The Red Wings had high hopes for
Thomas McCollum when they selected him 30th overall in the 2008 NHL entry draft. Unfortunately the 21 year-old netminder has struggled in his first two season with Grand Rapids of the AHL.
McCollum had a shaky rookie campaign posting 3.48 goals against and a .881 save percentage in just 32 starts. The Sanborn, New York native had even worse numbers in his four games with Toledo of the AHL.
The 6-foot-2, 210 pound goaltender had hopes of regaining his confidence and posting stronger numbers entering this season while getting a chance to learn from veteran goalie Joey MacDonald. Unfortunately things haven’t quite worked out that way with McDonald backing up Jimmy Howard in Detroit and McCollum continuing to struggle in the AHL.
Things were so bad in Grand Rapids that fellow prospect
Jordan Pearce has been getting the bulk of the starts for the Griffins and has emerged as a legitimate prospect. With the AHL playoffs approaching and Pearce playing well, McCollum’s starts were becoming rare. So it wasn’t surprising when the Griffins finally demoted the young goalie to Toledo of the ECHL last week signaling that Pearce had won a spot in Grand rapids.
In 5 games with the Walleye, McCollum is finally starting to post respectable numbers again – 2.55 goals against and .913 save percentage. Hopefully he’ll use the additional playing time to regain his form and prove he can play in the AHL. He’ll have a heavy dose of competition from Pearce and eventually the talented Petr Mrazek, but the Red Wings still believe McCollum can be their next goalie of the future and will allow him to take his time developing.
McCollum has a history of over-thinking his game and losing his confidence like he did allowing 4 goals on 18 shots against Slovakia during the 2009 World Junior Championship. He has the size and natural ability to play in the NHL, but if that happens it will be because he has finally able to overcome the mental pressures of the game.
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