This in on Edmonton Oilers prospect goalie Samuel Jonsson of the Fort Wayne Koments, news that he posted his third straight shut-out game, sending Oilers fans and analysts sky-high with optimism.
Jonsson, who will be 22 in December, signed with the Oilers this past spring after being named the goalie of the year in the Swedish second division. He’s not only big at 6-feet, 5-inches tall, he put up big numbers as a pro, a .922 save percentage in 24 games.
He’s now on a three year Entry Level Contract and was the top-ranked goalie in the Cult of Hockey prospect rankings this summer, voted seventh overall.
He looked solid in his half of an NHL exhibition game against the Calgary Flames this September, making at least three 5-alarm saves and never looked in trouble out there as he earned his shut-out.
In his four games for Fort Wayne of the ECHL, he’s got four wins and a .945 save percentage, with fellow gigantic rookie Nathaniel Day at .909 in three games.
The string of three shut-outs though has Oilers fans daring to dream.
Reporter Ryan Holt of the Bakersfield Condors organization @CondorsHolty
Samuel Jonsson is at 181:04 scoreless with his third straight shutout for the Fort Wayne Comets. The ECHL Record is 4 straight and 321:46 straight.
Shutouts in one season record? Laurent Brossoit (6 w/ Bakersfield and 2 against Bakersfield in 13-14).
Minor pro broadcaster FloHockey @FloHockey
He. Can’t. Be. Stopped. 🔥🔥🔥
Oilers fan Greg payne @oilers1975
Maybe he’s on a Trey Yesavage curve this year 🙂 if only hockey management thought outside the box like that.
Oilers fan Vaughn Woodruff @conkanen
He’s already better than what we have now, debate a wall people.
Oilers fan Ravishing🇧🇧 @GoilersGunners
Nathaniel Day is doing similar things which makes me doubt him (Jonsson) even more. It is just a lack of competition for Jonsson & I doubt he gets much chance with Bakersfield this year barring injury.
Oilers fan Brad Lauder @OILfanincowtown
Will need to get rid of one of the AHL guys first but if this continues he should be playing AHL games soon
Hockey stats analyst Brad McPherson Blue Bullet Brad @BlueBullet1981
Can we Yesavage this guy?
Oilers fan Captain Jack 🏴☠️ @OilersJack
Tell him to pack his sh*t, I’ll pick him up tomorrow and drive him straight to YEG
Oilers fan Paul Almeida @AzorcanGlobal
I don’t care what league you are in, 3 straight shutouts is not a common occurrence.
Stats analyst Mathew Panchyshyn @mathewjdp
I would be comfortable with both Jonsson + Day running the show in the AHL right now. In their 9 starts combined ECHL career, they have…
• 6 shutouts
• 8-1-0 record
• .943 sv%
Just ridiculous numbers by both who share 3 SO and + .940 sv% a piece.
Both Day and Jonsson have serious potential. (Draft pick) Salonen too. Edmonton has three legit G prospects who are well on their way to making the NHL at some point in their careers. ECHL is no joke. Not an easy league for goalies, AHL is even less so.
Oilers fan Adam @Asnow119
Is he NHL ready? Name me an Oilers goalie that is. Name one. At least let me watch a hotshot rookie get lit up over a failed vet.
My take
1. I’m bullish on Jonsson as well, even as he was taken in the fifth round of the 2022 draft. If the Oilers had not signed Connor Ingram, an NHL-quality goalie, I expect big Jonsson would already be sharing games with Matt Tompkins in Bakersfield.
Jonsson has come very far, very fast, a strong signal for a young goalie.
2. I’d be less enthusiastic about Jonsson’s chances of helping the Oilers sooner rather than later, but I keep thinking back to a post written by former Cult of Hockey writer Jonathan Willis on his substack The Corsi Knight, where he looked at the career trajectory of 14 top NHL goalies, and noted how poor NHL scouts are at identifying top goalies in their draft year, age 18.
