Who will mind the net for the Thunderbirds in 2016-17?

Nobody has to tell the Thunderbirds how important goaltending is to a team’s success. Coming off a season in which goalie Landon Bow was probably the most valuable player down the stretch and during the playoffs, Seattle knows the value.

With Bow now graduated and on to the pro ranks with the NHL’s Dallas Stars organization, the T-Birds will be looking to replace some big goalie pads this season.

As training camp nears, there will be one familiar face and two new ones vying for time in the crease. Logan Flodell, Ryan Gilchrist and Carl Stankowski will be the three main goalies coming into camp with a realistic shot at making the team.

Flodell is the veteran of the group and the only one with any WHL experience. He played in 42 games with the T-Birds last year and won 22 while posting a 2.68 goals-against average along with a .904 save percentage. Those are pretty decent numbers, and at 19 years old now, you would expect him to be even stronger this year.

He started last season as part of a tandem with Taz Burman, who had been acquired from Red Deer in the summer. Flodell was the stronger of the two but was not as consistent as either he or the team would have hoped, which led to picking up Bow from Swift Current. That move relegated Flodell to the backup position as Burman was part of the deal to get Bow.

But in the second half, Bow went down with an injury and Flodell was the main guy for a stretch of time. He played some of the best hockey of his career. Starting with a Jan. 31 shutout against Kelowna, Flodell made 12 starts down the stretch and went 9-2-1-0 with three shutouts.

That stretch may give him and the T-Birds brass some confidence heading into this season.

“I think that was real key for us,” T-Birds general manager Russ Farwell said last week. “He had those big wins against Kelowna and he played real well down the stretch when we were in the race there. He’s confident and there’s no doubt in his mind at all, and I think that stretch of games gave us a lot of confidence.”

Flodell has 52 games of WHL experience – which is 52 more than Gilchrist and Stankowski have seen – and he will be the No. 1 goalie to start the season. The real camp battle will be between the two rookies for the backup role.

“Gilchrist has to come and push his way in,” Farwell said. “Stankowski is a real good prospect and we need to get him into camp and see where he’s at.”

Entering his 18-year-old season, the 6-foot-2 Gilchrist spent last season with the Canmore Eagles in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. He turned in a 3.77 goals-against average and a .888 save percentage and did spend some time in Seattle late in the season to practice with the club.

He has been in camp with the T-Birds the past couple of seasons and played well. He started an exhibition game last year against Victoria in the Everett preseason tournament and got the win after allowing three goals with 27 saves.

Gilchrist will get a push from the 16-year-old Stankowski.

Seattle drafted the Calgary native in the second round – 37^th overall – in the 2015 Bantam Draft, which made him the first goalie taken. Currently competing with Team Canada at its U17 camp, Stankowski turned in stellar year last season. Playing with the Anaheim Jr. Ducks, he appeared in 16 games and didn’t give up much with a goals-against average of 1.87 and a save percentage of .935.

Those are great numbers, but Stankowski is only 16 and it’s rare that a goalie that young comes in and grabs the mantle. Carter Hart in Everett did it and so did former Tri-City goalie Eric Comrie, but teams still have to be careful with goalies that young.

If they’re not going to get enough playing time, you don’t want to stunt their development by having them sit on the bench.

“You have to be really careful with (16-year-olds) at that position, but Carl has been the top guy in his age group and he may be one of those guys,” Farwell said.  “Once we get into camp and if he looks like he’s close, I sit with (head coach Steve Konowalchuk) and the question we have to answer ourselves is, ‘Are we going to play him enough?’”

Seattle does have an open 20-year-old slot on its roster right now, but Farwell said the team hasn’t looked at bringing in an over-age goalie. For starters, there aren’t a lot of them out there that are available, and much like last year, Farwell would like to start the season with the guys he has in net and see what develops.

That plan worked out well last year for the T-Birds, but it feels like they would prefer Flodell or one of the other guys to be able to back stop the team as it makes another run at the WHL Championship.

With training camp just a few weeks away, this will be one of the more intriguing story-lines to follow.

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