2026 NHL Draft Profile | Michal Orsulak, Prince Albert Raiders

With 2025 WHL Goaltender of the Year Max Hildebrand graduating from the WHL at the end of the 2024-25 season, there were question marks about what the goaltending situation could look like for the Raiders.

Much to the delight of fans in Hockeytown North, Michal Orsulak has continued the tradition of spectacular goaltending in Prince Albert- and could see his hard work pay off at next week’s NHL Draft.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound puckstopper’s enthusiasm was apparent from the jump when he arrived in Northern Saskatchewan from his hometown of Tremosna, Czechia, but his gear didn’t.

Rather than waiting for his setup to arrive, Orsulak and the Raiders’ staff cobbled together a set for him to hit the ice right away and get into preseason games.

“He is the happiest guy every single day,” Raiders bench boss and 2026 WHL Coach of the Year finalist Ryan McDonald said. “He absolutely loves coming to the rink. He’s the first guy who walks through the door. His gear wasn’t here on time, so it was putting stuff together to get him on the ice. He went on the ice with mismatched, different coloured gear and whatnot, and just went out there and stopped the puck, and did a tremendous job.”

For the record, Orsulak eventually got his new green and gold setup- plus a helmet that World Juniors fans would later become very familiar with.

The 18-year-old put forward a 28-4-3-1 campaign with a 2.22 goals-against average, a .907 save percentage and four shutouts to help the Raiders ice a 52-win campaign and claim first place in the Eastern Conference.

Orsulak led all qualified WHL netminders in GAA, tied for second in shutouts and clocked in at fifth in save percentage and wins.

“I’m trying to like be (Sergei) Bobrovsky, but it’s like, it’s hard style, because he is, in my opinion, (the) best goalie,” Orsulak said.

Orsulak was recognized as a WHL Eastern Conference First-Team All-Star and was named a finalist for WHL Goaltender of the Year.

He also went 3-2-0 with a 3.19 GAA and .874 save percentage to backstop Czechia to a silver medal at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Yep, this is the guy who pulled off back-to-back penalty shot stops on Canada’s Michael Hage.

Orsulak also saw his draft stock rise off the steam of a sterling performance at the 2026 WHL Prospects Game.

While splitting goaltending duties with Medicine Hat’s Carter Casey, Orsulak denied all 16 shots he faced in a 5-4 overtime win for Team East- which also saw his Raiders’ teammate, projected first-rounder Daxon Rudolph, net the game-winning goal.

“When you come down the ice, he’s a big guy in the net,” McDonald added. ” He’s been tremendous for us and calming situations down where if a team does get one or two or three opportunities in a row, he stood tall for us and has been very sticky. He battles extremely hard, gets out of the net and plays the puck. He’s just been an all-around great addition for us.”

The postseason saw Orsulak go 13-6-1 with a 2.80 GAA, .895 save percentage and three shutouts to reach the 2026 WHL Championship Series, where the Everett Silvertips prevailed in five games.

NHL Central Scouting has listed Orsulak second among all North American netminders in the agency’s final draft rankings and invited him to the annual NHL Combine, where he was tied for the sixth-longest winspan of any player at 78.8 inches.

“He’s in a special category, technically and mechanically,” Central Scouting Director Dan Marr said. “He’s got all the tools that you want to see in a prospect. NHL clubs seem to like the goalies that have that size. There’s not a lot of net to shoot at, and he doesn’t give the shooters much net to aim at. It’s his quickness with his reflexes and his reactions, but it’s also the compete that he has. He’s a very assertive, challenging goalie.

Some of those teams that have multiple picks, if they want to fill a goaltending hole on their depth chart, you know, this is one of the goalies that they might be looking at somewhere in the first round, even.”

The 2026 NHL Draft runs from June 26-27 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.