2024 NHL Draft Profile: Lukas Matecha

Adam Kierszenblat

Jun 21, 2024, 18:38

Adam Kierszenblat

Jun 21, 2024, 18:38

A deep dive into 2024 NHL Draft prospect and Tri-City Americans' goaltender Lukas Matecha.

The WHL is set to play a significant role in this year's 2024 NHL Draft. 57 players were included on NHL Central Scouting's final rankings, with a handful expected to be drafted in the first round. Today's draft profile is of Tri-City Americans' Lukas Matecha, who enters the draft as the 3rd-ranked North American Goaltender.

Matecha enters the 2024 NHL Draft as one of the best goaltenders available. In his first season in North America, Matecha showed he could be an effective starter while keeping his team in games. Listed at 6'3", 196 pounds, he takes up a good portion of the net and understands how to use his size to his advantage.

When watching Matecha, the first thing that stands out is his ability to cover the bottom of the net. Thanks to his size, he can stretch out his pads, while his athleticism allows him to move post to post with ease. Matecha also likes to play deep in his net, which enables him to be positionally strong when facing one-timers.

One underrated part of Matecha's game is his ability to find loose pucks around the crease. He can quickly jump on rebounds and can track pucks through sticks and skates while staying in position. Matecha is also a strong goaltender who can stand his ground and keep pucks out despite being pushed into the net during net-front battles.

When it comes to future development, Matecha needs to work on stopping high shots. Most of the goals allowed were scored above the blocker and glove, which could cause problems at the pro level. If Matecha can become a little faster with his glove and improve his puck-tracking ability, these issues should be sorted out by the time he leaves the WHL.

Based on his season, Matecha deserves to be drafted this year. He was a star at the CHL Top Prospect Game and has the potential to be successful at the pro level. Projected by some to be drafted in the fourth round or later, he would be a great addition to any organization's prospect pool.

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