2018 NHL Draft: Los Angeles Kings Select G Jacob Ingham With 175th Pick
A rough second year saw Ingham’s draft stock plummet, but the Kings love goalie projects.
Last year, Jacob Ingham was considered one of the top goalies in junior hockey. He had an outstanding season with the Mississauga Steelheads, gathering attention for how easily he adapted as a rookie goaltender. So why did he fall to the sixth round? Let’s let the numbers tell the story.
Simply put, his sophomore campaign in Mississauga was a disaster. It’s as if his entire game began to unravel, one game after another, as opponents found and exploited his weaknesses. It didn’t help that Mississauga allowed a lot of undefended plays to come at Ingham, many of which ended up in the back of his net. Ingham struggled to get his game back on track this season, which explains why he’s here, as more of a reach of a pick. Ingham will be a project as the Kings wait and see if he rebounds next season. But the Kings’ goaltending staff has excelled at turning struggling goalies into success stories. Maybe Ingham will be the next one.
“This process started 15 years ago... but I’m going to soak it up now that I’m here.” LA Kings draft pick Jacob Ingham on getting selected out of the OHL’s Mississauga. pic.twitter.com/t3qNKPPTyU
— Caatta Silverman (@catmsilverman) June 23, 2018
Need To Know
- Athletic playing style
- Good reflexes and reaction time
- Strong work ethic, committed to fixing gaps in his game
- Tries to model his game/calm demeanor after Carey Price/
Ranking
Future Considerations: 82
HockeyProspect.com: 93
McKeens: 126
NHL Central Scouting: 13 (North American Goalies)
Congrats to @OHLSteelheads goaltender & #DevelopmentProgram student @JakeIngham, selected in the 6th round (175th overall) by the @LAKings in the 2018 #NHLDraft: https://t.co/mMuOcrlbGo pic.twitter.com/T90EL7Qxwh
— PRO Goaltending (@PRO_Goaltending) June 23, 2018
Scouting Report
The good news is that Ingham’s coverage of the lower-half of the net is outstanding, and his flexibility and range of motion allow him to stop second and third chances, specifically if there’s a radical directional change. The width of his butterfly flare looks appealing, and Ingham’s feet appear to be planted and set when squaring himself to the shooter.
Ingham is very athletic. He gets out to the top of the paint quickly. His post to post movement is also very quick. He has shown an ability to control his rebounds. His glove hand could use some improvement. With Ingham, it will all come down to coaching. He has an excellent work ethic and there is no doubt he will put in all the work required. It will come down to working on and tweaking his technique.
The Hockey Writers (Brett Slawson):
Perhaps the most impressive ability within Ingham’s arsenal is his lightning-quick glove. While shooters seem to target the top-right corner of the net more often than not, Ingham is equal to the task and can snare pucks out of the air with ease. What’s more is Ingham’s lower-body strength, as he can kick out pad saves with a startling frequency as well as move laterally from post to post to deny plays devised by the opposition during odd-man rushes.
One year ago at this point, Jacob Ingham was a consensus Top 3 Goaltender for the 2018 Draft. He had struggles this year but I still believe he is one of the best of the class. We'll see but James Richmond would have used his LA connections to push hard for him.
— NA Central Scouting (@MarkSeidel) June 23, 2018
Ingham was a victim of playing for a run-and-gun Mississauga team. The sky really is the limit with him, especially if he gets stronger and is able to control his movements better. He was on my "to watch" list at the beginning of last season: https://t.co/jjtxRR7OvS #LAKings
— Gregory Balloch (@GregBalloch) June 23, 2018
Highlights
The #LAKings use their second sixth-round draft pick to select Jacob Ingham 175th overall.#NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/yL62vjPy8B
— Eric (@Kingsgifs) June 23, 2018
Gifted in goal.
— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) June 20, 2018
A closer look at the #OHL’s top G prospects for #NHLDraft featuring Propp @OHLBattalion (11), Ingham @OHLSteelheads (13), and Kooy @GoLondonKnights (15). pic.twitter.com/JTz2o6mgss
The latest edition of #JanesSaves takes us into the final two weeks of #OHL action and features Villalta, Ingham, Incze, Andree, Raaymakers, Hughes, Dhillon, Keyser, DiPietro, and Sime: pic.twitter.com/e7XYWjShNO
— OntarioHockeyLeague (@OHLHockey) March 8, 2018
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