With Cam Talbot not being re-signed in Ottawa, it certainly would be handy if Mads Sogaard were NHL-ready next season. But is that realistic?
Does a second-round pick in the 2019 draft who has already started 21 games in the NHL and barely qualifies for rookie of the year eligibility still get called a prospect?
During his time in the NHL last season, 22-year-old Mads Sogaard won the Rookie of the Month award for February with a 4-0-1 record, a 2.33 GAA and a .922 save percentage.
However, Sogaard's overall numbers in 19 starts were 8-6-3 with a 3.32 GAA and an .889 save percentage.
Yep. He’s still a prospect.
The 6-foot-7 Sogaard – the tallest goalie in the NHL – has clearly put himself first in the line of ascension in the Senators organization, it’s hard to imagine that, at the moment, he's been penciled in as riding shotgun with Anton Forsberg on opening night.
His performance in Belleville in 2021-22 was enough to convince GM Pierre Dorion it was worth parting ways with previously projected NHL prospect Filip Gustavsson in favour of a more immediate solution in Cam Talbot.
What last year showed everyone is that Sogaard, if properly developed, could be that guy. But he has yet to be “The Guy” at the AHL level, having never started as many as half the games in a season. Even last year between Ottawa and Belleville, he played the most games he has ever played in any season, junior or pro, with 41.
As evidenced by seven goalies playing for Ottawa last year, Sogaard struggled to stay healthy, as did everyone else. It would be a lot easier to see him ascending to the NHL full time if he had played 60 games last year between the NHL and AHL.
Even then, in a season where the team is expected to deliver a playoff birth or die trying, the prudent route would seem to have Sogaard take the reigns in Belleville and play as much as possible while yielding on back to backs and have him on first recall if anything happens in Ottawa.
Now that they know there is something there, it’s time to groom this player to be “The Guy” and the only way to do that is to see if he can handle the workload. Oddly enough, being second chair in Ottawa would be counterproductive to his development.
If the goal is for him to be a starter one day, he needs to be a starter in Belleville.