Sam Urban is an NHL Goaltender Prospect who’s eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft. If you don’t follow prospects closely, the name Sam Urban may not be familiar to you because there are four or five other goaltenders that are ranked higher than him heading into this year’s draft. Urban got his first taste of North American hockey this season as he played in four games this season in the USHL with the Sioux City Musketeers, two of which were starts. He went 2-0 with a 2.80 GAA and a .918 SV%. The 18-year-old netminder played for Team Slovakia in the U-18 World Championships. Slovakia would end up losing to Canada in the Bronze Medal game in OT by a score of 4-3, but it was a solid tournament for Urban. He would go 3-3 with a 3.74 GAA and .908 SV%, but the numbers don’t tell the whole story here. In those six games, he would make two games of 40+ saves, including a 54-save performance against Finland. He would be named one of the three best players for Slovakia during that tournament.
Scouting Report
One of the biggest attributes of Urban’s game is that he’s able to make those initial saves. However, his rebound control isn’t great, as a lot of his saves end up back in high-traffic areas to give the opponents more chances on net. He’s got an okay glove but tends to get beat up high sometimes. All in all, the best way to describe Urban is a goaltender who is very athletic but needs to learn how to use that athleticism to his advantage and learn when to be active and when to stay calm in the crease.
He hasn’t gotten a lot of experience under his belt, and as I previously mentioned, there are some better options out there for teams; with that being said, I could see Urban going late in the 3rd round or early in the four at the earliest but don’t be shocked if he falls further.
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