Why the Canucks may have hit a home run with the Aleksei Medvedev pick

With their second selection of the 2025 NHL Draft, the Vancouver Canucks selected goaltender Aleksei Medvedev.

Now, typically we rely on Dave Hall and Daniel Gee to deliver you the goods when it comes to prospects. And while there still certainly will be plenty of that still to come, I’m our resident goaltending guy here at CA. Sure, it’s been a few years since I’ve gotten to write about the Canucks drafting a prospect goaltender thanks to the fact that the last time the club selected one was back in 2022 with Ty Young.

So for a team that has followed a pretty solid rule of drafting a goalie two out of every three years, we knew almost for certain that they wouldn’t go three straight drafts without selecting one. What we didn’t know was that they’d buck the trend of waiting for the later rounds to take their goaltender, as the Canucks drafted Medvedev at 47th overall. And oh man, I like this pick. A lot. Let’s dive in.

Why the Canucks drafted Medvedev, according to the Canucks

Across the board, scouts seemed to agree that Medvedev was a top 5 or even top 3 goalie in this draft. Most boards had him going somewhere around 55-65, and the Canucks, who didn’t pick again until pick 65, didn’t want to risk him not being there in round three.

Here is what Canucks Director of Scouting Todd Harvey had to say about Medvedev and why the Canucks selected him.

“He’s a calm, calm kid, big kid, moves well in the net and does, never seems to get rattled. He has that presence in there that makes the team in front of you play a little calmer. We thought he was our guy. We kind of targeted that, and that was a good pick.

“This guy’s a good goalie. We’re pretty happy with him. I think that he’s going to show next year that he’s ready to take workload. For him to take the net in London next year and run with it is going to be big for him and his development.”

“Well, I mean, obviously Ian [Clark] has a lot to say on [who the Canucks decided to pick]. We looked at the draft, and he wanted this pick, and we thought it was the right time. And Clarky will be in touch with the goalies. I think we have a real good staff here for development and bringing him [Medvedev] along; he’s going to have the net next year in London. And you never know, London, they always have a good team. So maybe they get back to a Memorial Cup.”

What I saw, and how I evaluate draft-eligible goalies

If you think goalies are voodoo, try draft-eligible goalies! Some of the biggest busts in team’s histories are highly-touted goaltenders, and some of the game’s greatest netminders of all time were late-round diamonds in the rough. The way I look at young goalies is with a scale of sorts. One end is all about their raw talents and intangibles like size, length, natural mobility, and things of that nature; while the other end of the scale is all about technique. Their footwork, positioning, movements, and more.

Back when he was the Canucks’ director of goaltending and we were discussing the raw abilities of newly-drafted Canucks prospect Aku Koskenvuo, Ian Clark once told me that he and his staff “can teach technique in a weekend.” While there’s some hyperbole there, the point is that an important thing not to overlook when evaluating young goaltenders is what intangible abilities they possess, even if the results aren’t their just yet thanks to some bad technique.

How do they deal with broken plays? How quickly and efficiently can they push off to move laterally while already down in the butterfly? When the chips are down and they need to make split-second adjustments and decisions, what do they do? How competitive are they? How much natural mobility do they possess? How much length do they have to work with?

In the case of goaltenders like Arturs Silovs, Aku Koskenvuo, and Ty Young, the Canucks drafted these players later in the draft in part because they were missing the advanced technical abilities that would lead to more success with their draft-eligible teams, and thus, a higher overall draft ranking among NHL teams.

So as I said above, imagine a scale. One side says “Raw ability”, and the other says “Technical ability”. From my viewings of Medvedev, this goaltender lands right smack in the middle of that scale.

Medvedev has a great mix of innate talent and refined skills, and in chatting with some folks from other teams, it would seem that my evaluation seems fairly accurate, as some viewed Medvedev as a raw talent, while others viewed him as closer to a finished product.

His reactions are quick, his feet are quiet, and he’s already well on his way to establishing himself as one of the game’s top goaltending prospects. Below is a great video that focused on Medvedev and was a very valuable resource for scouting Medvedev. If you watch it — focus on Medvedev’s puck tracking ability. His movements are calculated, balanced, and he rarely loses sight of the puck while he’s moving. Note that his movements aren’t body first either, with his eyes leading the way. That, along with how easy he makes most saves look, hints at the fact he’s more refined than some of the goalies who typically go in the later rounds. But as you see in just this video, there is plenty of raw athletic ability in Medvedev’s game that the Canucks are certainly itching to refine and harness into success.