Sergei Ivanov is a small but athletic goaltender who uses his high-end agility to get himself into position to make saves. He has an aggressive style of play in his net and shows explosive athleticism in his movements. He has a low posture and wide butterfly that allows him to cover the bottom of the net well, and is able to move post-to-post incredibly well to shut down one-time opportunities on cross-ice feeds. Despite his smaller frame, he is able to read the play well when facing traffic in front of his own net, showing an ability to track the puck well and find incoming pucks when opponents are shooting through bodies. This is aided by an upright, narrow pre-shot stance. He does face a common obstacle for smaller netminders, and that is his ability to effectively cover the top portion of the net. His tracking with his glove and blocker leave something to be desired at times, as he’s prone to getting beat up high. His low posture exacerbates that issue as well. He will need to improve his ability with his hands to make stops and find ways to make himself appear bigger in goal in order to find ways to block the top portion of the net, but his athleticism and puck-tracking ability leave optimism that he could be a pro-level goaltender with the proper development. He uses his stick very well to block passes from behind the goal line. He does have a willingness to venture out of his net to stop and play pucks and aid in breakouts, but generally his puck-playing is poor. His rebound control is another area of concern, and he can seem to lose track of the puck at times after it hits him. His athleticism, though, gives teams a reason to consider him. There will always be questions about smaller goalies, and is no different.

– FCHockey’s 2022 NHL Draft Guide