It was announced today that the Blue Jackets have signed goalie prospect Matiss Kivlenieks to an entry level contract. Aaron Portzline had the scoop first.
He used the words “as anticipated” since the Blue Jackets interest in Kivlenieks was well known.
Kivlenieks is a Latvian goalie who has spent the past four seasons playing in North America. He played this past season in the USHL for the Sioux City Musketeers and was fantastic. He played in 49 games and led the league with a 1.85 goals against average and a .932 save percentage. He helped carry the Musketeer to the USHL final where they lost in the deciding fifth game. His .925 save percentage in the playoffs was only second to Ales Stezka, his counterpart in the final.
For his strong play this season Kivlenieks won both goalie of the year and player of the year, as well as being named a first team all-star. Kivlenieks has also been very good when playing for his country. He helped Latvia win a bronze medal in the World Junior qualifying tournament in 2014-15 and backstopped them to a gold in the same tournament the following year, allowing Latvia the chance to participate in the World Juniors this past December. In both those tournaments he was named best goal-tender.
He's been a decorated goalie in his career but there is a reason teams weren’t lining up to sign him and that is because of his age. The USHL is similar to that of Canadian Major Junior in that players are aged 16-20. Kivlenieks is already 20 years old and thus an overaged player. He was in his last season of USHL eligibility and dominated players much younger than him. The USHL is a generally a younger league as most of the top 18, 19 and 20 year old players move on and play in the NCAA.
With all that being said there is plenty to like with this player. First of all his size, he stand 6’2. Second while he was old for the league, this is not the first time he has dominated a league before. And finally he seems to be getting coached by some of the best in the business.
This seems like a player who is primed to be a successful goalie. The question for next season is where will he play? Right now the Blue Jackets have only one goalie under contract in Sergei Bobrovsky. Joonas Korpisalo, Anton Forsberg and Oscar Dansk are all RFA’s. Korpisalo and Forsberg will be re-signed and will battle it out to be the back-up to Bobrovksy while the other assumes the starters role in Cleveland. Dansk is a player that the organization might just move on from, which would leave a spot available at the AHL level for Kivlenieks.
Personally I would start Kivlenieks in the AHL and see what he can do. If he struggles you can always send him down and him plenty of starts in the ECHL. It’s good to have depth in net, especially with the expansion draft looming. This is a low risk high reward pick-up and a good placeholder as the Jackets wait for Elvis Merzlikins.
Predicating goaltending success is very difficult, but the best way to find a good one is to cast the net out wide and bring in as many as you can. The Jackets have done just that bringing in Matiss Kivlenieks, adding another big projectable goalie to the organization.
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