Joseph Woll, Samuel Montembeault have elevated their status among the NHL’s top goaltenders

There’s always talk about the Connor Hellebuyck’s, Igor Shesterkin’s and Ilya Sorokin’s of the league as the best goaltenders, but what about the young goalies that are on the cusp of being in that category? Goaltending is always tricky to predict and nail down who will be the goalies of the future, so you can never truly know who will build their way up to that level.

Carter Hutton made his picks for future bright spots in the crease on Daily Faceoff Live.

Carter Hutton: I think, for me, someone who has had a lot of growth this year and where I think his growth curve is going to be even higher is Joseph Woll for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Obviously the injury was a huge setback and Samsonov has played well as of late, but from structure, from the way he plays, I think Woll has a very high ceiling and he could be one of those guys that starts to put himself in the conversation. Granted the injury and the setbacks have been a bit much.

And the other goalie for me is Sam Montembeault in Montreal. He has had a great year. You talk about how many games he has kept the Montreal Canadiens in, one-goal hockey games. This was a player that when he was younger, when he was in Florida, he wasn’t good enough for the NHL. So for me it’s the time to stew in the American Hockey League and have some time to develop your game. And it’s not necessarily the physical attributes, it’s the mental attributes.

And someone I touched on is Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen. Obviously UPL is not really hidden anymore by any means, he’s been the best goalie in the league since Christmas, I think, statistically. So those are three younger guys I look to plateau into the next stratosphere, and for me, my favorite is for sure Joseph Woll. 

You can watch the full episode here…