FutureGoalie’s Informal 2023 Development Camp Goalie Report

So I just got back from the development camp at KCI, which was super fun and you all should totally go on Wednesday if you are able to get the time off work/if your schedule otherwise allows (mine doesn’t). And we got to see FIVE goalies at this event, needless to say my cup runneth over 😂 Here’s what I thought of them.

Disclaimer: I am a fan, I have never suited up and put the gear on and gotten in a crease (yet). I may be totally full of shit and if you are a goalie/were a goalie/were there, definitely tell me what’s actually up if you think any of this is off base. So!

The two drafted guys we had there were Niklas Kokko, from last year’s draft, and Visa Vedenpaa, from this year’s draft. Both of these guys looked good as far as baby squids go, they came here to develop so they are developing, not worried there. I did notice both of them were pretty aggressive on the poke check which was fun to see, wonder if that’s a Finnish goalie coaching thing? If anyone has any input on the different goalie styles in different regions (US, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czechia etc) I’d love to hear it! It felt like they were both excited to be there and they were fun to watch.

We also had two tryout goalies, Logan Terness and Victor Ostman, and a more veteran goalie we signed earlier this year, Ales Stezka. I didn’t notice a whole lot about Terness, he seemed maybe a little nervous and let a lot of stuff in compared to the others but he should feel great about the fact that he’s attending the camp. It’s also possible that some of these guys aren’t used to playing in front of a crowd and Starbucks rink was pretty busy, lots of cheers for every goal. Was I the only one cheering for saves? Possibly 😂

Ostman however is a BALLER and one of the reasons I felt compelled to make this post. This dude is legit, and I wasn’t able to get either save on camera but he made one killer glove save with both legs extended that just was really cool and then a great save with the toe of his skate. I hope he gets a contract somewhere, because he was super fun to watch and was very confident. He’s a few years older than the drafted guys so that’s likely part of it, more experience and such.

My favorite of the 5 however was Stezka. First of all, here are [Stezka’s amazing goalie pads](https://imgur.com/a/eSiytnP) (thank you to [Emerald City Hockey](https://twitter.com/emeraldcityhky/status/1675587621819658243?s=46) for taking the photos and u/retiredcrayon11 for putting them elsewhere because Twitter is… Twitter right now). He’s got the tentacle pads, which look totally unique from Hellberg and Driedger’s and are actually fairly subtle, from a distance it just looks like blue until you look closer and you can see the suction cups of the tentacle and the red eye detail. They look like extensions of his legs and meet in the center when he’s in butterfly so that’s a fun detail. He’s got the helmet too. This dude for real came to play, I was really impressed. He was likely the oldest person there and was definitely the oldest goalie, and was super confident. I noticed he’s a fairly energetic and aggressive goalie and I just got a vibe that he was really happy to be there, he was sharp and was good on second chance opportunities as well. I got attached to him pretty quickly 😂 he’s real fun to watch and will be great in Coachella if that’s where he ends up. I wasn’t thrilled with Gibson for the admittedly few games I saw him play in and I think Stezka is likely an upgrade. I’m not sure where he lands on the depth chart but I’m pretty sure almost no one knows that right now 😂 so we will see.

In summary:

* Stezka is great and maybe we’ll see him in the AHL?
* Terness is doing his best and I wish him well
* Ostman is AWESOME and I honestly wish he could make the Firebirds? Why must we have so little room 😂
* Kokko and Vedenpaa are excited to be here and we are excited to see them too!
* I’m not sure how to pronounce Kokko, a video in Finnish on Youtube had the o sound kind of in between an ah and an oh so I’ve been calling him Cocoa 😂
* If you cheer for goalie saves at practices, you’re a hero, because it’s lonely lemme tell you 😂 Ostman’s two saves I mentioned got cheers though, including from teammates (in the same color practice sweaters)
* Lots of aggressive poke checks are the future of Kraken goaltending
* AND THAT FUTURE IS BRIGHT AS FUCK thank you for reading 😂 let me know what you thought of the development camp squids and squid-hopefuls!

by futuregoalie