EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Carter George is as well-rounded as a young goalie can be, particularly excelling with his positioning and understanding of the game. It was that breadth of traits that led the Los Angeles Kings to select the 18-year-old in the second round (No. 57) of the 2024 NHL Draft.
“I think the structure of his game drew us to him, his hockey sense, just his natural instincts for the game,” Kings director of goaltending Bill Ranford said.
George credits an unconventional approach as he was learning the position for developing some of those key attributes. His father, Mike George, emphasized skating when Carter first took to the ice instead of facing shots. That, in turn, made him refine his anticipation of where to be to make saves.
“Probably the first two or three years of becoming a goaltender, I didn’t really see a puck in goalie practice,” George said. “It was always just skating, skating, skating, and I think that definitely helped me get good edges, definitely allowed me to be a lot more efficient in the crease at a young age, and I just built off that.”
Ranford, who played goalie for five NHL teams and won the Conn Smythe Trophy when he helped the Edmonton Oilers lift the Stanley Cup in 1990, said that situational processing stood out when evaluating George.
“He does have a really good grasp of what’s going on in front of him, and for a young goalie, that’s impressive,” Ranford said.
George put it into practice over the past year, winning gold medals with Canada in the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and 2024 IIHF U18 World Championship. He went 23-21-6-3 with a 3.30 goals-against average and .907 save percentage in 56 games with Owen Sound of the Ontario Hockey League, despite facing a league-high 1,923 shots in 2023-24.
George also received the Bobby Smith Trophy, awarded annually to the OHL Scholastic Player of the Year, and the Ivan Tennant Memorial Award, awarded annually to the top academic high school player in the Ontario Hockey League.
“I went through the junior ranks also,” Ranford said. “Going to school, it’s hard, but it also gives you something else to focus on so that you’re not hockey 24/7. He’s an intelligent kid. He’s very self-driven, and that’s what we like about him.”
The only knock on George might be his lack of size, checking in for Kings development camp in July at 6-foot-1 and 196 pounds, at a time when much of the NHL seemingly has a preference for larger goalies.
Erik Portillo, the top goalie prospect in the Kings organization, is 6-foot-6 and 218 pounds. The 23-year-old went 24-11-3 with a 2.50 GAA and .918 save percentage for Ontario of the American Hockey League last season.
But George, who signed his entry-level contract with the Kings on July 25, isn’t worried about any physical disparity.
“I want to be the No. 1 guy, and I want to come in here and show that I can be a starter in this league,” George said. “I want to be able to show that I have the skill and the talent to be where I am, and I’m looking forward to it. I know a lot of hard work just has to go into it, and we’re just getting started here.”
