He Barely Played At Michigan State. Now He’s Multiple Injuries Away From The NHL

Dolan Gilbert spent most of his Michigan State career doing something every goaltender hates: waiting.

He practiced every day. He traveled with the team. He took shots, prepared for games and stayed ready for the moment his number might finally be called. For nearly two seasons, that moment never came.

Now, Gilbert has gone from a college goaltender who rarely saw the ice to an unlikely place in the NHL.

The 2026 Michigan State graduate was recently named the first emergency backup goaltender in Seattle Kraken history, giving him an opportunity to remain in professional hockey despite never having played a professional game.

It is an unusual destination for a player who began his college career as a walk-on and finished it with only 4:17 of Division I action. But Gilbert’s new role is less about what he accomplished statistically and more about the years he spent preparing for an opportunity that might never come.

Gilbert will serve as Seattle’s EBUG under the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement, which requires every team to have an emergency goaltender available this season. He will travel with the Kraken, participate in morning skates and injury skates, and take part in practices when needed.

Most nights, his job will be to prepare for a situation everyone hopes never happens.

But if Seattle’s active goaltenders are both unavailable because of injury, illness, suspension or another unforeseen circumstance, Gilbert could suddenly find himself sitting on an NHL bench — and potentially stepping onto NHL ice.

That possibility would have seemed almost impossible when Gilbert first arrived at Michigan State.

After a brief stint at Concordia University Wisconsin, he transferred to Michigan State to continue his education and eventually earned a degree in psychology, with a focus on sports psychology. His opportunity with the Spartans came in December 2023, when Trey Augustine left the team to represent the United States at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Michigan State needed another goaltender in the program, and Gilbert filled the opening.

He quickly became a familiar presence around the team. Although he wasn’t seeing game action, he was doing everything else expected of a Division I player. He traveled with the Spartans, practiced alongside the team’s regular goaltenders and remained part of the daily routine.

For two complete seasons, he did all of that without appearing in a game.

Then, during his senior year, the opportunity he had spent so long waiting for finally arrived.

Gilbert made his Division I debut against Notre Dame in November 2025, creating a particularly fitting moment for a player from South Bend, Indiana — a town known more for auto racing than professional hockey.

His first college appearance came in the same arena where he had spent so much of his childhood.

Gilbert made one more appearance against Notre Dame, finishing his Michigan State career with 4:17 of playing time without allowing a single goal — although he didn’t face a single shot on net, either.

His limited college résumé also happens to be what makes him eligible for his new role in Seattle.

The NHL’s eligibility rules for EBUGs are restrictive. An emergency goaltender cannot have played professionally within the previous three years, cannot have appeared in more than 80 professional games and cannot have played in an NHL game.

Gilbert checks every box.

He has never followed the traditional path to the next level. He wasn’t a star prospect. He wasn’t a heavily recruited goaltender. He wasn’t even the primary backup at Michigan State.

He was simply the guy who stayed prepared.

And that has been the story of Gilbert’s hockey career. Opportunities have rarely arrived with much warning, but when they did, he was prepared to step in.

Now, the first EBUG in Kraken history may finally have an opportunity unlike any he has had before.

He doesn’t need an NHL game on his résumé.

He just needs to be ready if his moment ever comes.