Scott Radley: Goalie David Egorov is making the Hamilton Bulldogs excited about the future

He finally lost a couple.

Don't get caught up in the word lost there. The important part of that sentence is the finally.

David Egorov had played 17 games this year for the Hamilton Kilty B's before a team finally beat him in regulation time on Saturday. Then he lost in his Ontario Hockey League debut for the Hamilton Bulldogs on Wednesday behind a team that didn't always offer him much help.

Still, that's pretty good. Of course, he's pretty good.

Oh my God, he's something else," says Bulldogs general manager Matt Turek.

There's some juice behind that enthusiasm. Glance at the goalie stats for the Jr. B Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League and you'll notice two things. One, Egorov's near the top in many categories. Two, he's the only 16-year-old among the leaders.

When the Bulldogs drafted him with the first pick in the fourth round back in the spring - the highest pick they'd ever used on a goalie - they hoped he might become something special someday. It looks like they were right. And sooner than they might've expected.

One pro scout says the kid is one of the best at his age not just in his league. Or in Ontario. Rather, in all of Canada. Suggesting the future of puck stopping in this city is playing at the Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena these days.

Like so many goalies, he kind of fell into it.

His parents - he pronounces his last name EE-gor-off but if you want to be true to his dad's Russian background, you can go with Ya-GO-rov - put him in hockey as a boy. He was a skater until it was his turn in the rotation to put on the equipment.

I just liked it so I stuck with it," he says.

Turns out he was pretty good at it. That's never changed.

That said, one glance at his baby face offers a quick reminder that he's still a kid. Just a teenager. Lots can go right or wrong before he reaches his dream of playing in the NHL. There aren't too many 150-pound, Grade 11 students who are lockdown, sure things.

But when you watch him play, you realize he's way more mature than his birth certificate would suggest.

At six-foot-one - and growing - he's big enough that when he squares up to the shooter he takes up a lot of the net. And his game is remarkably calm, which is unusual for someone so young.

He's not sliding all over the place," says Kilty's head coach, Ken Peroff. He reads the play well and he doesn't overcommit so you don't really get anything for free against (him)."

And he's getting better quickly. He was really good at the start of the year but in his seven starts before Caledonia finally beat him, he posted a .955 save percentage. Which would be by far the best in the league.

Remember, he's only 16. Doesn't turn 17 until May. Goalies generally don't develop until a bit later than skaters.

He's not a typical 16-year-old," Turek says. I think he's the best in Ontario."

A few days ago, Turek said he expected the kid to get some time in the Bulldogs net before the season is over. Not sure even he thought it would come so soon. But his coaches had been talking and thought it was time to let Egorov dip his toe in the water. So that was Wednesday.

He'll be back with the Kilty's for most of the rest of the way now. But when next season rolls around, he'll almost certainly take over the net for the next three or four years. Maybe - hopefully - backstopping the Bulldogs rebuild and giving Hamilton some of the best goaltending in the league.

For now though, it doesn't sound like he's in any huge rush.

I've been having a lot of fun here and I think I'm improving here as well," he says.

OK, but he'd be eager to make the jump when the time comes?

Yeah."

Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com