2024 NHL Draft player profile: Chase Wutzke, Red Deer Rebels

Chase Wutzke has already walked a stage and shaken hands this June- but it couldn’t be further from the jaw-dropping visuals of the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nev., which will host the 2024 NHL Entry Draft this weekend.

Instead, the Red Deer Rebels netminder has just gone through his high school graduation- one of 10 proud graduates of Ecole Debden Public School in Debden, Sask (pop. 327).

He’s spent the offseason driving two hours each way to ice times in nearby Saskatoon, which leaves a lot of time to think about potentially hearing his name called at the draft- and how improbable his rise has been.

Entering his first full WHL season, Wutzke hoped to find a role as a serviceable backup on the Red Deer Rebels.

He went 2-2-0-1 through the first two months of the season and wasn’t even listed on NHL Central Scouting’s preliminary draft rankings- but he was getting more comfortable and adjusting his game to the intense pace and play of the WHL level.

“With the higher level of game, I definitely had to bump my speed up a little bit and be that extra step ahead of everyone,” Wutzke explained. “I’m fast. I like to play aggressively and play with lots of compete. I’ll always battle for a puck. I don’t like to give up, so I just play as hard as I can and just try and stop every puck.”

With that attitude in mind, the wins started to stack up and the Rebels continued to turn to the rookie in big moments.

Wutzke snagged back-to-back WHL Goaltender of the Month honours for December and January after going 12-0-1-1 with a 1.88 goals-against average and .934 save percentage, helping vault the Rebels up the Eastern Conference standings and drawing the eyes and calls of scouts.

“He takes a lot of pride in doing well and wanting to do well for his teammates,” Rebels Owner, President and General Manager Brent Sutter said. “The shots are harder, just the speed level of the game is quicker and I think he made a great adjustment and adapted very well to it. He doesn’t have a lot of highs or lows, he’s very even-keel.

He’s certainly a goalie that’s in the top class of our league right now.”

The 6-foot-2, 158-pound netminder closed out his rookie campaign with a 19-10-2-2 record, a 2.82 goals-against average, a .904 save percentage and a shutout.

His momentum carried over into the 2024 WHL Playoffs, where Wutzke helped the Rebels advance to the second round after going 4-1-0-0 (2.59GAA, .922 Sv%) against high-flying Medicine Hat, highlighted by a 38-save performance in a double-overtime thriller in Game 1.

While he would bow out of the Eastern Conference semifinal with an injury, Wutzke had proven himself.

NHL Central Scouting now has the 17-year-old ranked ninth among all North American goaltenders and fourth among draft-eligible WHL netminders.

“I was in shock, almost, because I didn’t think that people were paying that much attention to me,” Wutzke admitted of his rise through the ranks. “After I started playing more games and getting more eyes on me… It was good. I was really proud of myself, and it was awesome to see that.

I’m feeling pretty good, feeling pretty confident, just waiting to see how things roll out.”

The whirlwind season isn’t over just yet.

Wutzke will see how things roll out in person as he and his family attend the 2024 NHL Entry Draft on June 28 and 29.