Can Jack Ivankovic become the next Dustin Wolf?

If you watched Dustin Wolf closely in his draft year, you knew he’d be one of the smaller goalies to figure it out.

He had one of the best seasons by a draft-eligible goaltender in more than a decade, going 41-15-4 with seven shutouts and a whopping .936 save percentage with the Everett Silvertips. Sure, the Tips were a good team, but Wolf had a season for the ages.

In the end, though, Wolf was one of the last players selected in the 2019 NHL Draft, going 214th overall to the Calgary Flames. Since then, he went on to become the top CHL goaltender in 2019-20, top WHL puckstopper in 2020 and 2021, a World Junior champion in 2021, the top goalie in the AHL in 2022 and 2023, and now he’s a finalist for the Calder Trophy.

The one thing going against Wolf – his size. At six-foot, Wolf is one of the smallest goaltenders in the NHL. So far, it hasn’t bothered him too much, but teams are still searching for mobile goaltenders standing 6-foot-3 or taller.

So, how does that bode for Jack Ivankovic, one of the top goaltenders for the 2025 NHL Draft?

NHL Central Scouting has Ivankoivc at 5-foot-11, tying him for the smallest goaltender ranked. One spot below him is Louis-Antoine Denault, who stands at a whopping 6-foot-8. Ivankovic’s father, Frank, was an OHL goalie himself and stood tall at 6-foot-4. So there’s hope Jack could follow in his footsteps – but that’s still some serious projecting.

Yet, despite the size disadvantage, Ivankovic has become a force. Internationally, he put up some of the best performances we’ve ever seen at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup en route to a gold. He then looked good in his World Junior debut – the ill-fated loss to Latvia – before posting a perfect record at the U-18 World Championship and taking home top goaltender honors. Ivankovic has been a starter in three international events and has won gold at all of them – truly remarkable stuff.

“That raw talent, it’s nearly impossible to find in a goalie these days,” a scout said last summer. “But smaller goalies don’t get passed over for no reason. You want someone who covers most of the net and doesn’t have to overcompensate with speed and athleticism because even the most agile keepers will struggle without having the extra mass to cover the net.”

Ivankovic’s OHL numbers fluctuated throughout the season on a Brampton Steelheads team that struggled in its own zone a bit too often. His season was also derailed by a fight in October. Many noticed that he struggled once he returned, hindering what had been an electric start to the season.