Goaltender Strauss Mann is heading back overseas, this time to Germany, after spending the last two seasons in North America with the San Jose Sharks and Montreal Canadiens organizations. The 25-year-old goaltender spent his collegiate career at the University of Michigan, where he went 35-30-9 with a 2.14 GAA, .926SV%, and 11 shutouts in 77 games with the Wolverines over three years. Once finishing up his collegiate career, Mann would head to Sweden to play on the SHL with Skelleftea AIK, where he went 13-9 with a 2.19 GAA, .914SV%, and three shutouts. He would end up joining Team USA for the 2022 Olympics, where he saw action in two games where he went 1-1 with a 1.85 GAA and .945SV%; he would also join Team USA for the World Championships, where he saw action in four games going 3-1 with a 2.42 GAA, and .888SV%.
The San Jose Sharks would give Mann a one-year entry-level contract before the 2022-23 season, as he would split the 2022-23 season between the San Jose Barracuda and Wichita Thunder. In 20 games at the AHL level with the Barracuda, he would go 8-7 with a 3.32 GAA, .894SV%, and one shutout; in 13 games with the Wichita Thunder in the ECHL, he would go 9-3-1 with a 2.51 GAA and .932SV%. The following season, Mann signed a one-year deal with the Laval Rocket, in which he played 15 games, putting up a 2-9-2 record with a 3.69 GAA and .879SV%. Mann would have a bright spot with the Rocket on October 18th, where he would pick up one of the strangest goalie goals we’ve seen in a game vs Rochester Americans. The 25-year-old goaltender would also spend time in the ECHL with the Trois-Rivieres Lions, where he would go 6-3-1 with a 2.59 GAA, .910SV%, and one shutout in 11 appearances.
