‘I’m In Really Good Hands With The Penguins’: Goaltending Prospect Eager To Make Permanent Jump To Pros

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ system possesses some of the league’s best goaltending prospect depth, as there is talent at all levels of the organization and in junior leagues for drafted prospects.

Sergei Murashov – the organization’s most highly-touted goaltender – figures to be in the NHL full-time next season to tandem with Arturs Silovs. Joel Blomqvist is still putting up numbers at the AHL level and is on track to split the net with Taylor Gauthier, who has had an outstanding ECHL career with the Wheeling Nailers up to this point. The Penguins also just selected Belarussian goaltender Matvei Nikonovich 160th overall in this year’s draft.

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Then, there is 19-year-old prospect Gabriel D’Aigle, who saw a handful of games with the Wheeling Nailers last season and is preparing to be a full-time part of the Penguins’ organization. The 19-year-old – who turns 20 in November and is AHL-eligible next season – figures to be a big part of Pittsburgh’s ECHL squad, whoever that ends up being next season.

And his ECHL experience last season has prepared him for the road ahead.

“I improved a lot in many aspects,” D’Aigle said. “I just worked on everything [I had to work on], and my year with Victoriaville, I think it was great. And after that in Wheeling, that was great, too. I got good experience in Wheeling.”

The 6-foot-4, 213-pound native of Sorel-Tracy, Quebec – the same hometown as Penguins’ goaltending legend Marc-Andre Fleury – was selected 84th overall in the 2025 Entry Draft, and he has experienced a lot of growth in the year since. He suited up for the QMJHL’s Victoriaville Tigres, who went 23-36-5 last season.

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Of course, that was not because of D’Aigle, who faced the fourth-most shots of any goaltender in the QMJHL (1,451) and still managed a .908 save percentage in his 39 games despite getting peppered on a nightly basis. It’s also worth noting that his shots faced per game average of 37.2 shots per game was much higher than the three goaltenders above him in shots faced, as they all appeared in 50 or more games.

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But D’Aigle didn’t necessarily mind the fact that he faced a lot of shots. Well, except for the fact that it tired him out.

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“Yeah, it’s always fun to have a lot of shots,” D’Aigle said. “Sometimes, you get a little bit tired. I mean, just it’s fun to have a lot of shots. It’s your job as a goalie to stop pucks, so, like, 30-plus shots a night is pretty cool.

“I think just having a lot of shots can help because you learn about every type of shot, you see a lot of scoring chances, so it’s helped me a lot. In Wheeling, where the guys – they’ve got a way better team in Wheeling – they told me just to calm my game. But you know what type of shot, and I always see it.”

D’Aigle did take a lot from his limited professional sample size last season. In three regular season appearances with Wheeling, he went 1-2 with a .925 save percentage, and he also appeared in one playoff game in relief of starter Taylor Gauthier, allowing one goal on 11 shots.

He knows that professional hockey is a different kind of game, and he learned a ton in those four games.

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“I learned to play with older guys,” D’Aigle said. “Guys from, like, 30 years old, so it’s just fun, the difference between the junior and pro hockey. And every guy in Wheeling was really good with me, so it was cool to be part of the team that went to the [ECHL Eastern Conference] final.

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“I would say that the guys are more mature. They have way more experience, so they have better shots, they do better plays, and even defensively, the guys are better defensively, too. So, I would say just the game is just more mature.”

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The young netminder is aware of the fact that there is a lot of internal competition for precious playing time within the Penguins’ system and on their affiliate squads. With Murashov likely to graduate to the NHL level next season – and Gauthier likely to fully graduate to the AHL – he already knows his likely landing spot will be the ECHL.

He trusts the process, and he trusts the organization’s development staff, who have a very hands-on approach with him.

“Last year, there’s two guys from the Penguins who came to Victoriaville and helped me a lot, and I talked to a couple of guys from the development group throughout the year,” D’Aigle said. “So, I’m in really good hands with the Penguins.”

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The staff certainly believes in his talent, too, and they worked with him on the ice, in the video room, and in the gym at the Penguins’ annual prospect development camp last week. The staff also knows exactly what he needs to work on in order to be successful long-term at the professional level.

“I think just building the consistency in his game and making sure he’s got off-ice pro habits to set him up for the on-ice practices and games that he’ll be in,” said Tom Kostopoulos, Penguins’ director of player development. “You can see he’s got the nice, big frame, and he moves well. It’s controlling some of those pushes and some of that movement so that he’s always in position and ready for the next puck.”

And, well, when a goaltender faces as many shots as D’Aigle, it can, naturally, put them in a constant survival state. If anything, D’Aigle understands that he just needs to master the skill and the art of calmness, which should help him master those other elements, too.

“I think just to calm my game a little bit and to stay in the crease a little bit and the blue paint,” D’Aigle said. “Yeah, just calm, because they know I have the skills to stop the puck.”

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