Thomas Milic

Thomas Milic was born on April 14, 2003, in New Westminster, British Columbia. The 6'0", 175-pound left-catching goaltender was selected by the Winnipeg Jets in the fifth round, 23rd pick, of the 2023 NHL Draft. He wears number 32 for Winnipeg and carries three games of NHL experience to date, going 0-1 with a 3.46 goals-against average and a .871 save percentage.

InGoal Magazine has covered Thomas Milic in one podcast appearance and one Pro Read.

Shortly after winning the World Junior Championships with Canada, Milic appeared on InGoal Radio ^[1], where he discussed his approach to post-integration techniques at sharp angles above the goal line. That conversation led to a follow-up Pro Read ^[2] in which Milic walked through three specific clips from the tournament — against Sweden, Slovakia, and Czechia in the gold-medal game — reviewing his use of what he and InGoal host Kevin Woodley eventually identified as the Panda Post Lock, a purposely flattened variation of the Overlap that was first published by InGoal on February 7, 2022.

Milic explained his thinking on the technique in his own words: "I've been beat a couple times in Reverse from that dead angle and it's the worst feeling in the world knowing you could have made that save with an Overlap and you ended up resorting to the RVH there." He described his awareness of dual threats on those plays — the shot coming down the wall and the backdoor option — and how the flattened Overlap allowed him to address both. "I know even though I'm not square to that puck I know I am not going to get beat by that shot with the Overlap," he said, "and you can see if that rebound were to come out in front to that Swedish guy, it essentially eliminates that need for rotation and I can push into the lane."

Milic noted that the Panda Post Lock was not an immediate fit. "The Panda wasn't something that I was a huge fan of to begin with," he said. "I just couldn't really wrap my head around not being square to the puck at first. There was something that just didn't really make sense but now that I've thrown it into my game I find it's really helped me out realizing that you don't need your entire body to cut off the angle when it's such a low angle shot." ^[2]

Part of what prompted him to revisit the technique was watching Dustin Wolf, the former WHL goaltender and then AHL Calgary Wranglers netminder who was featured in InGoal's original Panda Post Lock piece. "I remember seeing how fluid he made it look and how seamless the transition was and that's when it clicked in my mind maybe this is something I want to try," Milic said ^[2]. He also discussed the importance of unpredictability in those situations, crediting work with his offseason coach, Pasco Valana of Elite Goalies, as part of that development.