THE FUTURE IS NEAR We are just three months into the 2014-15 season and we already have caught a glimpse of the next generation of goaltending talent that will descend upon the NHL in the years to come. First, let's pay tribute to a goaltender that has made a tremendous impact on the league and may be playing his swansong year in St. Louis.  I am talking about none other than Martin Brodeur who set another NHL record with his 125th shutout against the Colorado Avalanche on December 29th. With this possibly being his last hurrah, I am grateful to have witnessed one of the great NHL goaltenders of all time. A lot of people look forward to the New Year because it holds the promise of a new beginning for some and a chance to turn things around for others. Although we never really know what the future has in store, we are fortunate enough to have caught a glimpse of what that future holds for some young goaltending talent and it certainly looks quite bright. So let's take a look at some up-and-coming goaltending talent. We might as well start with who is probably the top-rated goaltending talent around. And that distinction belongs to Tampa Bay prospect Andrei Vasilevskiy. The 20-year old net minder was drafted #19 overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft by the Lightning and has played the past few seasons in the KHL where he has posted some impressive statistics.  AV's KHL stats in 36 games over 2 years are 18-9-5 with a 2.22 GAA and a .924 SP.  Vasilevskiy was called up when Tampa Bay starter Ben Bishop went down with a minor lower-body injury and started 3 games, winning 2, and posting a 2.01 GAA and a .940 SP. Even though they are both small sample sizes, the talent is there as noted by HockeysFuture.com's 15th overall rating among prospects. The future looks bright in sunny Tampa Bay. Switching over to the West Coast, the Anaheim Ducks are sporting a very talented goalkeeper of their own in John Gibson. Gibson already has had a much heralded career as he won the gold medal for the United States in the 2013 World Junior Ice hockey Championships sporting a 1.36 GAA and .955 SP.  Impressive  indeed!  He also won the bronze medal at the 2013 IIHF World Championships by posting another set of incredible metrics; 1.56 GAA & .951 SP. When starter Frederik Andersen went down with an injury towards the end of last season, Gibson was called up and added to his resume an NHL debut 3-0 shutout of the Vancouver Canucks. In just 3 starts that season, the youngster went 3-0-0 with a 1.33 GAA and a .954 SP earning him a stay with the team for the Stanley Cup playoffs.  What do you suppose Gibson did in his NHL playoff debut?  He shut out the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings, 2-0.  That kind of performance made it easy for Anaheim to let Jonas Hiller walk via free agency. Beginning the 2014-15 season with the team, Gibson started 4 games before injuring himself and the team decided to let Gibson play full time and gain experience with their AHL affiliate Norfolk Admirals.  With performances like that, Gibson will surely be given serious consideration to man the pipes very soon for the Ducks.  Gibson is ranked 26th overall at HockeysFuture.com. The time may be now for Winnipeg's Michael Hutchinson as he has started the last 3 games for the Jets and looks to be pushing Ondrej Pavelec aside. For more on Hutchinson, take a look at our UNDER THE RAYDAR article from December 9th. POST MARKS: ZEPP-A-DEE-DO-DAH--Philadelphia Flyer G Rob Zepp, at 33-years of age, made his NHL debut against the Winnipeg Jets and backstopped the team to a 3-1 win What a great story for the career minor-leaguer who never gave up on his dream...WISHING ALL A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR! HAVE FUN AND BE CAREFUL!