Cal Petersen

Cal Petersen was born on October 19, 1994, in Waterloo, Iowa, and was selected 129th overall — eighth pick of the fifth round — by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2013 NHL Draft. He never signed with Buffalo, instead entering the league as an unrestricted free agent, signing a two-year entry-level contract with the Los Angeles Kings on July 1, 2017. The right-catching goaltender stands 6'2" and weighs 185 pounds.

Petersen served as captain at the University of Notre Dame before reaching the NHL level. In his time with the Kings, his goaltending coach Bill Ranford worked with him on pre-scouting opponents, material Petersen drew on directly in games. In one documented instance during a 6-on-5 situation against the Pittsburgh Penguins — a sequence involving two separate one-timer looks from Evgeni Malkin — Petersen credited specific tendencies Ranford had prepared him for as factors in his reads.

He also developed a traffic-management philosophy with former Kings goalie development coach Dusty Imoo. Petersen described the approach as "short-side dominant" — staying on the short side, or strong side, of where the puck originates when a screen is established. "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. "When you stay on the short side, or strong side of where the puck is, you can kind of follow the path and almost be slightly behind the screen being set up, which gives you an opportunity to see the release of the shot and that's the main thing. … You don't want to get to where you are shifting your head back and forth, back and forth on either side of the screen. The biggest thing is seeing the release of the puck." ^[1]

On penalty kills, Petersen described 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," he said, explaining how pre-scout information on Calgary Flames forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau factored into his positioning during a 5-on-3. ^[2]

Across 106 NHL regular-season games, Petersen has posted a record of 46 wins, 44 losses, and 10 overtime losses, with a career goals-against average of 2.96, a save percentage of .903, and four shutouts, covering 6,111 minutes and 48 seconds of ice time. He currently wears number 40 and is under contract to the Minnesota Wild, serving in the AHL with the Iowa Wild.

InGoal Magazine has covered Cal Petersen in one podcast appearance and five Pro Reads. He joined InGoal Radio for Episode 63 ^[3] and subsequently worked through multiple tape sessions reviewing plays from his time with the Kings, covering scenarios including a 6-on-5 against Pittsburgh ^[4], a 2-on-0 against Edmonton, flash-screen and screen situations against Vegas ^{[5] [1]}, a 2-on-1 against Calgary's Sean Monahan ^[6], and a 5-on-3 featuring a between-the-legs attempt by Matthew Tkachuk ^[2].