Whenever the Vancouver Canucks draft a goaltender, they usually follow a couple of key patterns.

History often shows they pick 2-3 goalies over a few years, take a couple of seasons off, and then repeat. Those goalies are usually tall with a major emphasis on technique and structure, all pillars of the Ian Clark goalie system built in Vancouver. It’s a cycle that brought the likes of Arturs Silovs, Aku Koskenvuo and Aleksei Medvedev into the organization, each with varying degrees of success.

On Saturday, the Canucks continued that trend, selecting Russian netminder Dmitri Ivchenko 78th overall in the third round. Clocking in at 6-foot-3 (petite by the usual Canucks standards), the 17-year-old spent last season as a backup for Omskie Yastreby in the MHL, posting a .922 save percentage and an 11-5-1 record in 19 games. And there’s no doubt that, like the netminders before him, Ivchenko fits the Canucks’ expectations of the goalies they draft perfectly.

So let’s take a look at some of Ivchenko’s limited game footage – courtesy of the YouTube channel Netminding – to see what we can glean about his game and how it fits within the Canucks mould.

The first thing you’ll notice about Ivchenko is his calm, collected movements. Like a car with great braking, Ivchenko seems to move into each save with smooth, solid fluidity. That comes from a balance of strong ability to read the play and confidence in his save selections. Ivchenko’s head follows the puck first, then his body follows with quiet feet and precision. Skating is the name of the game, and he does it as smoothly as a knife through butter.

As a larger goalie, Ivchenko generally keeps his feet within the blue paint, with his toes creeping over the crease line when he challenges out. The one spot where he can have some trouble is tracking the puck from distance and through traffic, an issue you might remember creeping up in Arturs Silovs’ Canucks tenure as well. But it’s also something that can be improved with the right coaching.

When it comes to playing the corners, the Canucks absolutely love a goalie who instinctively goes for the Reverse VH in close plays. Ivchenko absolutely falls into that category, dropping right into it whenever the puck is near the post.

His rebound control is decent with some caveats, coralling shots with his glove and steering pucks out of harm’s way with relative ease. But he also sometimes commits to slides too early, causing some overcorrections and big rebounds like this one.

Beyond the technical aspects, scouts have also noted his athleticism, and if there’s one thing I want to see from a goalie, it’s their willingness to battle for the puck on chances in close. Here you can see Ivchenko doing all of that, reacting to a shot on the doorstep and then throwing his whole body across the crease to take away the rebound opportunity.

While there is a lot to like about Ivchenko’s game, there are also some aspects to keep an eye on. Due to IIHF sanctions against Russia, Ivchenko’s experience has been limited to a small sample size against his countrymen in a less prestigious junior league than others. That small range of competition makes it hard to judge how his calmness will adapt when the rink gets a little smaller, and the overall speed gets a fair bit faster. Keeping up with game pace is what separates the average goalies from the best ones, and when you’re chasing the play, structure is the first aspect that goes out the window.

With two more years of MHL eligibility, the expectation is that he’ll stay in the Russian system for the time being. But getting Ivchenko a bigger workload in front of stiffer competition down the line will be crucial to building his skill set, whether that’s through the KHL route or convincing him to move to a tougher junior league like the CHL. But we’ll get our first look at him in North America this week when he arrives at Canucks Development Camp in Abbotsford on June 30.