Vancouver Canucks prospects of week 9: Manukyan, DiPietro, Rathbone
No. 2 – Michael DiPietro (G) (Windsor Spitfires, OHL)
I told you a pair of familiar faces would return. Well, the article image probably gave that away. Anyway, Michael DiPietro is back in the top three and what a week he had. Through three games, the Amherstburg native left with two wins and a loss.
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Collectively, he only let in four goals on 96 combined shots. He was dialed in to shut down Owen Sound and Sarnia, facing over 30 shots in each game, earning the third star in Sarnia. Unfortunately, the run support ran dry against the Ottawa 67’s. DiPietro only let in one goal on 20 shots, but that was enough to lose the game. He did receive the second star of the game for his efforts.
Thanks to Prospect-Stats, I can get better goaltending data from the OHL. DiPietro has a .912 save percentage at 5v5 and has an adjusted GSAA of 5.641. That means he is saving over five more goals than the average OHL goaltender. He is ranked 7th in the OHL by this metric on a rebuilding team. DiPietro was the backbone of the Spitfires last year and is playing a huge role once again during their transition.
Now, this is the OHL. We have seen countless OHL star goaltenders fail to make an impact at the NHL. However, the Canucks can feel comfortable that they are strong in net from a prospect pipeline point of view. That comfort may shift one way or the other once DiPietro turns pro, but for now, he is continuing to play well. I can’t wait to see him for the World Juniors.