His two-year stint at the University of Minnesota-Duluth sent a strong message about his ability. In his second year, he led the Bulldogs to #1 in the country until Fanti ended up contracting COVID-19 in December of 2021. It took some time to get back into the groove, but once Fanti did he led the Bulldogs to a NCHC title and then to the NCAA quarter-finals before losing to Carter Savoie’s Denver Pioneers.

During that run, Fanti had a shutout streak of 210 minutes and 41 seconds. What made it all the more impressive was that Minnesota-Duluth had an anemic offence ranking 45th in the country in goals for. This team was dragged by a tremendous goaltending performance by Ryan Fanti much further than should have been possible. So naturally Oilers fans reacted with positivity to the signing.

Fanti really added fuel to the fire of Oiler fans during the year for two other notable events.

Now I am not sure what excited Oilers fans more, but no question, Ryan Fanti captured the attention in his first pro season in 2022/23.

Unfortunately, all did go according to plans. As can be seen in the stats page, Fanti only played eight AHL games. The remainder of his time was in the ECHL with the Fort Wayne Comets. Part of this was a function of the Condors having two more established goalies. The first was Oilers third-round pick, Olivier Rodrigue. The second was the signing of NHL veteran, Calvin Pickard, to a two-year, two-way deal who was to provide a solid call-up option for the Oilers.

However, some of it was also related to Fanti’s play. Fanti, an aggressive, athletic goalie struggled with rebound control, composed movements and some angles.

Here are a couple of examples of Fanti’s issues with rebound control. The first is one that doesn’t lead to a goal, but to extended zone time because Fanti neither controls the rebound on a soft outside shot.

The second example leads to a goal. Fanti does a nice job fighting to see a tough puck. However, he fails to absorb the puck and ultimately it leads to a goal against.

Fanti also was challenged some with his angles and, to a lesser degree, the shot pedigree of professional players. Again, here is a couple of examples of plays that Fanti needed to manage better.

Now all of this is not fatal. Fanti has good size at 6’2″. He is a very athletic goalie who does not lack aggression at all. So he can make himself a good presence in the net. In addition, professional shooters take time to adapt to for goalies. Fanti now has a year under his belt and should be better prepared.

The remainder of the game, rebound control and composed movement, can be worked on for certain. The biggest issue for Fanti is that he still has Pickard and Rodrigue in front of him. Fanti will need to play very well to crack the Condors line-up. Failing that, he needs to have a strong year in the ECHL in hopes of being re-signed by the Oilers or another NHL team at the end of the 2023/24 season.

In order to qualify for this prospect countdown, a player must be under the age of 25 at the start of the season and have played less than 50 NHL games.

Previous names in the countdown

• #20 — Carl Berglund
• #19 — Filip Engaras
• #18 — Joel Määttä