Canucks top prospects of week 17: Gaudette, Brassard, DiPietro

No. 3 – G Michael DiPietro (Windsor Spitfires, OHL)

Keeping track of Michael DiPietro has been an interesting time. His season has been a on a bit of a rollercoaster. September and October was his time to shine; he dominated OHL goaltenders and quickly became the centre of attention.

November and December were not as kind. After being cut from Team Canada, his game appeared to find some stability until Windsor went for the complete tear-down rebuild. DiPietro quickly became a man on an island, being relied on exclusively for the Spitfires to win. As you can tell in the OHL standings, it isn’t working out so well. But that isn’t of any fault to DiPietro.

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He went 2-1 last week, including a 24-save shutout against the Niagara Ice Dogs. The Amherstburg native has the 11th lowest GAA in the OHL, but a few netminders ahead of him have played less than 10 games. DiPietro has played in 44 this season.

Windsor’s best player has the 10th best save percentage in the OHL. He is not one of the taller goaltenders around at six feet. The NHL is dominated by very tall netminders, so DiPietro will have to rely on his athleticism and positioning to effectively cover the net. Keep in mind, height isn’t everything. You can see that with Jacob Markstrom and Anders Nilsson.

When I first saw DiPietro play during prospects camp, I thought his style was very erratic. Through recent footage of his games, I am noticing an improved level of play. He appears a little more calm and doesn’t take as many bad chances. Plus, he can pull off some nice saves like this:

I know there is a heavy amount of focus on Thatcher Demko as the Canucks goalie of the future. There should be. But it is nice to know that Demko is not the only netminder in the system. The Canucks developed a reputation for their goalie development during the time of Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider. It will be tough without goaltending coach Rollie Melanson, but hopefully the Canucks can earn that reputation back with Demko and DiPietro.