Cal Petersen

Cal Petersen's path to the NHL ran through Notre Dame, where he served as team captain before signing with the Los Angeles Kings as an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2017. Born in Waterloo, Iowa on October 19, 1994, Petersen had originally been selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the fifth round, 129th overall, in the 2013 NHL Draft before his college career concluded and he entered the league on his own terms.

The right-catching goaltender stands 6'2" and weighs 185 pounds. Over 106 NHL games, he has recorded 46 wins, 44 losses, and 10 overtime losses, with a 2.96 goals-against average, a .903 save percentage, and 4 shutouts. He currently plays for the Iowa Wild of the AHL while under contract to the Minnesota Wild.

InGoal Magazine has covered Cal Petersen in six Pro Reads. The series began during the NHL pause when Petersen spent more than an hour with InGoal — first recording an interview for the InGoal Radio Podcast with Kevin Woodley, then reviewing game tape and walking through his reads on multiple situations from his Kings tenure Pro-Reads: Cal Petersen awareness and reads with help from the pre-scout.

The first Pro Read Pro-Reads: Cal Petersen awareness and reads with help from the pre-scout centered on a 6-on-5 sequence against the Pittsburgh Penguins in which Petersen faced Evgeni Malkin twice in the same one-timer position. A notable element of that session was the role of pre-game preparation: Petersen's goaltending coach Bill Ranford had scouted Malkin's tendencies beforehand, and Petersen drew on that information in real time during the sequence. The sources note that Petersen had not been shown the clips in advance and was processing them for the first time as he spoke.

The second Pro Read ProReads with Cal Petersen: How to play a quick-strike 2-on-0 down low examined a 2-on-0 involving Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl — a play that originated from a turnover just inside the Kings' zone. Petersen described the importance of not relaxing prematurely: "It's something you learn by mistakes. Probably gotten scored on a couple times by not being ready … you can't relax until the puck leaves the zone." He also discussed his narrow stance and how he uses his edges to avoid committing too early, explaining: "Even when my legs are starting to spread out a little, they are both cocked on their edges so whichever way he goes you just release that edge. There is enough weight on each leg that you just release the edge and it's like releasing a spring laterally to each side."

The third Pro Read Backhand tip? No problem after Cal Petersen shows you how to read it. covered a chance against the Vegas Golden Knights that transitioned from a rush into end-zone play, involving a flash screen and a backhand deflection by Max Pacioretty. The fourth Cal Petersen: Strategy for looking around screens returned to a Vegas scenario — a one-timer through traffic — in which Petersen walked through a "short-side dominant" plan for handling screens, an approach he described as having developed with former Kings goalie development coach Dusty Imoo. "When you get in trouble is when you immediately try to find the puck and not follow its path and that's when you can get on the wrong side of guys trying to move into the screen," he said. "The biggest thing is seeing the release of the puck."

The fifth Pro Read Cal Petersen takes advantge of a shooter’s look facing 2 on 1 featured an in-zone 2-on-1 against Calgary Flames forward Sean Monahan. Petersen explained how Monahan's extended look toward a pass option actually worked in his favor as the goaltender, because it left Monahan without time to identify a specific target before shooting. The sixth Cal Petersen Pro Reads: Depth Decisions on a 5-on-3 and Protecting the Paint with your Stick in Tight: walked through a 5-on-3 against Calgary and a between-the-legs attempt by Matthew Tkachuk from the edge of the crease. Petersen described both his pre-scout on Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau and his approach to protecting the blue paint: "If a puck is passed through the blue paint, it's on the goalie to take away that area."