Noted Willis: “Seven of these 14 players weren’t drafted the first time they were eligible…When they were picked, it tended to be in the depths of the draft. Ignoring the three undrafted guys, the average draft position of the other 11 was 102nd overall.”
It seems to me that NHL scouts struggle to identify top goalie talent in 18-year-olds possibly because a lot of goalie have good save percentages in hockey’s numerous youth and junior leagues, but it’s hard to know which goalies will sustain. The talent is there, and save percentage indicates that talent, but which goalie can keep getting the job done at higher levels? Who knows? Nobody.
When a goalie does shine, though, Willis advocates for more rapid advancement than what we generally see with NHL teams. As it is, the top goalie’s display their talent early on, but are promoted slowly. “One of the lessons from this exercise is surely that NHL teams should be more willing to take chances with their young goalies.”
Could it be that Jonsson’s talent has evidently blossomed now and it may not be necessary for him to have years of AHL time before he can play solid NHL hockey? I think there’s something to this notion.
3. When Jonsson was drafted, then Oilers head amateur scout Tyler Wright said of the player: “He was one of our targets and we lucked out in getting him where we got him.
And draft expert Steve Kournianos: “Oilers take Brynas J20 goalie Samuel Jonsson. Was Ok this season TBH but they must like his size (6-4, or 6-5).”
In December 2022, writer Jason Bukala of Sportsnet said that Jonsson has upside. “He’s a good size goalie who plays a hybrid style. He relies on sitting tall in his butterfly and absorbing pucks by being properly square to the shot… My biggest concern is his lateral tracking and overall quickness. He has a very difficult time moving quickly from side to side when players skate behind his net looking to stuff pucks far post. His second stop reaction and scramble ability are lethargic. He has time on his side, but he will need to move up the ranks in Sweden and show he can adjust to the speed of the men’s game.”
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4. Until last season, however, Jonsson didn’t really shine. In the summer of 2024, the Cult’s Bruce McCurdy noted Jonsson’s slow progress, which saw him ranked 29th overall on the Cult’s prospect list: “He was lightly used in the Swedish second and third divisions, playing 8 games in all with a combined .861 save percentage. Not much sign of progress. He’s slated to play with BIK Karlskoga in HockeyAllsvenskan (second division) in 2024-25, though he may well bounce around some more. Oilers have two more seasons before needing to reach a decision.”
But this past year Jonsson lit it up for BIK Karlskoga. Scott Wheeler of The Athletic ranked him the ninth best Oilers prospect last January: “Jonsson has had a really positive season… He’s a massive goalie (6-foot-5/6 depending on who you ask) who has refined his coordination and control, footwork and habits to complement his natural ability for his size.”
And Steven Ellis of the Daily Faceoff said this past April: “The 21-year-old stands tall at 6-foot-5, and it feels like he really started to learn how to use his size to his advantage this year… He primarily backed up Norwegian veteran Lars Volden, but Jonsson often outplayed him this season. Oilers fans are excited about him due to his strong play at a young age, and I’m excited to see how he uses his quick footwork to his advantage on North American ice.”
5. What comes next? Neither Tomkins, 31, or Ingram, 28, are killing at the AHL level. Not even close. Tomkins has an .882 save percentage, Ingram way down at .848. It’s still early days this pro season, but if these trends hold in the next month, it might well be wise to move out an older goalie in Bakersfield and promote Jonsson.
6. If we look at the ages of the best goalies who ever played for the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL, we see that Ilya Bryzgalov broke in at age 25, Devan Dubnyk, 23, Grant Fuhr, 18, Curtis Joseph, 22, Nikolai Khabulin, 21, Andy Moog, 20, Bill Ranford, 19, Dwayne Roloson, 26, Tommy Salo, 26, Stuart Skinner, 22, Mike Smith, 24, Anthony Stolarz, 24, and Cam Talbot, 26.
At the Cult of Hockey
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