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Who's Your Fantasy Netminder Pick?


blog-0205582001411534474.pngPicking a goaltender in fantasy hockey can be a tricky task. A great deal of how a goalie produces is based on the team in front of him, and of course his abilities. It seems that every year another goalie slips into the Tier 1 level of goalies. It is just hard to determine what goaltender will perform on a consistent basis.

Another question that is very important is, when should a person select their first goalie? Some guys start as early as the second round, but I believe the third round is usually the target point to nab a quality goalie. A manager must watch how the draft is progressing. If you feel very strongly about a certain goaltender, I would select him in the third round. Otherwise I would watch to see when the first goaltender is picked, and then jump on board the goaltender draft machine. Once managers start to pick goalies the top tier will be gone quickly. So act fast!

Top 10 Fantasy Hockey Goaltenders –

1 – Tuukka Rask – Boston Bruins –

2 – Jonathan Quick – Los Angeles Kings

3 – Carey Price – Montreal Canadiens

4 – Ben Bishop – Tampa Bay Lightning

5 – Henrik Lundqvist – New York Rangers

6 – Sergei Bobrovsky – Columbus Blue Jackets

7 – Corey Crawford – Chicago Blackhawks

8 – Cory Schneider – New Jersey Devils

9 – Kari Lehtonen – Dallas Stars

10 – Marc-Andre Fleury – Pittsburgh Penguins

Rask is a ultra safe pick, and that is why I believe he is the clear number one. Quick is amazing, but often times his playoff performance does not relate to the regular season. Price shocked a lot of people last season with his Olympic performance and regular season play. Ben Bishop looks to be a safer and safer pick everyday. The Lightning look to be a up and coming team, and solid goaltending is a main part of that. Lundqvist is another safe pick. I do not look for him to put up record points, and I think the Rangers will dip this year. He will produce points, but not top three points.

Sleeper Picks –

1 – Jake Allen – St. Louis Blues

2 – Pekka Rinne – Nashville Predators

3 – Jonas Hiller – Calgary Flames

St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock has clearly pointed out that Brian Elliott is the starter in St. Louis, but how long will that be the case. If they had full confidence in him they would have not picked up Ryan Miller last season. I look for young Jake Allen to get his shot, and he will prove to be a top end NHL goalie. Pekka Rinne is coming off a serious infection that had him sidelined most of last season, and this year he will move back up to the elite goaltender level that he once was. Jonas Hiller was a diamond in the ruff pick up for the Flames. Honestly this signing may prove to be the biggest of the summer. The Flames will struggle again this year, but Hiller will post decent numbers.

Buyer Beware –

1 – Semyon Varlamov – Colorado Avalanche

2 – Jimmy Howard – Detroit Red Wings

3 – Steve Mason – Philadelphia Flyers

I know the Varlamov ranking is somewhat surprising, but is it? He is young, and it is very hard to repeat what he did last season. I do believe that he will have a decent year, but Colorado will not surprise teams this season. Both Varlamov and the Avalanche will not repeat the stellar numbers that they produced last season. Jimmy Howard is on the down swing of his career. Detroit is getting old and injuries continue to haunt them. Without some young talent to quickly step up, Howard and the Wings will struggle. Steve Mason’s career has been a total roller coaster, and I think it is on the downslide again this season.

*Getty Images Photo

14 Comments


Recommended Comments

yave1964

Posted

I like a veteran goalie who gets the vast majority of his teams starts. And also, a goalie gets credit for a win whether he plays well or not, so a really good team with a meh goalie, the meh goalie gets wins.

  Niemi is on my sleeper list, everyone seems down on him but he has a cup and plays for an outstanding regular season team and his backup, Stalock, who everyone is in love with is what, 27?

 Lundqvist for obvious reasons, winning team, 60 or so starts is my choice as a regular.

 And i totally disagree with Varly. Giguere moved on, no real backup, it is his team, sink or swim. 60-65 starts and 35 or so wins. Take him any day of the week and twice on sunday.

  • Like 1
Mr.Beantown

Posted

I wouldn't slate Quick in the 2 slot, as a NHL goalie, heck yes, as a fantasy goalie, heck no. Defensive team that allows very little shots, and he is notorious for playing fewer games doe to surgery, which he is also coming off this year once again!

  • Like 1
yave1964

Posted

I wouldn't slate Quick in the 2 slot, as a NHL goalie, heck yes, as a fantasy goalie, heck no. Defensive team that allows very little shots, and he is notorious for playing fewer games doe to surgery, which he is also coming off this year once again!

