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The Arizona Coyotes were fairly active during the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. They initially acquired the 87th pick from the Chicago Blackhawks* early on the second day of the draft and flipped it to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for San Jose’s fourth and fifth-round picks. The fourth-round pick was the 114th overall, which the Coyotes used on Russian goaltender Ivan Prosvetov.
Ivan Prosvetov
Team: Saginaw Spirit
Regular Season Games Played: 53
Goals Against Average: 2.94
Save Percentage: .910
Playoff Games Played: 12
Playoff Goals Against Average: 2.38
Playoff Save Percentage: .930
After spending his draft season with the Youngstown Phantoms in the USHL, Prosvetov moved to the OHL and played with the Saginaw Spirit. It was his third team and his third league in three years, and hew would again have an amazing season. Among goaltenders that played at least twenty games in the OHL during the regular season, Prosvetov had the fifth best save percentage, the sixth best goals against average, and he was tied for the third most shutouts with four.
Prosvetov would prove to be one of the best players in the league throughout the regular season. He would be named the Vaughn CHL Goaltender of the Week after a three game win streak where he allowed only three goals on 96 shots. He would also be a finalist for the OHL Goaltender of the Year, but he would lose to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen of the Sudbury Wolves.
With Prosvetov backstopping them, the Saginaw Spirit would finish first in the West, and advance to the playoffs. They were good in the first two rounds before losing to the Guelph Storm in game seven of the conference finals. During the playoffs among goaltenders that played at least two games he would finish with the third best goals against average, the best save percentage, and the fourth most shutouts with one. Things weren’t all good for Prosvetov during the playoffs though, he would earn himself a five game suspension “for batting a puck into the spectator area at a stoppage of play” during the series against the Guelph Storm.
Prosvetov was one of many players at last week’s Coyotes prospect development game. During the intrasquad scrimmage he would start for Team White and he was stellar. Each goalie played half the game, and he would be the only goaltender not allow a single goal during his time.
After a standout season its strange to think that Prosvetov’s spot with the Coyotes isn’t guaranteed. The Coyotes already have Adin Hill and Merrick Madsen developing in the AHL with the Tucson Roadrunners as well as Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta in the NHL. The Coyotes goalie pipeline is so deep they recently let Hunter Miska become an unrestricted free agent largely because they don’t have room for him. For now the best thing that Prosvetov can do to keep himself in the conversation is to continue to find success in the OHL and hopefully it will translate to success the professional leagues.
* The pick that Chicago traded was initially the Toronto Maple Leafs’. It would go to New Jersey as a result of Toronto acquiring then General Manager Lou Lamoriello in 2015. In 2017 the Washington Capitals would acquire this pick along with a second-round pick in 2018 for Marcus Johansson. Washington would trade a conditional pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for Michal Kempny, with the condition being that Chicago would receive the higher of either Toronto or Washington’s third-round pick in 2018. Arizona would acquire the pick by trading Calgary’s third-round pick in 2018 (74th overall) for the Columbus Blue Jacket’s fifth-round pick in 2018 (142nd) overall and the 87th overall pick.