Jacob Fowler: 6th best NHL prospect in front of the net, according to Daily Faceoff

At the last draft, the Habs had one clear objective: to select goaltenders to ideally find the organization’s future #1 goaltender. In addition to opting for depth prospects in Quentin Miller and Yevgeni Volokhin, the Tricolore also used a high third-round pick to draft Jacob Fowler, a young American goalie who had just destroyed everything in the USHL.

The big question was how he would perform in his first NCAA season, joining Boston College this season. And so far, he’s been (more than) up to the task: in 17 games, he has a 13-3-1 record with a 2.16 goals-against average and a 0.925 save percentage.

All in all, he’s growing in stature… and that’s reflected in the rankings of top prospects in front of the net.

In a ranking compiled by Mike Bartner for Daily Faceoff, Fowler is among the league’s top 10 goaltending prospects. And not only is he in the top-10, he’s even ranked sixth.

He’s ahead of only Jesper Wallstedt, Dustin Wolf, Yaroslav Askarov, Alexei Kolosov and Trey Augustine.

What’s particularly interesting, by the way, is that Fowler ranks second among the prospects drafted in 2023. In fact, only Augustine is ahead of him at this level: Fowler is ahead of guys like Adam Gajan, Michael Hrabal, Carson Bjarnason and Damian Clara, all of whom were drafted ahead of him last summer.

It’s a good sign that he’s already doing (very) well among his counterparts.

Even though he’s having a tougher CMJ (2.59 goals-against average and 0.889 save percentage in three games) and Trey Augustine is superior to him in front of the U.S. net, Fowler remains a top prospect across the league in front of the net.

And that’s an extremely encouraging sign for the Tricolore’s future in net.

In Brief

– Here are the 16 players from the West who will represent their teams at the All-Star Game. Nick Suzuki will represent the Tricolore.

Reppin’ the West.

Here are the Western Conference players named to the 2024 #NHLAllStar Weekend. pic.twitter.com/d3Yjls2vKa

– Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 5, 2024

– It was to be expected.

Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid have agreed to be All-Star captains this year, sources tell @reporterchris.

Detailshttps://t.co/tX7ZVKVhld

– The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) January 5, 2024

– Jacques Martin is already threatening to bench players in Ottawa. [TSLH]

– To be continued.

– Holy Gritty.