I agree! Quick is an amazing goalie during the postseason but only a very good one during the season.

ihabs1993

Posted

My ESPN league allowed me to pick 4 goalies and play 2 per night. I got Price, Rinne, Bobrovski and Lehtonen.  According to this list, I did pretty well

ruxpin

Posted

Love this blog.

 

@Mr.Beantown  -- Terrific points about Quick.  Pick him for your playoff pools but careful in regular season.  Good call. 

 

I'm in a keeper league, so I'm definitely keeping Bishop.  I'm selling on Niemi, though.  He put up decent fantasy stats last year, but I wonder a bit about the psychology of the team in front of him with taking away C's and the weird reindeer games that front office has played all offseason.   I'll probably start the season with Bishop and two random draft choices and play it from there.

 

I'd like to know why the "buyer beware" on Varly, though.  Just being controversial or you figure this year has to be a step back from last both for the team and the goalie?

 

I think the Mason call is reasonable, though.  Hope it's wrong, but it's reasonable.

hf101

Posted

I chose to keep only one netminder in my keeper league this season.  Last year I kept 2.  As we can only keep 5 players.  I let Crawford go keeping Rask, then keeping Kane, Parise, Bergeron, and Backes, letting Marleau, H. Sedin, and Flippula walk.

hf101

Posted

In our pay FHL I'm happy with my goaltending quartet as I chose Bishop, Mason, Stalock, and Kuemper.   Maybe a bit of risk with Stalock and Kuemper getting more than half of the goalie starts for their respective teams, but I'm hoping their quality play will earn them the starting role.  Goalie starts are one of 8 scoring categories.

J0e Th0rnton

Posted

I like a veteran goalie who gets the vast majority of his teams starts. And also, a goalie gets credit for a win whether he plays well or not, so a really good team with a meh goalie, the meh goalie gets wins.

  Niemi is on my sleeper list, everyone seems down on him but he has a cup and plays for an outstanding regular season team and his backup, Stalock, who everyone is in love with is what, 27?

 Lundqvist for obvious reasons, winning team, 60 or so starts is my choice as a regular.

 And i totally disagree with Varly. Giguere moved on, no real backup, it is his team, sink or swim. 60-65 starts and 35 or so wins. Take him any day of the week and twice on sunday.

I'd avoid Niemi if you are hoping he plays a lot of games Yave. Granted, yes, as a Shark fan who has seen him play 40 playoff games and get zero shutouts, I am a bit hating on him.

 

But management wants youth to get a bigger role this season and the specifically mentioned Stalock would be playing more games this season, so Niemi will not get the same volume of games he did in past years. Stalock might not get the starter position, but he will definitely see a more even split, which will affect Niemi's numbers.

  • Like 1
yave1964

Posted

I'd avoid Niemi if you are hoping he plays a lot of games Yave. Granted, yes, as a Shark fan who has seen him play 40 playoff games and get zero shutouts, I am a bit hating on him.

 

But management wants youth to get a bigger role this season and the specifically mentioned Stalock would be playing more games this season, so Niemi will not get the same volume of games he did in past years. Stalock might not get the starter position, but he will definitely see a more even split, which will affect Niemi's numbers.

Niemi is the scapegoat in San Jose, at least with the fans. Easily the best netminder on the team, I still see 50 starts out of him even with Stalock out there.
J0e Th0rnton

Posted

Niemi sucks. I just watch all Sharks games and he is never the guy. Never the game stealer. Never do I see him as the reason we won a game. And I tried. I hoped. I wished.

 

A goalie needs to be able to steal a game occasionally. Niemi just never does. He makes the odd great save here and there, but then let's in an incredible softie moments later. He handles the puck like it is a live grenade and usually coughs it up to the wrong place and shooting high on him and forcing side to side movement just catches him off guard.

Vanflyer

Posted

ben bishop. I think he is a stud and tampa is going to run gamut in their division.

pilldoc

Posted

For what is is worth...Rask / Sir Henry / Bishop all gone when I picked...

 

i took Quick.  He didn't help me on opening night...though I also did take Nemi and I got a Shut Out win over the defending Cup Champs

jammer2

Posted

 I kept Bob and Varly and added Martin Jones after dropping Khudobin (I realized just how bad the defense was in front of the poor lad)....I think Varly will bounce back from the bad start, he's a solid goalie. Bob is fantasy gold....and Jones might only start once a week, but it will be against a weaker team and there is always the chance he can pull a shutout, with that Kings defense in front of him....AND if Quick ever gets hurt (which has happened in the recent past)....Jones can win it all for you.

Vanflyer

Posted

for me, its bishop and / or bobs. Sv pctg and starts. Both teams are up-and-coming. 35-40 W are not unreasonable for each, if not higher.

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