Hmmm. After the big IceDogs run in his draft year, I got on the Shantz bandwagon big time, liked what I heard about his smarts and character, and ended up picking him near the top of the 2nd round in my FHL.
But watching him the past two years, I've been getting worried, because it just doesn't look to me like his game is progressing at all. When a 17-year old goalie looks like he needs to work a bit on his fundamentals - angles, positioning, rebound control esp. - but still makes incredible stops, it's not such a big deal: he's likely to refine his technique in the years to come, especially when he's hyped to be a really bright guy.
But a couple years down the road, I'm not convinced he has done much to improve. He's capable of having a really big game when his luck is on, but he's also capable of getting shelled when all the little loose ends in his technique are exposed. Consistency is a huge issue, and while I'm thinking it's technically related, perhaps there is an underlying concentration issue as well, I have no idea.
Generally speaking, then, despite good-ish numbers on a good team in Peterborough this year, I don't think Shantz' stock is improving much. It went down hard in his second year when Ouzas stole his job, and it's a huge break for Shantz that he landed in Peterborough, but I still think he's got a lot of question marks around him.
It's pretty hard to predict which goalies outside of the elite will progress as pros, but I guess the odds would make you think that Shantz at this point does not look like an NHL goaltender at all, starter or backup. But who knows what a few years of pro seasoning will do for him. He's a natural goalie, but it seems like he's really going to have to get more serious about it and really apply himself if he wants to turn things around. Some guys do that successfully. Others, the grind of the pros is just that much tougher to handle. I have no idea which way Shantz will go. Definitely has an uphill battle, though.