Last year, only one goalie reached the mark of 50 games played in the American League: Dustin Wolf, with Calgary. This season, there are two of them who have a chance of reaching fifty, including Jakub Dobeš, the Laval Rocket goalkeeper.
Dobeš has 48 games under his belt, and if we trust the unequivocal words of Jean-François Houle, the last four duels on the Rocket’s calendar will fall to him.
“Of course we look at its volume [de travail], recalled the Rocket head coach on Monday. Maybe that’s why he didn’t play against Belleville two weeks ago. And maybe we should have played him, because we lost the match.
“Yes, he played a lot of matches, but there are four left. We played six in nine nights, but this is six in three weeks. It should be okay. »
According to data available on Elite Prospects, Dobeš has never played more than 49 games in a season. It was in 2020-2021 in Omaha, in the USHL, when he played 47 games in the season and two in the playoffs.
It’s obviously not the big Czech who will complain about playing too much.
I feel good. I have to do more recovery than before, make sure my legs are relaxed enough. But mentally and physically, I feel like I could still play 20 or 30 matches, ideally.
Jakub Dobes
If Dobeš is entitled to such a workload, it is in particular because he offers consistency in his performances. On December 8, he began to wear new pads and, coincidence or not, his season then took a turn.
Since this change, he has played 36 matches; in 28 of those games, he showed an efficiency rating above .900. He therefore reached the magic number in 78% of his duels. This is an interesting fact because in the NHL, the leaders are usually in the 70% range.
Such a result, after two difficult first months, makes Houle quite proud of his protégé.
“To finish like that after the way he started, it shows that he is on the upward slope, in full confidence,” believes the coach. He remains a very young goalie for the organization and for him to be solid in big games like that is a very good thing. He is a very important player for us. »
Dobeš, 22, was drafted at 136e rank in 2020. After two good years at Ohio State, in the NCAA, he is having an interesting professional debut this season.