Prospect Update: Roman Durny
By Thomas Harrington
A fifth-round pick from 2018, goaltender Roman Durny completed his first professional hockey season in North America this past year.
Between the NHL and AHL, Anaheim was very deep in the net during the 2019-2020 season. As a result, Durny spent the entire season playing for the Norfolk Admirals of the ECHL. Unfortunately, Norfolk was not a very good team last season, and it heavily impacted Durny’s numbers. He played in 13 games and had a record of 3-10 with a 4.02 goals-against average and a .881 save percentage. At the time the ECHL season was canceled, Norfolk was dead last in the league with 36 points; only one other team in the league had less than 50 points, and the Worcester Railers finished the season with 46 points.
Durny fell short of my expectations that I set for him over a year ago. There were two things that I wanted to see out of him. First, to play as much hockey as possible. Unfortunately, he only appeared in 13 of Norfolk’s 60 games. Part of that is because he was injured twice, and really struggled in his return after his initial injury. However, part of that is also that he just didn’t have a very good season in net for them. My second expectation for him was specific to him playing in the ECHL, and that was for him to become the team’s starter. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, again, partially because he missed so much time from injury and partially because he didn’t have a great season for them.
This coming season, Durny is actually already playing hockey, having been loaned to HC Slovan Bratislava in Slovakia. However, he was recently recalled to Tulsa and should be playing in the ECHL in the near future.
I have two expectations for Durny this coming season. The first is to stay healthy. While he struggled last season, the two injuries he suffered severely impacted his play and he really struggled in the games after he came back from his first injury. Second, regardless of Slovakia or the ECHL, for him to put up better numbers than he did last season. He doesn’t need to be the best goaltender in the league, but I do want to see him improve over last year.
Despite playing professionally last season, Durny did not have a contract with Anaheim. Even though he had a difficult season, the Ducks decided to sign him to a two-year entry-level deal after the season was over. It’s set to begin this season, though if he spends the entire year in Slovakia it likely won’t begin until the 2021-2022 season. He’ll be a restricted free agent when it’s complete, and at that point, Anaheim will need to decide if they want to sign him to an extension or let him become a free agent. Hopefully, he bounces back this season and beyond, and Anaheim keeps him around for a long time to come.
The next prospect update will be on Isac Lundestrom.
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December 16th, 2020