Jake Oettinger’s goalie stance has changed. The long-term expectations for the Stars’ top goalie prospect have not. And his time in the Edmonton bubble could help define whether those changes are effective enough to help him meet those lofty expectations.
The organization has held high hopes for Oettinger ever since Dallas traded up to select him in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft in Chicago. From his first moments in the organization, the Stars weren’t afraid to label him their goalie of the future, a burden that goes hand-in-hand with a first-round selection.
Since 2010, there have been seven goalies drafted in the first round. One, Andrei Vavileskiy, has quickly turned into one of the NHL’s best goalies. Three more have failed to deliver on that first-round label and have become NHL backups, at best. Oettinger joins Spencer Knight and Ilya Samsonov in a third group: players still developing with uncertain futures.
Oettinger is…
