Jay McKee walked into a Flint, Michigan, hotel following dinner with his staff and found his goalie – Sabres prospect Ryerson Leenders – drenched in sweat working out at the gym around 9:30 p.m.
McKee – who played 10 years with the Sabres and now coaches the Ontario Hockey League's Brantford Bulldogs – knows the dedication and diligence it takes to make the NHL. As he walked by the gym, he saw those intangibles in Leenders.
"I couldn't sleep one night so I went down, started lifting some weights and doing a little workout,” Leenders said. "I like putting in all the work now, so I don't look back and regret it later in life and say, ‘Oh, I could have done more. I could have done this and this.’”
“I think the biggest thing and my biggest compliment so far is just my work ethic day in and day out, how much I put into hockey and into the sport. I obviously can do more every single day, and I try to get better at that, but my work ethic is something that I pride myself on.”
Leenders is currently third the OHL in goals-against average (2.17), fourth in save percentage (.920), and has powered the Bulldogs to a 20-2-5 record. Leenders is 11-1-3 on another talented team with five first-round draft picks.
It’s Leenders’ undeterred mindset that’s helped him become one of the top goalies in the OHL. It’s also helped him overcome adversity; something that McKee has helped him through.
Leenders leaped onto the scene with 35 games played as a 16-year-old rookie for the Mississauaga Steelheads in 2022-23, the third most by a rookie netminder in OHL history.
Named the No. 3 North American goaltender at the midterm rankings for the 2024 NHL Draft by NHL Central Scouting on Jan. 12, 2024, Leenders continued his ascension to prominence 12 days later at the 2024 CHL/NHL Top Prospects game. He finished that season atop the OHL in save percentage, but a groin injury during the opening round of the playoffs in March created uncertainty and he slid to No. 10 on the NHL Central Scouting final draft rankings.
Two months later, 23 goalies were selected ahead of Leenders before Buffalo took him in the seventh round of the 2024 NHL Draft.
“It was a crazy two days and in my mind, I wasn't a seventh rounder, I was higher than that,” Leenders said. “... I would have loved to go higher and I think I deserved to go higher but right now, it's not my focus, and I couldn't be happier being with Buffalo. I'm just trying to prove every team that didn't pick me wrong and just be the best goalie I can.”
The draft ignited what Leenders called “the hardest working summer ever” and he used his selection as a form of motivation.
Leenders was traded from Mississauga to the Brantford Bulldogs two months after the draft and united with McKee, who understands what it’s like to have a whirlwind cycle of adversity.
“I think every experience is a good experience, if you have the right perspective,” McKee said. “I was fired as a coach (of OHL Kitchener in 2019); I think it was the best thing that ever happened to me at this level. It allowed me to reinvent myself a bit. It was a challenge in the moment, but looking back, it was the best thing that ever happened.”
“... I'm not going to teach him anything positionally but having confidence and believing in yourself and those small, challenging aspects of life in the game, I hope that he can leave here knowing that I helped him with a lot of that.”
Leenders said getting traded to Branford “was the best move I could have had for my career” and it’s given him a sense of stability. He’s embraced the idea of change and different experiences, a byproduct of having four different goalie coaches over the last four seasons in addition to the three he sees back home in Nanticoke, Ontario.
Compartmentalizing those different voices and viewpoints has allowed Leenders to become a more consistent goaltender. Leenders has finished top six in the OHL in save percentage each of the last two years and has the second most career wins among active OHL goalies (78).
Leenders said there’s an enhanced level of pressure being on a team loaded with nine drafted skaters that aspires to be a Memorial Cup contender. It's an element he's embraced.
“I'm holding myself to a higher standard this year,” Leenders said. “Being my fourth year in league, we have so many expectations around us. I've dialed in that much more, watched more video, done more workouts, been on the ice, asking more questions with coaching staff and my teammates.”
McKee knows what a successful goalie looks like after playing in front of Dominik Hasek, Ryan Miller and Martin Biron during his playing career in Buffalo. Leenders has some phyiscal similarities to Miller and Biron, with all three having a 6-foot-2 frame.
McKee said Leenders reminds him of Miller with his rebound control, positioning and ability to make challenging saves with ease.
“I think if I were to compare him style wise, he really mimics Ryan Miller,” McKee said. "He's always in position. He has the ability to move quick if he does happen to be out of position, but he's just a guy that looks big in the net, takes up a lot of space, he's calm. A lot of younger goalies in the league, puck will hit them, they'll bounce off into scoring areas. They just seem to stick to him.”
“I remember when Millsy was in net, you feel confident on the ice and (Leenders) raises the confidence of the guys around him, just through playing clean. He gives you a chance to win every night. ... I think there's one game we were really off and he had five breakaways against and stopped them all. When your team is having breakdowns, you've got full confidence that he's going to be there to support you.”
