Western Hockey League goalies Lukas Matecha and Dawson Cowan were ranked third and fifth amongst North American goalies but neither was selected.
Conversely, there was just one Russian goalie listed in the European rankings but six others were selected - including Dmitry Gamzin in the fourth round by the Islanders.
I expected nothing else. Cowan is small, a late 05 birthday and his back half of the season just wasn't very good.
Matecha is an overager and his performances (or lack thereof) since christmas are even more of a head scratcher. He was well on track to be one of the top goalies in the draft but he tanked 2024 completely and finally even stopped playing. The CHL top prospects game was a rare exception. I'm still not sure what happened but he was never gonna get drafted after that kind od 2024.
However, speaking of Czech WHL overager goalies, I'm surprised nobody took a chance on Jan Spunar. With the injury he suffered I'm not sure what more he could have done. Mature, rock solid, big, mobile goalie, similar to Harrison Meneghin. But then again, Meneghin went very late himself. Goalies are voodoo but those kind of prospects I wouldn't be shocked to see in the NHL one day.