Bruins prospect profile #31: Lars Volden

Lars Volden, G
6-2, 190
July 26, 1992
Catches: Left
Boston's 6th choice, 181st overall in 2011 Draft
Signing status: Unsigned

Talent Analysis

Physical: Tall, slim netminder with an athletic build and room to put some meat on the bones. Wide-based stance- takes up a lot of the net. Quick reflexes and effective with the butterfly and his recovery. Does a good job of squaring up to the shooter and moving laterally in his crease. Above average glove, blocker side needs more work/was beaten on several shots because his stick wasn't fully on the ice. Like most goalies his age, needs to improve rebound control and directing pucks out of danger. Has all the physical attributes you look for in the modern NHL goalie: big, agile, fast, exhibits solid fundamentals and technique.

Intangibles: Calm and poised, but at times looks too nonchalant- a little fire and fight in him like Gothberg has wouldn't hurt. Seems mechanical and forced- could benefit from letting go and doing what comes naturally instead of trying to display flawless technique on each and every save. He's shown some natural puck-stopping instincts in the past (see YouTube video save), and seems to be at his best when he reacts and blocks. When in the zone, is nearly unbeatable, but tends to allow goals in bunches if he loses focus.

Boston Bruins 2011 Development Camp assessment

Volden and Gothberg were close in terms of how well they performed at camp. Volden is more of the technician between the two and demonstrated some intriguing NHL potential with his solid fundamentals and quickness. That said, he's still very much a work in progress and it will be a big year for him in Finland, especially if he can win a spot with Espoo's senior (pro) team. He played well on the Blues' jr. squad last season after leaving his native Norway. Volden showed he belonged in development camp by making some pretty saves and displaying some impressive raw tools to work with, we just would like to see him battle a little harder in select spots as opposed to the clinical, detached approach.

Development Camp interview with Lars Volden



Here's Volden at his instinctive best. Great save

Click on YouTube to see this stop, posted by ezzle

Projection

Like Gothberg, Volden is a long-term project, but he has NHL starter upside given his impressive size and athleticism. He and Steffen Soberg bombed in one game we watched at the WJC, but that was just one contest- while it does raise questions about Volden's mental toughness and ability to battle through adversity, he certainly brings some skill and potential to the table. Volden is a long way from competing for an NHL job, but being a sixth-round selection not to mention the current status of goalies in Boston, he can take his time and come along gradually without any real pressure. Keep an eye on this one- for the second consecutive year, the B's have grabbed a goalie in the sixth round, and in each case, raw project types who have some legitimate talent. A strong season could vault Volden into the top-15 on the depth chart by year's end; big test coming up for him.

Quotable

"Lars [Volden] is playing, working his way up through the European teams and had a good year over there."- Bruins Assistant GM Don Sweeney; July 10, 2011

"Our European scout Jukka [Holtari] had seen him a lot, as had some of our other scouts. We got good reports from his goalie coach on him. He's a big boy. We like if we can to draft a goalie every year to add depth in that position in the organization, and at that point in the draft it made sense to draft him."- Bruins Assistant GM Jim Benning; June 25, 2011

"He's the typical butterfly style goalie that you see come out of Finland. He's big. He covers the net, the upper part of the net and the butterfly. We'll keep monitoring him. It takes goalies a long time to develop. There's been a lot of good goalies come out of Finland, so we're excited to get him in the sixth round."- Benning; June 25, 2011