Top goalie from WHL comes aboard
Unable to hit the ice due to the global health crisis, Calgary Flames puck-stopping prospect Dustin Wolf has taken his game to the streets.
Except that somebody else can tend the twine.
“No way, I’m not a goalie in roller hockey — that’s way too difficult,” Wolf said with a chuckle. “I like to think of myself as a sniper in roller hockey, but others might say otherwise.”
Wolf is determined to quiet his naysayers, and not by picking corners on the pavement.
The 19-year-old scribbled his signature Friday on a three-year, entry-level contract with the Flames, another significant step in his quest to prove that his size — he is listed at 6-foot and just 165 pounds. — won’t stop him from a career at the Saddledome.
Wolf, from Tustin, Calif., was Calgary’s seventh-round selection in the 2019 NHL Draft. After a superb season with the Everett Silvertips, he is now a finalist for the Del Wilson Trophy as the Western Hockey League’s top goaltender.
“What you hear about is he’s not 6-foot-4. But as our western scouts kept saying, ‘Yeah, he’s not, but all he does is stop the puck,’” said Flames general manager Brad Treliving. “He’s just so competitive and so driven and continues to search for ways that he can get better. He doesn’t like to take a day off, this guy. He wants to play in all the games. So that fire … Yeah, he doesn’t have the luxury of being a 6-foot-4 goaltender, but he makes up for it in being positionally sound, being athletic and then being ultra, ultra competitive.”
With the Silvertips, he tied for the league lead with 34 wins in the truncated season and topped the charts with a 1.88 goals-against average and nine shutouts.
“Obviously, when you’re not 6-foot-3 or 6-foot-4, you have to find other ways to stop pucks,” Wolf said after Friday’s announcement. “Size is one thing, but I pride myself on just the will and compete to stop every single puck. When you’re smaller, you have to be super technical and you can’t overcommit on anything. You have to be patient in the net. Those are some strong foundational points.
“The way that I look at it, I’m just going to keep doing my thing. And if I happen to sprout up an inch or two, that’s great. But you know what? Height is one thing, but there are a lot of other attributes and skill sets that I have that some other goalies may not. Size is one thing, but it’s definitely not going to limit me.”
At No. 214 overall, he was the fourth-from-last pick, squirming in his seat at Rogers Place in Vancouver until a teary-eyed trip to the draft floor to meet his future employers. He could turn out to be a steal for the Flames.
“When you get into the seventh round, you’re not finding the perfect player, but you’ve gotta find elite qualities,” Treliving said. “What’s going to get him into the league? It might not be his size. But he’s got two elite qualities — athleticism and competitiveness. Now, if he’s 6-foot-2 with the characteristics he has? I think you’re talking about a top-two round pick, in my mind. So he’s a little bit shorter. We’ll see how it all plays out … The kid is either going to make it or die trying.”