Heading towards the end of the first round candidates, we’ll turn to our first goaltender of the BSH list and most mock drafts – Prince George Cougar Joshua Ravensbergen.
By conventional wisdom, Joshua Ravensbergen isn’t exactly a prototypical development story. Relatively unknown, under-scouted, and unheralded up until his WHL Draft Year, 214 picks came and went without Ravensbergen being drafted. Then, Prince George picked Ravensbergen up as an undrafted free agent, and Ravensbergen’s growing tools immediately began to show themselves. Over the two years Ravensbergen played with Prince George, he quickly amassed a reputation as one of the strongest goaltending prospects in recent memory. So, without further ado, let’s get into what makes Ravensbergen a potentially special goaltending prospect.
Pre-draft rankings
No. 28 by The Athletic (Scott Wheeler)
No. 23 by Elite Prospects
No. 28 by TSN (Bob McKenzie)
No. 23 by Daily Faceoff
Bio
DOB: November 27, 2006
Birthplace: North Vancouver, BC, Canada
Position: Goaltender
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 192 lbs
Catches: R
Statistics
What’s there to like?
For whatever team that selects Ravensbergen in late June, the overarching philosophy about the pick will be a bet on the goaltender’s raw tools. Among the goaltenders in his draft class, Ravensbergen’s tools and physical attributes stand far above the rest of the pack – including other higher-end goaltending prospects like Pyotr Andreyanov and Jack Ivankovic.
Listed at 6’5” and 192 pounds, Ravensbergen is a pretty hulking presence on the ice, but has really garnered a ton of hype due to his ability to move effectively through the crease at that size. With Ravensbergen, if his movement and agility continues to develop, he possesses that rare combination of size, athleticism, and seamless movement that some of the absolute best in the NHL possess (guys like the 6’4” Andrei Vasilevskiy).
A ton of the high draft stock and reputation around Ravensbergen stems from his outstanding 2023-24 WHL playoffs run with Prince George, where he posted a .931 SV%, a 1.98 GAA, and a 9-2-1 record across 12 games for the Cougars. After that run, Ravensbergen not only earned the starting job for the Cougars, but he quickly created a consensus around Ravensbergen as the No. 1 goalie of the 2025 Draft.
Mechanically, we aren’t going to comment too much ourselves on what Ravensbergen can and can’t do, and areas he needs to improve. There are a few things that really do stand out though – namely Ravensbergen’s strong movement from post-to-post and his ability to move easily through the crease. Lots of highlight reel saves from Ravensbergen come via a stretch of the pad, or a strong push-off from post to post to deny a Grade-A rush chance. In addition, there’s not a lot of panic in Ravensbergen’s game, and he really remains square to the shooter and anticipates play nicely. The pure numbers this past season (.901 SV%, 3.00 GAA) don’t blow you away, but you watch a highlight reel of Ravensbergen and see the potential for a starting goaltender in the NHL.
I've become a big fan of watching Joshua Ravensbergen stop pucks. pic.twitter.com/V7YGCCxHSS
— Sean Shapiro (@seanshapiro) September 23, 2024
What’s not to like?
Larger goaltenders like Ravensbergen come with a ton of risk, especially when it comes to the always-tricky projections of what a goaltender can do. By far, it’s the most difficult position in the sport to gauge, to translate numbers in juniors to projections at the NHL level, etc. Junior leagues, invariably, all have various different styles and levels of defensive quality, and that can make it really hard to understand what a goalie’s potential is. Honestly, it’s very hard to understand what constitutes an effective, consistent, NHL goalie, let alone who has the potential to be one in juniors. It’s an inconsistent position that varies year-to-year, kinda like a bullpen reliever in baseball. Sure, there’s top level guys like Connor Hellebuyck, but those are few and far between and players are often very hard to rely on for consistent production.
Really, the point with Ravensbergen and evaluating goaltenders is this: it’s a swing to take a goalie in a high draft position, especially as a late-first round or early-second round pick. Goaltenders are so volatile, and when you consider that as a larger goaltender there’s going to be a lot of moving parts with Ravensbergen’s technique, there’s even more risk here. There’s very reasonable cause for concern with Ravensbergen becoming a bust, especially with his lack of really strong numbers at the junior level. His performance was certainly passable, and stellar in one playoff run with Prince George, but betting on a goaltender’s raw tools rather than actual performance is a big risk with a high pick. There’s risk that comes with any player at any position when you get to the end of the first round and early second round, and that’s not necessarily a problem with most other positions – but using a pick on a goalie in a higher round comes with a given expectation for most teams. The goaltending position and the calculus that goes behind taking a goalie is different, so Ravensbergen would certainly be an interesting selection for lots of teams in late June.
How would he fit in the Flyers’ system?
