Size No Deterrent to Jackson Parsons

Many years and many franchises ago, Jackson Parsons would be on the fast track to the NHL.

In the era of hockey’s Original Six and then through all of the early expansions, the NHL looked for specific traits in a goaltender – a compact body with cat-quickness and agility. Teams were winning Stanley Cups with diminutive goalies who fit that profile. A 5-7 Gump Worsley won Cups in the 1960s and a 5-10 Bernie Parent was winning then in the 1970s. A 5-10 Billy Smith won four Stanley Cups in the 1980s and a 5-11 Grant Fuhr won five more.

But goalies were getting bigger in the 1990s led by Martin Brodeur and Dominik Hasek, a pair of 6-2 puck stoppers who won Vezina Trophies as the league’s best netminder plus Stanley Cups. And NHL goalies have gotten bigger and bigger into the 21^st century. Bigger is better. A bigger body covers more net. Quickness is a plus but size is now at a premium.

Which brings us back to Parsons. He was voted the top goalie in all of Canadian junior hockey in 2024-25. Playing for the Kitchener Rangers, he led the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with five shutouts, posting a 2.24 goals against average with a .920 save percentage. But as an 18-year-old in 2023 – his draft year – Parsons played only five games before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. So he went undrafted.

Parsons spent the next two seasons developing into the best netminder in junior hockey but with his ceiling approaching, he needed to find a new arena to continue his development. So in November 2025, Parsons became the first Canadian junior to commit to play NCAA hockey with Clarkson. NHL prospects Gavin McKenna, Porter Martone and Keaton Verhoeff all followed suit.

But in July, before he could ever enroll at Clarkson, his hometown team offered Parsons a three-year NHL contract – so he signed with the Ottawa Senators. And a potential NHL career has started on the slow track – the ECHL Allen (Texas) Americans, hockey’s Double-A.

Parsons, 21, has a size that no longer fits the prototype. The three goalies on the U.S. Olympic team stood 6-3 (Jeremy Swayman), 6-4 (Connor Hellebuyck) and 6-6 (Jake Oettinger). The goalie who leads the NHL in shutouts this season stands 6-3 (Ilya Sorokin). The goalie who leads the league in wins (Karel Vejmelka) stands 6-4 and the goalie with the best save percentage stands 6-5 (Devin Cooley).

The Americans list Parsons at 6-2 … but the Senators list him at only 6-1.

“OK, I’m 6-1 ½,” Parsons mused. “But I carry myself a lot bigger than other guys around my height. I take pride in being a presence in the net so I don’t think it (size) matters at all. I honestly feel I’m the perfect height for an NHL goalie and never felt (my size) was a disadvantage.”

His play reflects that.

Ottawa’s plan was to place Parsons in Allen for his entire rookie season so he could become acclimated to the bigger players, older players and faster pace of the game.  He won his professional debut on opening night – a 3-2 road victory over the Wichita Thunder. He stopped 33 of 35 shots and was named the third star of the game.

But Parsons lost his next start at home to the Kansas City Mavericks, the reigning Mountain Division champions. Parsons stopped 34 of 37 shots in a 4-2 loss. Then opportunity came knocking. The Belleville Senators, Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, lost a goalie to injury and summoned Parsons.

Not only did Parsons win his first three starts at the Triple A level, he was voted first star in each game, beating Hartford 2-1, Syracuse 4-1 and shutting out the Toronto Marlies 4-0. Parsons spent two months with Belleville and fashioned a 5-3-1 record as the backup goaltender before being shipped back to Allen.

His netminding has triggered a second-half charge by the Americans from out of playoff contention into third place in the Mountain Division. He shut out Rapid City 3-0 in January then got a rematch with the Mavericks in February.

Kansas City is the best team in the ECHL this season with nine points more than anyone else. The Mavericks have lost only nine of their 56 games. But on back-to-back nights in Kansas City, Parsons handed the Mavericks almost a quarter of their season’s losses. He stopped 25 of 26 shots in a 2-1 victory and then stopped 40 of 42 shots in a 5-2 win. Parsons was named the first star on both nights.

“He’s a bit more of a late bloomer because a lot of his game is dependent on his work ethic and his structure,” said Chris Johansen, Allen’s goalie coach. “I believe goalies hit their prime at 25-26-27, so you need all this time to figure out what does and doesn’t work.

“His drive to be better is what makes him so good. His work ethic on and off the ice is so detailed, even when he’s in the weight room. You hear all these stories about Jake Oettinger, how guys want to be around him. He takes such good care of his body. That’s Jackson. He’s the most prepared goalie we’ve ever had at that age. He knows exactly what he’s doing out there. He doesn’t leave anything to chance.”

Combining his statistics from the two teams and two leagues, Parsons has a 12-10-2 record with a .909 save percentage. In half of his 24 games, he has allowed the opponents two goals or less.

The ECHL may be the lowest rung of professional hockey but it’s not a bad place to start.

Braden Holtby got his start in the ECHL and went on to become a five-time NHL all-star with a Vezina Trophy and Stanley Cup. Tim Thomas became a four-time all-star with two Vezinas and a Cup. His 38 games in Reading became the springboard to Jonathan Quick’s 19-year NHL career that has produced two Stanley Cups. Jordan Binnington’s 40-game stint at Kalamazoo became the foundation of a career that produced a Stanley Cup and made him the starting goaltender on the Canadian Olympic team.

Parsons has modeled his game after Carey Price, the winningest goalie in the illustrious history of the Montreal Canadiens. He never won a Stanley Cup but he did win a Vezina and the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP. Price was considered one of the most technically-sound goaltenders in league history. That’s become Parsons’ calling card.

“That’s part of the reason his game has to be so structured because the size isn’t there,” Johansen said. “He has to learn ways to fill the net that a bigger guy doesn’t have to learn. So he has to be way more technical with what he does with his shoulders, his hands, his skating. It’s not like he’s sitting back on the goal line making crazy saves all the time. He’s in position and relying on his position.”

The ECHL may be the slow track to the NHL but Parsons owns it as his professional path going forward. He knows what needs to be done.

“It’s my practice habits, my work habits, my game-day habits – it’s all that kind of stuff that’s eventually going to bring me to the NHL,” Parsons said.