When the San Jose Sharks drafted Joshua Ravensbergen in the first round of the 2025 draft, it shocked a lot of people. With Yaroslav Askarov, the team’s presumed goaltender of the future, already in the fold, it seemed as though using such a high pick on another goaltender was risky. But General Manager Mike Grier stuck to his game plan — draft the best player available — and he selected Ravensbergen. So far, the plan has paid off in spades.
Position: Goaltender
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 190 pounds
Age: 19
Date of Birth: Nov. 27, 2006
Draft Year: 2025 (Drafted 30th overall by the San Jose Sharks)
Catches: Right
2026-27 Team: Michigan State University (NCAA)
In his first season post-draft, Ravensbergen returned to his WHL team, the Prince George Cougars, and improved in almost every category. While his win-loss record was about the same, 32-13-0, compared to his 33-13-4 record when he was 18, he improved in other categories. His goals-against average dropped to 2.51 from 3.00 and his save percentage jumped to .919 from .901. Ravensbergen also had four shutouts this past season. The entirety of his play earned him the Del Wilson Trophy as the WHL’s goaltender of the year and he was named to the WHL’s first all-star team.
What we like
Ravensbergen is an athletic netminder who has the size of an NHL goaltender, two things that, if he can pull it all together, could make him an elite professional goaltender one day. Of course, there’s a long way between here and there, but it’s the reason that The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler ranked Ravensbergen second on his list of NHL goaltending prospects in August.
And, in a recent post on The Athletic, Wheeler wrote this about Ravensbergen: “He moves very smoothly in the net for his size. He’s smart in his reads and anticipation. He can go post-to-post or low-to-high to get to difficult saves with his length and has definite room to get more powerful through his pushes. He has a competitive fire. He reads the play well and fills the net to take away options from shooters with sharp, challenging angles. He has some natural standout attributes and the size to match.
The Athletic’s Corey Pronman, who also spends a lot of time evaluating prospects, says that Ravensbergen has a “quick-twitch in his lower half” and he “anticipates the play well.”
Then, of course, there’s the reason why the Sharks like him. The team was high on Ravensbergen when it drafted him in 2025, and things have only gotten better since. Sharks Director of Amateur Scouting Chris Morehouse told NHL.com’s Derek Van Diest that Sharks goaltending scout and development coach Ryan Miller loves Ravensbergen.
“This kid is as athletic as they come,” said Morehouse. “He’s a dynamic athlete with incredible lateral movement. He’s huge. I know (former NHL goalie) Ryan Miller (San Jose goalie scout and goaltending development) absolutely loves the kid and can’t wait to get his hands on him. Going to Michigan State is going to be awesome for him, where he can develop and grow into his frame.”
Areas of improvement
For The Athletic’s Wheeler, size is one issue. It’s not that Ravensbergen is small at 6-foot-5, but that he hasn’t had a chance to build up his body yet. That’s something Wheeler would like to see Ravensbergen do, but that comes with age. Having time at Michigan State will also help. College hockey has a less rigorous game schedule than the CHL, allowing players to hit the gym more and build the body mass they need. Look for Ravensbergen to get bigger and stronger this season.
Then there’s the simple fact that he has a lot more levels to progress through before he’s ready to face NHL shooters. He needs to level up, if you will. The NCAA will have more experienced shooters than the CHL. He’ll face those this season. Ravensbergen will spend at least two or three seasons learning in the NCAA. Then he’ll have to learn against a whole new type of player in the AHL. At every turn, the shots are harder and trickier. Ravensbergen, for all of his skill, is still a ways off from playing against the men in the NHL, but he’s working his way up to it.
What’s next for Ravensbergen?
Ravensbergen joins Michigan State as a freshman, where he will have some competition in the net and some large shoes to fill if he wins the starting job. Michigan’s goaltender last season was Trey Augustine, who was ranked just below Ravensbergen on Wheeler’s top 20 goaltending prospects list. Augustine has since turned pro, but Ravensbergen isn’t the only player looking to fill his spot. Quentin Sigurdson transferred to Michigan from Northeastern with the hopes of playing a more prominent role with the Spartans. Sigurdson is a junior and has several NCAA games already under his belt.
There’s also freshman JJ Salajko, who played 16 games with the Watertown Shamrocks in the NAHL and three games with the Waterloo Black Hawks in the USHL last season.
Ravensbergen will be battling with both players for a starting job at Michigan this season.
Highlights
In terms of highlights, we’ll start with this long-form clip that shows what Ravensbergen looks like when he works during a penalty kill.
#SJSharks 1st round pick Joshua Ravensbergen makes a nice save through a screen while battling for sight lines during a Vancouver Giants powerplay.
— Gregory Balloch (@GregBalloch) January 19, 2026
It could be Ravensbergen’s final junior hockey game in his hometown. pic.twitter.com/degt2ziBvO
Notice how large he looks when he’s down in the butterfly. Ravensbergen’s size allows his pads to practically cover the entire bottom of the net. Then, as the puck is moved to the top of the zone, he comes all the way out to the top of the crease. His height allows him to easily see over the top of the skater in front of him, giving him a clear view of the shot that’s coming.
It’s that kind of play that earned Ravensbergen his WHL Goaltender of the Year honors.
Oh yeah, and the kid will drop ’em every now and then too.
Looks like our fist round draft pick can do it all. Ravensbergen making all kinds of highlight reels in the WHL. https://t.co/6EOGZUkBno
— Fear the Fin (@fearthefin) February 17, 2026
2026 Top 25 Under 25 countdown … so far
13. Eric Pohlkamp
14. Quentin Musty
15. Filip Bystedt
16. Zack Ostapchuk
17. Leo Sahlin Wallenius
18. Cam Lund
19. Ethan Cardwell
20. Nolan Allan
21. Haoxi Wang
22. Cole McKinney
23. Carson Wetsch
24. Mattias Havelid
25. Christian Kirsch
Honorable Mentions: Joey Muldowney, Teddy Mutryn, Andre Gasseau, Brady Knowling and Alexander Karmanov
Editor’s Note: More than 100 people voted in our fan poll this year, though admittedly, not everyone filled out the entire form, i.e., all 25 spots and the honorable mentions. In some cases, some people filled out their top ten and left the rest blank. While it makes the math a bit harder, we found the fairest (and easiest) thing to do was average the scores based on the total responses received. While blank scores counted as zero, it didn’t seem to skew the results too badly. Ultimately, this isn’t an exact science, but I think you’ll find it’s a pretty good list.
