Hellebuyck, Demko or Gillies

[Oakville Squires]

I'm looking for some advice as to who is the better option from a long-term perspective: Hellebyuck, Demko, Gudvlevskis and Gillis? Are there any other top goaltending prospects from this years draft to consider picking up?

[petegreg21]

Gillies
Demko
Hellebuyck
Mason McDonald (2014)
Alex Nedeljovic (2014)
Gudlevskis
Edwin Minney (2014)
Ville Husso (2014)

[dodospice]

Thatcher Demko
Mason McDonald
Alex Nedeljovic
Brent Moran
Brandon Halverson
Ville Husso
Jonas Johansson

All draft eligible guys in this years draft that might be worth a shot. Obviously you never know if any of them will pan out but I'd be willing to roll the dice on any of them at this point.

[theIceWookie]

I'm looking for some advice as to who is the better option from a long-term perspective: Hellebyuck, Demko, Gudvlevskis and Gillis? Are there any other top goaltending prospects from this years draft to consider picking up?

I don't think you can go wrong with either Demko, Gillies or Hellebyuck. All three look very strong at the NCAA level so far.

Both the Flames organization and the Jets organization are very high on their respective goalie prospects. Hellebyuck might have a little jump on Gillies/Demko simply because he's the only one of the three that has a contract currently. But both him and Gillies are in very good places as the likely future starters for their teams.

Demko has been impressive in his freshman season in the NCAA. He's shown a ton of potential and is likely the best goalie available in the draft this year (although Nedeljovic was VERY impressive for a terrible Whalers team).

All of them have good size (not Nedeljovic though), which is seemingly a trend in recent years for goalies. Demko is the smallest of the three at 6 foot 3.

Demko is the furthest away from starting.

Personally I'd take Gillies/Demko over the rest. But Gillies will spend at least another season in Providence, and Demko I'm guess will spend at least one more at Boston College (if not more). So if you're looking for sooner, Hellebyuck is your guy.