- Jacob Fowler is the new No. 1 goalie prospect in hockey
- Trey Augustine, Joshua Ravensbergen and Sebastian Cossa round out the top four
- Read below for the full top 10 and where every rising name landed
There is a new name at the top of the goalie prospect pile, and Montreal has him.
Jacob Fowler takes the No. 1 spot in Steven Ellis’ top 25 NHL-affiliated goalie prospects for 2026-27, jumping one spot after a rookie season that nearly made him ineligible for the exercise. Ellis went as far as invoking the highest bar a Canadiens goalie can be measured against.
Writing about what Fowler flashed in his first taste of NHL hockey, Ellis put it this way:
“This feels a little like watching a young Carey Price break through the noise as a youngster. Fowler is easily the most skilled Canadiens goalie prospect they’ve had in close to 20 years.”
Fowler barely qualified. Goalies have to be 25 or younger with fewer than 20 NHL games last season, and the 21-year-old got called up midway through the year and spent stretches splitting the crease with Jakub Dobes. He finished 9-6-2 with a 2.43 goals-against average, a .908 save percentage and a shutout in 17 appearances, then got a look in the playoffs.
Montreal grabbed him 69th overall in 2023. Take a look at the debut that started all of this:
Detroit’s Trey Augustine slots in second after three years at Michigan State, where he went 66-25-7 with nine shutouts and a .922 save percentage across 99 games. Sharks prospect Joshua Ravensbergen climbed three spots to third and takes over Augustine’s old crease at MSU this fall.
Sebastian Cossa is fourth, now with Utah after Detroit dealt him this summer. Sergei Murashov jumps from unranked all the way to fifth, and the Penguins goalie already has the résumé to explain why:
Murashov posted a .919 save percentage and a 24-9-4 record in the AHL last season before that shutout in Sweden. He is in the middle of a three-way fight for Pittsburgh crease time heading into camp.
Here is how the top 10 shook out:
- 1. Jacob Fowler, 21, Canadiens
- 2. Trey Augustine, 21, Red Wings
- 3. Joshua Ravensbergen, 19, Sharks
- 4. Sebastian Cossa, 23, Mammoth
- 5. Sergei Murashov, 22, Penguins
- 6. Mikhail Yegorov, 20, Devils
- 7. Michael Hrabal, 21, Mammoth
- 8. Pyotr Andreyanov, 19, Blue Jackets
- 9. Jack Ivankovic, 19, Predators
- 10. Hampton Slukynsky, 21, Kings
Utah owns two of the top seven with Cossa and Michael Hrabal, who put up a .937 save percentage in college last year. Los Angeles is the only other team with two in the top 11, with Slukynsky at 10 and Carter George right behind him.
Nashville’s Jack Ivankovic made the biggest jump inside the top 10, climbing five spots to ninth. Flyers prospect Yegor Zavragin moved up six to 12th after leading the VHL with a .949 save percentage.
Last year’s No. 1, Yaroslav Askarov, graduated off the list along with Leevi Merilainen, Devon Levi, Jesper Wallstedt and Dobes. That churn is why team prospect pools keep reshuffling from one summer to the next.
Fowler gets the chance to answer the Price comparison starting in October, with Dobes pushing him every night.
