The Boston Bruins have Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman at the NHL level. Keith Kinkaid was signed as their number three goaltender and that may just be for this season unless management feels it necessary to bring a veteran once again. Then there is Kyle Keyser and Brandon Bussi developing in minor professional leagues, not to mention they brought in Michael DiPietro via trade. Finally, there is Philip Svedeback who is developing with Providence College in the NCAA and in my opinion is well ahead in his development curve.
With the position seemingly covered for the next few years, why would the Bruins select Reid Dyck 183rd overall in 2022?
Because General Manager Don Sweeney is not to concerned about overloading the positional depth and he will always find a spot for them to play be it Providence or Maine or even loaned to another AHL club for that matter.
In a fast-case-scenario, Keyser, Bussi, DiPietro and Svedeback are all at minimum two years away from the NHL. Waivers come up on these prospects very quickly and you just never know when what you thought was an area of depth will get depleted.
The easy thing to do with Dyck here is to look at his stats and say they are nothing to write home about. But ask those that watch the game, and they will tell you that he makes saves he has no business making on most nights. It’s what got him invited as one of 4 goaltenders to the NHL/CHL Top Prospects game and he did no disappoint. You just couldn’t base his performance solely on what happened with a not-so-great team – the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League.
In the WHL this season, Dyck ranks 27th in goals-against-average and 29th in save-percentage. Certainly nothing to write home about. Let’s try and bring some context here without making excuses.
It’s not that Dyck faces a lot of rubber. He’s faced the 23rd most shots in the WHL while playing the 27th most minutes. But it’s the quality of the shots he’s facing not the quantity. The won-lost record to put it simply, sucks. The team is at .500 with a 12-12-0-0 record. A total of 14 of their 24 games have been one-goal games. Only 6 teams have scored fewer than Swift Current’s 80 goals yet over half – 12 of them – have allowed more than Swift Current’s 86 goals. You can make a legitimate argument that the lack of run support has negatively impacted the won-lost record and you won’t get an argument from me.
Let’s circle back to the save-percentage and goals-against-average I gave you earlier and try and put that into context. The team a goaltender plays for has a large impact on those numbers and it’s rather unfair to compare the stats of the Broncos goaltending to those of say, the Portland Winterhawks. What we can do is compare teammates, because here, all things are equal.
Dyck’s goaltending partner is Gage Alexander. He was a fifth-round pick (148th overall) of the Anaheim Ducks at the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
Here is how the tandem compares:
*Joey Rocha appeared in two games while Dyck was out for an injury.
| GP | MIN | SH | SV | W-L | GAA | SV% | |
| Dyck | 11 | 621 | 352 | 313 | 3-8-0 | 3.77 | .889 |
| Alexander | 12 | 697 | 403 | 360 | 7-4-0 | 3.70 | .893 |
I can tell you that Dyck has had the more difficult schedule. Only two of his games been against teams outside the top-10 in the league while only five of Alexander’s games have been against top-10 teams.
This by no means is to suggest Dyck is going to play in the NHL and be a standout just like it doesn’t suggest he is going to be a failure. The point I am trying to make is that as fans, when it comes to leagues, we do not follow can’t simply open up Hockey DB or Elite Prospects and gain any information by just looking at the stats, because there needs to be some sort of context, and I hope I brought you some here.
As for Dyck, personally I am satisfied with the way his development is going.
Coming up this week:
| PLAYER | MON 5 | TUE 6 | WED 7 | THU 8 | FRI 9 | SAT 10 | SUN 11 |
| CEHLARIK | *At HK | At SC | Vs DAV | ||||
| BYCHKOV | Vs SPA | At KUN | |||||
| MANTYKIVI | At TOP | At JUK | |||||
| LOCMELIS | Vs M D | Vs IK | |||||
| MYRENBERG | At BJO | Vs SOD | |||||
| JELLVIK/GASSEAU/KUNTAR | Vs BU | ||||||
| LOHREI | |||||||
| LANGENBRUNNER | |||||||
| SPICER/OLSON | Vs DEN | Vs DEN | |||||
| SCHMALTZ | At WM | At WM | |||||
| DURAN/SVEDEBACK | Vs MER | ||||||
| GALLAGHER | At BC | ||||||
| MCFAUL | Vs BRN | Vs YAL | |||||
| POITRAS | At KIT | Vs O S | At O S | Vs OTT | |||
| HARRISON | At LDN | Vs SOO | Vs BAR | ||||
| MAST | Vs FLT | At FLT | Vs PBO | ||||
| EDWARD | Vs OSH | Vs OTT | Vs PBO | ||||
| BRUNET | Vs SHE | Vs VAL | Vs VAL | ||||
| DYCK | At LET | Vs CGY | Vs LET |
AROUND THE GLOBE
WHO’S HOT:
Brett Harrison has 4 goals and 3 assists in his last 5 games (non-consecutive) and 7 goals and 6 assists in his last 10 games.
Dans Locmelis has 2 goals and 4 assists in his last 5 games (non-consecutive) and 4 goals and 8 assists in his last 10 games.
Ty Gallagher has 4 assists in his last 5 games.
WHO’S WARM:
Not much to get excited about here. The vast majority of prospects are on pointless streaks.
WHO’S COLD:
Roman Bychkov is 15 games without a point.
Mason Langenbrunner is 11 games without a point.
Jonathan Myrenberg is on a 5-game pointless streak.
Jackson Edward is on a 4-game pointless streak and missed Sunday’s game with an injury.
Ryan Mast remains on the injured list.
Follow me on Twitter @dominictiano
Dom - Hockey 