"Doesn't matter where you go; it's what you do after": Joshua Ravensbergen targets NHL first-round draft pick as Canada looks for next great goalie

Joshua Ravensbergen, the 6-foot-5.25 North Vancouver, British Columbia goaltender, has become one of Canada's standout hockey prospects on the eve of the 2025 NHL Draft. Despite slipping through the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft undrafted, the Prince George Cougars phenom is now estimated to be a first-round candidate, making him an unprecedented Canadian goaltending prospect in a time when top national talent between the pipes has been a rarity.

Joshua Ravensbergen rekindles Canadian optimism within the NHL goaltender universe

From forgotten junior to NHL Draft news story, Joshua Ravensbergen's path is exceptional. Passed over in the 2021 WHL Bantam Draft, Joshua Ravensbergen never allowed the disappointment to define him. Through boundless work and progress, he carved out a spot as one of the top 2025 NHL Draft prospects—this time, as an athletic goaltender who is tough to defeat and tougher to ignore. For Joshua Ravensbergen, this summer's NHL Draft might become an individual milestone—and an emblematic moment for Canadian goaltending.

The problem, Joshua Ravensbergen thinks, is limited CHL opportunities and results-oriented development design. But with the new CHL-NCAA transfer agreement now established, he envisions greater latitude for late-blooming goaltenders to come into their prime through longer development.

"At the end of the day, it's not really about where you go, and I learned that not being drafted to the (WHL)," Ravensbergen told theScore at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo earlier in June.

"It's what team you go to, then you have to work your way up. At the end of the day, it would be cool, but you have to take into perspective (that) it doesn't really matter as much where you go; it's what you do after." Also read: NHL Trade Rumors: JJ Peterka emerges as potential trade piece in Buffalo Sabres’ offseason plansJoshua Ravensbergen is not only pursuing an NHL aspiration, he's also shouldering the expectations of an entire nation eager for its next great goaltender. Approaching the 2025 NHL Draft, Joshua Ravensbergen is not only talented, he is also the promise of a goaltending renaissance in Canadian hockey. And whether he does or does not hear his name called on Day 1, his path already says everything.