Joel Hofer

June 2022 – In his second professional season, Hofer progressed well. In 39 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds, he was in net for 18 wins and posted a .905 save percentage. He was good enough for the Blues to call him up for his NHL debut, playing two games in which he secured his first NHL win and sported a .880 save percentage. He’s been even more impressive in the playoffs: he is undefeated in all five games he’s played so far with an amazing 0.965 save percentage. If the 21-year-old can keep shutting the door, the Thunderbirds could go all the way in this year’s Calder cup playoffs. Gordon Munro

September 2019 – Hofer was sent back to Portland on the 17th and heads into his third WHL season as the number one goaltender for the Winterhawks. Through his first two games Hofer has been solid posting a .922 save percentage and 2.00 goals against average. Hofer has already tasted AHL competition and should prove to be too good for the WHL at this point in his career. There are a lot of players ahead of Hofer, which means the Blues have the luxury of letting him marinate for a few more years in the AHL. Sam Stern

May 2018 – For most of the season Hofer was anchored by an abysmal Swift Current Broncos team that won just 11 games, and he was later dealt to Portland. The 18-year-old took several steps in his development this year. He kept his save percentage above .900 during his time with Swift Current and saw his numbers improve with Portland. The season all culminated with him signing an ELC and making his first professional start with the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL. Sam Stern