Controlled expectations: Goalies

As promised, the last of the prospects. Let’s hope one of ‘em pans out better than the poor sap tending goal here.

Tyler Bunz G Medicine Hat WHL; 2009/10 stats: 57GP 31-19-5 2.91 0.898

Bunz should hope to continue his development where he left off last season, as the starting goalie for a strong Medicine Hat squadron. His numbers scream “stacked team” to me, because despite a healthy win total, his GAA and SV% aren’t what you’d expect from a quality starter, even in the Dub. Bunz is a large goalie without much draft pedigree, but you’d have to go back awhile to find a goalie drafted by the Oilers that wasn’t signed to an entry-level contract. Expect him to be signed by the end of his junior career no matter how well he’s developed. The difference makers like Emerson Etem are back for another year for the Tigers, and with the addition of Tyler Pitlick Medicine Hat should have the horses to make a push for a lengthy playoff run. Expect Bunz’s win total to be high again because of that, but I’m hoping he improves his underlying numbers considerably if he’s to be anything more than AHL fodder. Controlled expectations for Bunz are:

- Maintain the starting goalie position for the Tigers, playing in 55+ games
- Improve his GAA and SV% to approximately 2.75 and 0.908 respectively.

Bryan Pitton G Stockton/Springfield ECHL/AHL; 2009/10 stats: 22GP 9-9-3 2.85 0.921; 8GP 2-6-0 4.71 0.857

Pitton is playing out the string on his entry-level deal with the Oilers, and seeing as he isn’t fit for AHL competition at this point in his career, there’s not much doubt that he won’t be signing a second contract with the Oilers. Originally a 5th round pick back in 2006 Pitton hasn’t done badly given his draft pedigree, but then again I didn’t expect him to pan out anyway, so it’s not like this should be considered a wasted pick. Stockton was actually a pretty good team last year, but Pitton was behind the undrafted Andrew Perugini for most of the year, a sign of how far down the depth chart he fell. After earning (in other words, we had no other options) his call-up to the AHL, Pitton played like he was in over his head on a truly horrible AHL team. Those numbers are downright ugly. With the off-season acquisition of Martin Gerber (or one of JDD/DD) serving as the workhorse in Oklahoma this year, it appears Pitton will be sent packing to Cali again. Beaches and sun on his off-days while getting paid by an NHL team to occasionally stop a puck, he must be in hell. Controlled expectations for Pitton are:

- Play well enough to entice another professional team into paying him money to stop pucks

Olivier Roy G Cape Breton QMJHL; 2009/10 stats: 54GP 32-21-0 2.62 0.908

I’m kind of worried about Oliver Roy, to tell the truth. Traded to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in the off-season, Roy has yet to play a game for his new club which is already seven games into its season according to hockeydb. Is he injured? Is he being traded again? Did he lose his starting spot to this guy? Roy is seen as the goalie of the future for this organization in some circles, but he’s got a lot of work ahead of him if he’s going to impress me. He’s been a starting goalie in the Q-league for the past three seasons, so I’m expecting him to dominate in his final season...whenever he starts playing. As an under-sized goalie who relies on sound positioning and reflexes, Roy needs to remain in top-shape to be effective, and sitting in the press-box for an extended period of time isn’t going to help our top goalie prospect. Controlled expectations for Roy are:

- Assume control of the starting goalie position, playing in 50+ games this year
- Continued forward progress in his stats, GAA around 2.50 and SV% of 0.920
- Compete for Team Canada’s goalie tandem for this year’s U-20 tournament.