Within the Flyers system, the goaltending position is obviously not solved. There’s quite a bit of talent in the pipeline though, as the Flyers have continually invested at the position in past drafts with mid-round picks. The Flyers have thrown a lot of darts at the dartboard in net, and the current big hype in the system is around Yegor Zavragin and Carson Bjarnason, who are former third and second round picks, respectively. The Flyers will certainly add a goaltender in this draft, and it wouldn’t be a bad thing to take the one with the highest pedigree. The system could always use another high-end lottery ticket, even if there’s already some top prospects at the position. You can never have too many guys in the goaltending pipeline.
Could the Flyers actually get him?
Maybe, especially with the amount of picks the Flyers have. They aren’t exactly averse to picking a goaltender high in the draft, as they selected Bjarnason with the 51st pick of the 2023 draft. It’s possible that the Flyers are high on Ravensbergen to the point of using one of their seven top-50 picks on him, and it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad bet to take. It would be quite surprising to see the Flyers use one of the late firsts or early seconds on Ravensbergen, but if he falls into the 40s? It’s possible the Flyers see it as an opportunity to throw another dart at the dartboard, and it wouldn’t really be the worst idea.
What scouts are saying
“Ravensbergen was one of the stories of the WHL season last year. He was undrafted into the WHL, pitched a shutout in his first start and emerged to challenge Canucks draft pick Ty Young for starts in the regular season with Prince George, playing to an even split and then winning the net in the playoffs, where he was outstanding (his .931 playoff save percentage set a new WHL benchmark for a rookie goaltender). That play, combined with his 6-foot-5 frame, earned him an invite to the World Junior Summer Showcase from Hockey Canada and made him the consensus top goalie prospect in the draft entering this season. However, he dealt with a hip injury that limited his training in the offseason when he could have really used some time in the gym to get stronger (he has never really worked out and is quite lean). This season, he was good without putting up typical first-rounder numbers, playing a lot to a save percentage just above .900 after a strong start to the year (he had a couple of off nights early in Prince George’s first-round loss to Portland as well but played really well in Games 5 and 6 to force a Game 7).
Ravensbergen’s a rare southpaw as a right-catching goalie. He moves very smoothly in the net for his size. He’s smart in his reads and anticipation. He can go post-to-post or low-to-high to get to difficult saves with his length and has definite room to get more powerful through his pushes. He’s got a competitive fire. He reads the play well and fills the net to take away options from shooters with sharp, challenging angles. He’s got some natural standout attributes and the size to match. He’s a competitive kid. I’ve seen him look vulnerable, or get frozen, or give up low-danger shots through his body (including at the WJSS, where he wasn’t at his best), though, as well. His upside is real, though, and there is untapped potential in his game if he can get into the gym and really build up his body. The tools are all there. He’s got the highest ceiling of the goalies in this class. That’s what you’re betting on, and I thought about ranking him a few spots higher.”
“Ravensbergen’s frame and exceptional speed in the crease are what bring him to the top of most goalie lists. It’s hard to find a big goaltender who moves with the accuracy and pace that Ravensbergen pulls off in his crease. He carries both of these traits and also has very good positioning skills. He stays square to shooters and controls his angles well. Additionally, I really liked what I saw from Ravensbergen in regard to his ability to read net-front threats. He understands where those threats are and challenges or backs off from the shot location accordingly to make a back-door save as easy as possible.”
“Most scouts believe Ravensbergen is first-round bound. And there’s no shortage of teams that should use a pick on the highly touted goalie prospect. At 6-foot-5, he has incredible size, great athleticism, and a calm demeanour. Package that together, and he’s an intriguing prospect. His numbers aren’t fantastic by any means, but he snagged wins consistently on a team that would be in a lot more trouble if he didn’t have their back. Look for Ravensbergen to become an NHL starter one day.”
Moving to the next entry of our list, into the poll comes Swedish winger Jakob Ihs-Wozniak, a toolsy forward with a pretty big-shot.
“Ihs-Wozniak has really taken a turn this season in my opinion. I don’t know if someone had a talk with him or what, but over the course of this season Ihs-Wozniak has really found a competitive and intense brand of play that has led him to great success. His analytical profile is very good across the board, and there isn’t much I can poke holes in, but I’d love to see him have a bit more resistance to physical pressure to generate more dangerous scoring chances for himself, and I think his skill level and raw pace needs to improve in order to really hit a good ceiling. In the SHL he seemed to showcase a bit of an inability to keep up and stay ahead of the flow of play, getting closed in on quickly without creating a solution, but he’s still got a good frame to build on, with smart offensive instincts that may not always be remarkably flashy, but they’re effective. He’s become more punishing along the boards and is applying himself on forechecks much better, so we’ll see where he goes from here. I’ve grown to enjoy his game, and I think he could develop quite well from here, but he just finds himself slipped behind players who show a little bit more right now that I could bet on more easily.”
