Vancouver Canucks Goaltending Prospect Earns League Wide Honours
Photo credit: The Hockey News.
A Vancouver Canucks goaltending prospect is among the best in the entire National Hockey League according to a recent article on The Athletic.
The Vancouver Canucks' scouting staff did an excellent job throughout the last year finding and identifying players that the club could select at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.
On Day 2 of the draft, the Canucks filled some holes in their prospect pool ultimately selecting five players including Memorial Cup-winning netminder Aleksei Medvedev of the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights.
Medvedev was a sneaky good pick by the Canucks, who was surprisingly still available in the middle of the second round and as he heads back to London for his first season as their starting netminder, he's recently been recognized as one of the best goaltending prospects in all of hockey.
Vancouver Canucks goaltending prospect among the best in the NHL
Last week, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic released an update version of his prospect rankings - one for skaters, which featured three Vancouver Canucks, as well as the top-20 drafted goaltenders.
Aleksei Medvedev made his debut on Wheeler's list last week, coming in at 15th ahead of prospects such as Yegor Zavragin (Philadelphia), Carl Lindbom (Vegas) and Jakub Dobes, who made 16 appearances in the regular season and three in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Montreal Canadiens.
Wheeler highlighted that Medvedev is competitive on rebounds and his quickness & hands are two of the biggest attributes of his game, which bodes well for the London Knights next season as he's set to take on an even bigger role.
"He moves well, is competitive on second and third chances/scrambles, and while he plays behind a top team, he has been consistently good for them. I have found that he can play a little deep in his net and look small with the bit of a hunch that he has (a hunch over his toes that a lot of Russian goalies have as their stance), but he makes up for it with his quickness, talent and good hands. He's also, by all accounts, a really hard worker. There were some who believed he was the second- or third-best goalie prospect in the 2025 draft, and he looks like a legit prospect and has a lot of the tools you look for in a goalie. He's also very young (he was just days away from being eligible for 2026), which has some excited about his continued development." Wheeler said.
While Medvedev will have a ton of national spotlight on him in London, given they're one of the top junior hockey teams in Canada, the St. Petersburg, Russia native will have the opportunity to join the Vancouver Canucks organization much sooner than expected, because of a new rule in the CBA starting in 2026, which allows teams to have one 19-year-old on their AHL affiliate's roster.
Last season, Medvedev appeared in 34 games for the Knights where he had a record of 22-8-2 along with a 2.79 goals against average, a .912 save percentage and three shutouts.
Source: Scott Wheeler/The Athletic
Top 20 drafted NHL goalie prospects ranking: Askarov, Fowler lead Wheeler's summer 2025 list
Top 20 drafted NHL goalie prospects ranking: Askarov, Fowler lead Wheeler's summer 2025 list
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 22 | 1273 ANSWERS Vancouver Canucks Goaltending Prospect Earns League Wide Honours Do you think Aleksei Medvedev should be ranked higher than 15th on The Athletic's list? | ||
| Yes | 652 | 51.2 % |
| No | 621 | 48.8 % |
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