Unmasked: Flames prospect Wolf making big impact for undersized goalies

Juuse Saros might be raising the perceived ceiling for undersized goalies with a Vezina Trophy-caliber season.

The Nashville Predators goalie, listed at 5-foot-11, is 24-12-3, with a 2.39 goals-against average and .926 save percentage. The 24 wins are tied for second in the NHL with Tristan Jarry of the Pittsburgh Penguins, one behind Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Frederik Andersen of the Carolina Hurricanes. He leads the NHL in starts (39), shots faced (1,237) and saves (1,145).
But there is another undersized goalie on the NHL horizon ready to prove Saros is no outlier.
Calgary Flames prospect
Dustin Wolf
is turning heads with his play in his first full professional season for Stockton of the American Hockey League. The goalie, listed at 6-feet, has an AHL-leading 19 wins in 24 games (19-2-3), and has a .934 save percentage, which is second behind
Akira Schmid
(.944) of Utica (New Jersey Devils).
"Saros is a guy I've watched for years, and it's been incredible to see him having such tremendous success," Wolf said. "People think it's the end of the world if you're not 6-foot-4, so it's fun to show them that's not what it's all about."
The trend toward taller goalies isn't new.
It almost kept Wolf, who was listed at 5-11 for the 2019 NHL Draft, from being selected after going 41-15-4 with a .936 save percentage in 61 games in his first season as the No. 1 goalie for Everett of the Western Hockey League in 2018-19. In Everett, Wolf took over for Carter Hart, who began his professional career with the Philadelphia Flyers.
While Hart (6-2) was selected by the Flyers in the second round (No. 48) of the 2016 NHL Draft, Wolf waited until the seventh round (No. 214), before being selected with four picks remaining in the 2019 draft.
Now 20, Wolf appears to be following the fast track Hart took to the NHL.
"Nothing in [Wolf's] game makes you worry he can't do it at the next level," Flames director of goaltending Jordan Sigalet said. "I don't see any flaws in his game except for size, and that obviously hasn't affected him. You worried how it would translate at the pro level and he's just continued to have success because he reads everything so well. Probably one of the smartest goalies I've ever seen."
Wolf is the only goalie under 6-foot to be selected in the NHL draft the past five years. In the past 10, six goalies under 6-foot were selected, including Saros in the fourth round (No. 99) of the 2013 NHL Draft, and Alex Nedeljkovic, who was listed at 5-11 when the Carolina Hurricanes selected him in the second round (No. 37) of the 2014 NHL Draft.
Nedeljkovic, the No. 1 goalie with the Detroit Red Wings, is listed at 6-foot now. The 26-year-old is 14-13-5 with a 2.91 GAA and .910 save percentage in 35 games.
The draft trend toward taller goalies is mirrored by the goalies earning playing time in the NHL.
Fifteen years ago, 30 percent (27 of 89) of goalies to appear in at least one NHL game were 6-foot or shorter. Ten years ago it was 22 percent (18 of 82). This season, it's 11 percent (12 of 107) and three are less than 6-foot tall.
Jaroslav Halak of the Vancouver Canucks, who has established himself as one of the top backups in the NHL during a 16-season career, with an impressive .916 save percentage, and Anton Khudobin, who is two seasons removed from the Stanley Cup Final as the Dallas Stars starter, are among those on the list.
But it's Saros, who played in the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Game in his first full season as the Predators starter following the retirement of longtime starter Pekka Rinne (6-5), who is changing the perception of what shorter goalies are capable of in a bigger role.
"I think that's exactly what Juuse Saros is proving," Sigalet said. "You look at how much he's played this year and how consistent he's been, and if you're in that 6-foot-and-under group, it's all about hockey IQ and hockey sense."
For Wolf, that includes sticking with the tracking-based foundation fueling his patience and efficient movements that, as Sigalet noted, have no delays whether he's pushing across the crease on his feet or recovering on his knees. It also means adjusting to limitations that come with not having that extra six inches of coverage that a bigger goalie like Flames starter Jacob Markstrom (6-6) has.
Wolf already is doing that, including changing the way he plays on his posts in certain sharp-angle situations because of the gap above his shoulder when he uses the popular reverse-VH technique. He's now using overlap more often, playing outside his posts and using a butterfly on certain chances. He's added a new variation to recover laterally that Sigalet dubbed the "Panda Post Lock" because it looks like a panda rubbing its backside on a tree.
"You can't say size isn't a factor," Flames goaltending development coach Thomas Speer said. "Of course, he has to adjust because of his height. He has to play more aggressive off the rush, he can't be in the paint seeing shots, and if a guy is coming down the wall attacking the net, he can't be in reverse-VH because they'll find that hole at this level. It's little things to make sure they can't take advantage of him not being 6-foot-6. But he's figured it out."
There may be more changes to come, but Wolf isn't worried about making them.
"I'm sure there's going to be something down the line that will come up and we'll have to find other ways around it to stop the puck," Wolf said, "But at the end of the day, I don't think that size has ever been a limitation."