The strange case of Matej Machovsky?
 

So was playing some NHL 13 this morning and the name Matej Machovsky popped up when my friend played as Brampton. This sparked my memory of him attending a Kings development camp back in the summer of 2011.

Prompted me to look up his stats for this year and I was shocked to see him pretty high up in the OHL in terms of goalie stats... I figured at that point he was a pretty solid prospect as I remember him pretty a nice young goaltender at that development camp.

Then came the kicker. Upon looking further I saw that he still hasn't been drafted despite being the same age as Chris Gibson. :amazed:

So my question is this, what gives with this kid? Researching the topic a little bit he has been to the Kings Dev. camp and Ottawa's prospect camp, he has decent size at 6'2" 187, seems to be in NA for the long haul (3 CHL seasons under his belt,) has international experience at the 2011 U18 World Championships. Everything seems to point at him being a really solid option as a prospect yet he's been passed over twice now in the draft? Maybe this belongs in the prospects thread but I was curious to see if other Kings fans had an opinion of him since he did spend some time at Kings camps.

Maybe he's just not any good?

There might be problems we don't see on the ice.

The process of drafting isn't ALL about on ice ability. These guys normally go through a series of pretty grueling "interviews" with different development staff members and scouts just to get to know them as people.

Essentially though, if he was as good as he seems on paper without there being a problem outside of the game he would have been taken already. It's pretty much that simple.

I get that, but those must be some pretty severe issues for him to drop from being rated right around where Gibson and Honzik were rated to being passed over two years straight. I mean if Kyle Beach, Kiril Kabanov, Akim Aliu, and others can get dafted with their issues you'd think Machovsky would get looked at at some point.

You're point is a very valid one. I'm going to do a little research of my own and see what's up.

He didn't leave much of an impression when I watched him at development camp. I don't even think he was the most impressive goaltender invited.

Not that he was bad, but I just don't remember watching him and thinking the Kings are missing out by not drafting/signing him.

That's what I remember reading at the time of that camp was that he was pretty meh. I remembered thinking he was an older goalie and didn't realize he was the same draft year as Gibson until seeing his name prior to the draft. I always just figured the Kings were more impressed with Gibson took him and someone took Matej later until I looked him up today. That's why I was so shocked when I started looking and saw this.

It happens a lot now actually, guys who are bubble players to get draft that don't. More a by-product of the draft dropping to seven rounds a few years back now. Guys like this would have been an 8th/9th round flyer before, now they are training camp invites.

Matej didn't play a lot in his draft year (23 games split between Guelph and Brampton, and you have to figure not all are starts). That lack of exposure likely cost him a lot at the draft (as a comparision, Gibson got 37 games and played 2,235 minutes in 2010-2011, which is more than double the 1,088 minutes Matej played). Last year, he really didn't grab the number one role and seize it. He was solid, but not head turning, and as an overager, you need to be head turning to get noticed. Look at Pearson. Matej is a solid junior goalie, but nothing really stands out about him.

He'll get another look most likely (though the lockout could affect that) and he may get a pro contract, but it wouldn't shock me if he never went above being a starter at the ECHL level in NA.

Well, the general consensus from what I have heard is exactly what you guys are saying.

He's not a good goalie, or a bad goalie. He is average. A lot of teams don't and didn't want to waste any picks on a guy that looks like at best he would be an AHL goalie, and at worst...an AHL goalie.

Machovsky is a top goalie in the OHL and will almost certainly be signed by an NHL team following this season. We see this happen each year and as recently as Roman Hrabarenka signing with New Jersey and playing in the AHL this season even though he wasn't drafted. If Machovsky goes through another draft he'll be signed by an NHL team in the summer.

He's a good goalie and I wouldn't be surprised if LA signed him or picked him in the draft this year. He's a good talent and you'll get a good look at him in the WJC when he takes over for Petr Mrazek as head goalie for the Czech's.

So it's more to do with a matter of limited upside. That I can see being the case, thanks for looking into it, that was way more than I was looking for when I brought the topic up and the effort is appreciated. :)