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After winning gold with Team Canada at the 2014 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, Callum Booth started the season as the number one goaltender for the Quebec Remparts. While he played well, the Memorial Cup hosts decided to shore up the position, opting to trade for World Junior gold medalist, and Memorial Cup champion Zach Fucale. Booth actually outplayed Fucale down the stretch, and was the Remparts number one goalie when the playoffs began. However after a tough outing early in the first round, he lost the net to Fucale who wouldn’t give it up again. Still, Booth finished the season with 23 wins, a 3.05 goals against average and a respectable .900 save percentage. Booth also played for Team Quebec at the January 2014 World Under 17 Hockey Challenge. Booth is the son of British parents and has dual British/Canadian citizenship. While he has stated that he dreams of wearing the Red Maple Leaf of Team Canada, he could conceivably play for Great Britain at some point as he has not represented Canada in an official IIHF event. Booth was drafted in the fifth round, #182 overall by Traktor Chelyabinsk in the 2014 KHL Draft.
Callum Booth
Goalie – Shoots Left – Catches Left
Born May 21 1997 — Montreal, PQ
Height 6.03 — Weight 196 [191 cm/89 kg]
At 6’3″, Callum Booth has the type of size that scouts are looking for in young goaltenders. He gets out well to cut down angles and give shooters very little to look at. Booth has extremely solid technique for a young goaltender, with a good compact butterfly. He gets up and down quickly. His long legs take away a lot of the lower part of the net, and he has a good glove to take away the top parts of the net. Even when on his knees he is tall enough to cover the top corners.
Over the past year, Booth has really improved his puck tracking and his side to side movements which really helped him this past season. He has very good rebound control, which is something we don’t often see in a young goaltender. Callum Booth is calm and cool in the net and doesn’t let a bad goal rattle him. He has the type of demeanor that makes him a natural leader out there on the ice. If there is a criticism, it is that he is not one to be able to come up with an acrobatic save when his positioning and technique fails him. Booth is simply not going to make a lot of reflex saves when he does get caught out of position. He does have decent puck handling abilities and can make an outlet pass to get the transition game going when he sees the opponent on a change.
Callum Booth is a bit of a project as he is likely several years away from the NHL. However he does have the potential to be a number one goaltender if he can continue to develop. With Fucale ready to make the jump to the pro game, Booth should once again be the starting goalie for the Remparts next season. His style is reminiscent of Devan Dubnyk of the Minnesota Wild, however this is a stylistic comparison and not one based on talent level.
Below are some videos of Booth in action.
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