Meet 2025 NHL Draft Joshua Ravensbergen, hockey’s next star goaltender

There has been so much talk in recent years about how weak the Canadian goaltending landscape has been.

For a while, Carter Hart looked like the heir to the throne as the best international competition finally returned. His arrest last season dashed any hopes there and now Canada heads into the 4 Nations Face-Off in a few months without a clear star no. 1 goalkeeper for the first time since the NHL began sending players to the Olympics 25 years ago.

The last Canadian goaltender selected in the first round was Detroit’s Sebastian Cossa in 2021. Before that, you have to go all the way back to Chet Pickard in 2008 – he never played a game in the NHL. Fortunately, the 2025 NHL Draft has two advanced prospects who look poised to go in the first round of the NHL Draft: Brantford Steelheads’ Jack Ivankovic and Joshua Ravensbergen of the Prince George Cougars.

Of the two, the consensus seems to lean towards Ravensbergen being the first of the two taken. And it’s easy to see why: He has an outstanding record since stealing the spotlight as a rookie in the WHL last year, and he has so many ideal qualities that teams want in a goaltender. Size, athleticism, excellent puck tracking, you name it.

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen such a high-profile Canadian goaltender with as much promise and potential as Ravensbergen,” one scout said last summer.

The 6-foot-5 goalie made an incredible impact right out of the gate with Prince George last year. He posted a 26-4-1 record with six shutouts in 38 games — including a 28-save shutout in his debut. Four of his six shutouts came in his first nine games, none of which were particularly easy either.

The hot start quickly put Ravensbergen on the map. Most goaltenders struggle for playing time in their Draft-1 year, but the 16-year-old quickly started to play Vancouver Canucks prospect Ty Young. It was clear that the pressure was not getting to him.

“I just took it one day at a time,” Ravensbergen said during the World Junior Summer Showcase in August. “I feel like I went in there and played the way I was capable of playing and eventually I got more and more starts. It went great.”

This year has been no different. He’s 12-2-4 on the year, and while his overall stats may not look that great, he’s still playing some strong hockey – enough to cement himself as a first-round pick in most public drafts.

Ravensbergen is also on Canada’s radar for the World Junior Championships. Although he’s a bit of a longshot compared to fellow WHL players Scott Ratzlaff and Carson Bjarnason, they gave Ravensberg two games during the World Junior Summer Showcase. It wasn’t an unusual effort by any means, but it’s rare for a qualified goaltender to get a look at such a camp.

Next? The first ever CHL USA Prospects Challenge is this Tuesday and Wednesday in London and Oshawa respectively. Ravensbergen gets one of the two starts and shares the fold with Ivankovic. One game won’t change a player’s draft stock, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to stand out against some of the top talent in the draft class.

“It’s hard for a goaltender to shine in a showcase event because we often see wide-open, free-flowing hockey,” said one scout. “But there will be so many eyes on Ravensbergen because he’s a top goaltender in a draft class with some really solid options.”

From a style perspective, there is so much to love. Ravensbergen is almost robotic in his movements – he rarely overcommits, he is always square to the shooter, and he is so calm and relaxed. To beat him, you have to crush him with an extremely fast release because he tracks shots from side to side so well for his age. And the fact that Ravensbergen doesn’t need to rely on sheer size to stop is crucial – he’s as athletic and mobile as they come for someone his size.

Projecting goaltenders can be very difficult – it’s not uncommon for a fifth-rounder to end up stealing the spotlight. But for Ravensbergen, many scouts feel confident in him somewhere in the 20-25 range, making him the expected first goalie taken.

“You just don’t find goalies with his overall makeup this early in their development – ​​size, speed, athleticism, poise. That’s everything you hope for in a goaltending prospect,” said another scout.

With the 2025 NHL Draft looking average at best, teams looking to hit big in net long-term could look to snag Ravensbergen early. It sure is risky. The last three goaltenders taken in the first round – Yaroslav Askarov, Jesper Wallstedt and Sebastian Cossa have combined to play seven NHL games since 2020. But most of the scouting community seems to agree that Ravensbergen is the best overall package option right now.

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