Devan Dubnyk a lot longer to get to the NHL then most thought, but he has been worth the wait. The 6'6" netminder has a respectable 0.911 save percentage on a team that is currently ranked second worst in goals against. Even more impressive is his record. Dubnyk currently sits with 10 wins and 12 regulation losses. He does however have EIGHT overtime losses and I can't even recall how many of his regulation losses have come with under a minute left in play. My point is, that if this team improves in the shooutout and in overtime that Dubnyk could be sitting a very nice 18-12 record on the worst team in the leauge. Oh and one shutout.

Given that this is his first full season with the Oilers (he played only 19 games last season), he really has a chance to be the goaltender of the future with the Edmonton Oilers. His numbers don't express his full potential seeing as he has almost always been on the team that is the "underdog". He has had times where he has made 40+ saves and still lost the game because of the team in front of him. With a defence in front of Dubnyk, I would be surprised to see his save percentage rise and his goals against drop.

At the same time the kid is only 24. If you look at a goaltender like Cam Ward he had a .897 save percentage in the regular season when he was 23 and when to the stanley cup and followed it up with a .904 save percentage in 2007-2008. In fact Ward is seemed as one of the best goaltenders in the leauge (not elite but still capable to winning a cup) even though his career save percentage is .909 in the NHL. Thats less then what Dubnyk is currently sitting at now.

The young Oilers look like they finally have a few peices coming together.