by Ryan Smith | AHL On The Beat
A case might be made that goaltenders have probably the most unpredictable growth path of any place in any skilled sport.
Take the vastly totally different instances of a pair of younger netminders within the St. Louis Blues group for example.
Joel Hofer arrived on the professional scene full-time with the 2021-22 Springfield Thunderbirds, a staff that went on a magical run to the Calder Cup Finals, successful their first seven postseason video games within the course of. Hofer earned worldwide viral fame by changing into the primary goalie in AHL postseason historical past to bodily shoot and rating a purpose.
His growth additional superior the following season, when he was named an AHL Second Staff All-Star after successful a Thunderbirds staff file 27 video games. Earlier than he had even reached 90 appearances within the Springfield purpose crease, Hofer had risen to full-time NHL standing, the place he has remained in St. Louis because the begin of the 2023-24 season.
Nonetheless, as NHL groups and normal managers can attest, you can’t put all of your eggs into one prospect’s basket. A 12 months after deciding on Hofer within the fourth spherical of the 2018 NHL Draft, Doug Armstrong used his third-round choose in 2019 on one other goaltender – one with a distinctly totally different background and bodily make-up: Colten Ellis.
Early returns on the Ellis choice have been, in a phrase, astonishing. Through the COVID-shortened 2020-21 QMJHL season with the Charlottetown Islanders, Ellis put up a season among the many greatest in current CHL reminiscence. He gained 23 of 24 begins, posting seven shutouts within the course of and a microscopic 1.78 goals-against common.
Upon turning professional, nevertheless, Ellis discovered – as nearly each goaltender does – that such lofty and gaudy statistics don’t all the time translate.
“In junior hockey, there’s loads of talent, however once you’re transitioning to professional hockey, the sport simply comes a lot faster,” Ellis mentioned. “Guys are in a position to make performs faster and they’re larger, stronger, and sooner. That was the largest adjustment for me, studying to play at a velocity the place performs develop so rapidly, coupled with there being loads of damaged performs.”
Regardless of some anticipated rising pains, Ellis was in a position to earn 16 wins in 40 mixed appearances as a rookie with the T-Birds and the ECHL’s Worcester Railers. He picked up his first AHL win in his debut at Bridgeport with a 28-save efficiency on Nov. 6, 2021.
For Ellis, his sophomore marketing campaign would carry concerning the first main bout of adversity in his profession. With Springfield’s goaltending set between Hofer and Vadim Zherenko, and Worcester using their New York Islanders affiliation to fill out their netminding, Ellis needed to discover a new residence with ECHL Tulsa. For the primary time in his profession, Ellis noticed his save proportion dip under .900, and his objectives towards common had risen to three.46.
The largest blow, nevertheless, got here within the type of a hip damage that required surgical procedure early in 2023, ending his season early and placing his profession at an vital crossroads with only one 12 months remaining on his entry-level contract. Unable to play, Ellis found the age-old story that absence makes the center develop fonder.
“Being away from hockey for therefore lengthy actually made me miss it,” Ellis recounted. “I believe I sort of misplaced that (ardour) a little bit bit in my first 12 months and a half as a professional. I used to be off the ice for 3 or 4 months of that spring and going into the summer time, and it made me notice how a lot I really like hockey, and I believe that reignited the hearth in me to wish to be a professional hockey participant and hone in on all of the points that make me an excellent skilled. I dialed in on what makes me who I’m.”
Ellis, not like many goaltending prospects of the period, isn’t a towering presence, standing simply 6-foot-1. The 24-year-old isn’t naive to the altering panorama of the place, although.
“[Being a smaller goalie] wasn’t actually talked about till possibly the final couple of years,” he mentioned. “I didn’t see myself as a smaller man. I play a unique model of sport than [Zherenko] would play, totally different than Hofer, and totally different than [Jordan Binnington]. It’s about realizing what your sport is and trusting the people who find themselves serving to you get higher.”
Ellis has no scarcity of nice sources to lean on, from his longtime goaltending mentor Scott Gouthro to Blues goaltending coach Dave Alexander, and most notably, Thunderbirds goaltending coach and Blues goaltending growth coach Dan Stewart.
“Stew has been nice for me,” Ellis mentioned. “One in all his greatest attributes is that he’s very tailor-made to who he’s teaching. It’s not a one-size-fits-all technique. He’s good at zoning in on what makes me one of the best model of myself, and he’s in a position to throw in strategies or work on sure parts of my sport, and we construct off of that.”
That partnership, mixed with a resurgent ardour for the place, has propelled Ellis not simply in his private growth, however amongst his friends. Relationship again to the 2023-24 season, Ellis has posted a .916 save proportion over his final 25 AHL appearances, together with a stellar .924 mark throughout his stint in Springfield final season. Had he performed sufficient minutes to qualify for statistical management classes, Ellis would have completed within the top-five in save proportion via the entire league and second amongst rookies.
Maybe most promisingly, although, Ellis has found that pleasure for the sport normally correlates with success.
“You’re enjoying one of the best once you’re having probably the most enjoyable. A giant message has been to play the place your ft are at and don’t get forward of your self attempting to play on the subsequent stage. Deal with the place you’re at, and luxuriate in that course of.”
