Jacob Fowler is a 6’2, 201lb NHL Draft Goaltending Prospect from Melbourne, Florida. At only 18 years old, Fowler has already made a name for himself. In his first full season in the USHL with the Youngstown Phantoms, he went 27-9-3 with a league-leading 2.18 GAA and .921 SV%; he also added five shutouts which were good enough to win him, Goaltender Of The Year in the USHL. He would continue to excel in the Clark Cup Playoffs, where he went 8-1 with a 1.36 GAA and .932 SV%, and one shutout, that shutout coming in the Cup-clinching game where he stopped all 22 shots he saw in a 1-0 win. Fowler would end up winning the Most Outstanding Player Award for the Clark Cup Playoffs. The 18-year-old netminder has already committed to Boston College for next season. Fowler is one of only three goaltenders inside the top 100 of Inside The Rink’s 2023 NHL Draft Rankings, including Trey Augustine, who also spent last year in the USHL.
Scouting Report
The biggest upside for Fowler is that he is attending Boston College, which is a very good school when it comes to developing goaltenders. One of the biggest things that Fowler will have to work on is his skating, which is subpar; his post-to-post movement isn’t very fluid, but he will have time with the Eagels to improve on this. One of Fowler’s best attributes is his puck-tracking skills and his ability to anticipate shots. There are a lot of questions about where Fowler will fall in this year’s draft, and I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s picked before the end of the second round. He may not have played in a lot of the bigger tournaments that the other goaltending prospects have, but his numbers have caught the eyes of many. I expect Fowler to surprise a lot of people about how early he goes in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.
